@phdthesis{discovery10019937,
          school = {Institute of Education, University of London},
            note = {Thesis: (PhD) University of London Institute of Education, 2010.},
           title = {Social identity and ability grouping in a secondary school},
            year = {2010},
          author = {McManus, Jill Elizabeth},
             url = {https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10019937/},
        abstract = {Ability-grouped systems tend to produce similar effects on pupil attainment and
attitudes wherever they are used. This indicates that common underlying
processes may be operating.
The theory developed here brings together ideas about group identity,
stereotyping, responses to stigmatised identities, and motivation to learn, to
explain how allocation to a particular ability group affects pupils. It suggests
that when pupils are placed in lower or middle ability groups they rapidly adopt
a social identity which is stigmatised with respect to the academic aims of the
school. This then triggers negative responses including the adoption of helpless
learning behaviours which impact on classroom interactions and academic
attainment. In proposing the view that pupils' social identity is a critical
factor, this theory challenges the widely-held assumption that ability-group
characteristics emerge simply as responses to pupils' experiences of differential
treatment in schools and classrooms.
Evidence is drawn from a longitudinal case study of a single secondary school
which was changing from a banded to a mixed ability system and follows the
progress of consecutive cohorts of pupils through KS3 and KS4. Pupils'
identities and experiences were accessed through questionnaires, interviews,
observations, and school performance and pastoral data. Interviews shortly after transfer to secondary school revealed strongly
established identities with lower and middle ability pupils in the banded cohort
describing predominantly negative characteristics, whilst higher ability selfdescriptions
were predominantly positive. Low and middle ability pupils in the
banded system made less academic progress and had poorer behaviour and
attendance than either higher ability banded pupils or similar mixed ability
pupils.}
}