Taylor, B;
Francis, RJ;
Craig, N;
Archer, L;
Hodgen, J;
Mazenod, A;
Tereshchenko, A;
(2019)
Why is it difficult for schools to establish equitable practices in allocating students to attainment 'sets'?
British Journal of Educational Studies
, 67
(1)
pp. 5-24.
10.1080/00071005.2018.1424317.
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Abstract
Research has consistently shown ‘ability’ grouping (tracking) to be prey to poor practice, and to perpetuate inequity. A feature of these problems is inequitable and inaccurate practice in allocation to groups or ‘tracks’. Yet little research has examined whether such practices might be improved. Here, we examine survey and interview findings from a large-scale intervention study of grouping practices in 126 English secondary schools. We find that when schools are encouraged to allocate students and move them between groups according to equitable principles by participation in a ‘best practice’ intervention, there is some increased equity of practice (i.e. a reduction in non-attainment factors used in allocation). However, the majority of schools continue to use subjective and potentially biased information to group students. Furthermore, some schools that claim to be using attainment setting appear to be using the inequitable practice of streaming. Our findings show that improvements in equity are constrained by operational and strategic factors, including timetabling, finance, and teachers’ values and beliefs relating to student ability and progression. We suggest strategies for encouraging schools to change their grouping practices, drawing on approaches for working with complex organisations.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Why is it difficult for schools to establish equitable practices in allocating students to attainment 'sets'? |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00071005.2018.1424317 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2018.1424317 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. |
| Keywords: | Attainment grouping; setting; English secondary schools; equity |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment > Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Directorate UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10040867 |
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