The opportunity to hear about Flexible Grouping and Mixed
Ability Grouping from two expert points of view was too good to miss, with over
80 people from the ACCoS
Kāhui Ako attending this professional development
session.
The session was live streamed and
you can check it out via this link.
Flexible Grouping
Janine Irvine is Principal at Cornwall Park School and part
of the ACCoS Kāhui Ako
Her sabbatical report inquired into
while also exploring the different approaches schools have
used to move teachers from only using ability grouping, to also incorporating flexible and responsive heterogeneous
grouping into the teacher’s skill set.”
In her report Janine discusses the interplay between
organisational structures, subconscious bias, curriculum content knowledge and
the teacher needs that influence pedagogy in contrast to student needs; both
academic and social as well as the influence on Learner Agency. The pedagogy of
ability grouping is deeply imbedded in the teaching of reading, writing and
mathematics. Changing fundamentals in
the way classrooms operate will challenge teachers and parents, as people cling
to the familiar no matter whether their experience was positive or negative
Much of the research about flexibility grouping comes from
prior to 2000, though there is little evidence of change in mainstream classes
to date. The recent work by Christine Rubie- Davies ‘
Becoming a High ExpectationTeacher- Raising the Bar’
is the catalyst for Janine investigating ways in which we group students for
teaching.
Janine talked about the subconscious biases that teachers
have and the influence these have with how we group and interact with students.
The more we smile at children, the more time we give them to think, the more we
give students opportunities to answer questions the more the students feel
affirmed. Teachers subconsciously
disadvantage students through ability grouping; lower achieving students by the
repetition and types of opportunities they are provided and equally, students
who are higher achievers are disadvantaged when they encounter work they cannot
do and have not developed perseverance strategies.
With flexible grouping some of the outcomes include;
Harder for children to place themselves in the hierarchical
order
Emphasis on engagement to effort
Children and parents focus on progress and celebrate that
Students feel valued for what they bring to the task
There are a wider range of models for learners to learn from
Students learn from consolidating and challenging each
other’s understanding
All students are experiencing rich learning tasks
Students see that everyone makes mistakes and these mistakes
are celebrated as part of the learning journey
A higher level of learner agency
Reading has traditionally been taught in ability groups, but
with a broad approach to teaching reading ie shared reading, ‘all children can
be exposed to a more sophisticated piece of text and be able offer opinions and
understandings’. The ability to decode is only one aspect of reading and an
individual’s understanding of language and text is not necessarily directly
linked to their reading age, hence the use of heterogeneous grouping opens up
opportunities for all students.
Mixed ability grouping is more familiar to NZ teachers
through the work of Bobbie Hunter with many schools implementing this pedagogy
in their maths programmes.
These ways of learning, challenge the views of parents and
teachers as to what ‘successful’ education is as they are different to what
‘they’ experienced. There is also the challenge of the need for a broad and
in-depth curriculum knowledge by teachers. This is needed to support effective
learning in flexible groups; making connections, recognising facts, concepts,
structures and practices that are crucial for the learning focus and working
with these fluidly to support students with their learning.
In conclusion, Janine believes that the shift to flexible
grouping will benefit all students and that “The evidence, as teachers witness
the changes in learning evident from using a variety of grouping structures
will support change.”
Balance is the way forward: “The key is to ensure the
opportunities are balance across all subjects and during the school day and
year.”
As confidence with changing pedagogy develops, we will see
teachers using flexible grouping strategies across the curriculum, using whichever
approach is best suited for the content, the task and their student’s academic
and well being needs.
Mixed Ability Grouping
After a short break the group welcomed Professor Bobbie
Hunter.
Associate Professor Roberta (Bobbie) Hunter developed the
inquiry-based approach aimed at raising maths achievement in low decile schools
for her PhD five years ago. Doing ‘maths’ is looking a little different
these days in some classrooms, as more collaborative approaches to solving
mathematics problems are being encouraged.
Professor Hunter started with her own experiences.
Where did my journey with teaching in this way start:
It was because of my experiences as a child. Labelling is disabling! Teaching students in perceived ability
groups, students tend to go into a ‘group’ and stay there through their
educational journey. The concept of
ability is loaded with preconceptions and subconscious bias as well as
limiting; ability is seen as innate.
She entreated us to change to using the concept of capability;
this is affirmative, focusing on growth and potential.
The fact that New Zealanders are very happy to say ‘ I can’t
do mathematics’ reflects on our cultures experiences with mathematics in
schooling. We are not accepting of ‘but
not I can’t read’ as we have a literary society. This is not the same in other
societies, and Bobbie used illustrations of her time working with other
cultures to demonstrate this. Evidence
shows that traditionally teachers work differently with bottom groups or with
students who struggle and this contributes to the deeply seated beliefs that
you are ‘good at’ or ‘bad at’ maths, rather that maths is a capability that
everyone can develop. Teaching through
flexible grouping, develops flexible thinking, in ways that are not learnt
through direct teaching. Jo Bolar’s
research found that students who learnt through a rich problem solving
approach, showed a more positive interactions with maths as adults, than those who learned maths through
structure ability group teaching.
So what should be the
goals for schools.
Stimulating environments –
changing working spaces and hands on and real applications.
Teachers who have the knowledge
and skills to recognise and support strengths and capabilities of students.
Classroom
arrangements and organisation for learning that
- move to more use of flexible,
strength based grouping.
- develop group worthy tasks
which involve collaborative practices.
- pitch tasks at the expected
curriculum level or above of the students.
MYTHS that Bobbie wants BUSTED!
Maths is fun. Learning requires
challenge.
Tasks must be set at their level
so they are ‘achievable’.
Instead plan for
Low floor, high ceiling problems,
so everyone can start the problem and
every child has some thing to reach for.
Just in time learning with in the
lesson eg. teaching of strategies
Strategies for grouping, so that
groups are always changing. Ideas included a Deck of cards, Allocated numbers
drawn from sticks, grid system,
photographs of students, random
organiser…
The emphasis on developing ways to visibly randomised grouping
: ( juniors in pairs- others in 3’s or 4’s), is an important part of the
building collaborative skills and recognising the strengths that every student
can bring to learning.
So that
students become agreeable when working with other
there is an elimination of social barriers
there is increased mobility of knowledge between students
there is a decrease in reliance on the teachers
there is an increase in reliance on interaction and
cooperation.
These will support learners
to develop Intra – Collaboration skills through
members going out to other groups to borrow ideas from other
groups (Cross fertilisation)
groups sharing ideas and learning
groups sharing ways of strategizing
groups that challenge each other’s answers to critically
reflect on the learning and outcomes
thinking teams are less threatening for the quieter students
and they are more likely to contribute.
Making Connections.
Janine’s closing comment in her report is , ‘other schools
have used Math as a starting point (to using flexible grouping), due to the
quality professional development currently available in this subject’ links to the comments made by Bobbie Hunter in
her interview with E Tangata.
Do you think the
style and approach that you’re championing with mathematics has potential
applications in other subjects?
"Absolutely. We know that we’re getting somewhere with
teachers when they start to say they don’t just use this in maths, but in
everything. We say it’s got to be mixed
ability, socially strength-based, and every group has to have the attitude that
when we end up with some idea of how to solve something, all of us understands
it. It’s not about one person telling us how to do it. It’s about all of us
sharing, collectively, what we know.
And after six months they’ll say: “I don’t see why I
ability-group in reading when I don’t do it in maths.”
So, they start applying
the principle to everything else. It transfers straight across the curriculum.
That’s a long, hard journey for teachers to go on. It
probably takes three years for teachers to become able to teach in this way,
because they’ve got to unlearn a whole lot of stuff. But they do it. They do it
brilliantly. It’s stunning what teachers can do.
Janine’s observed that this is a journey that requires trust
and professional development to build teachers content knowledge. The support
through resources, flexibility in timetabling and reflection on assessment
demands, along with educating parents will support children’s academic and
well- being needs as they learn in the 21st century.
Other implications:
Listening to the presentations, reading more of Bobbie’s work
and Janine’s report have prompted the thinking as to,
‘What is Success’?
How do we, as a society, measure educational success? In our schools,
whose voice can we not hear?
In her interview with E Tangata Bobbie is quoted as saying,
‘Recently, I was in a meeting where somebody asked about
what’s going to happen with assessment now National Standards is gone. A senior
ministry person said: “Well, we’re developing another assessment tool.”
So I asked: “Who’s deciding on this assessment tool?”
And this ministry person said: “Society is deciding it.”
So, I said to him: “Whose society?”
And he said: “The New Zealand society.” As if there was only one.
Janine raises the question as to whether the changing
assessment climate in NZ with the removal of National Standards, will encourage
schools to rethink the role of assessment, refocusing assessment to learning
and teaching rather than grading.
She concludes with the powerful statement. ‘That we need to assess what we value or
else we run the risk of valuing what we assess’.
With the changes in learning this is a discussion that needs
to be continued.
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| 2019 Flexible Grouping 2 Mathematics/Pāngarau Initiative |
Further links to support your inquiry further.
- Developing mathematical Inquiry Communities (DMIC) is a model of ambitious mathematics teaching
founded in equity which incorporates an advanced form of complex instruction
(originally designed and developed by Professors Elizabeth Cohen and Rachel
Lotan at Stanford University, and in mathematics by Professor Jo Boaler).
- DMIC in New Zealand is led by Professor Bobbie
Hunter, who brings her Cook Islands heritage, mathematics education,
professional learning, and theory to practice expertise to this collaborative
and culturally responsive pedagogy.
May 21st was a very busy, exciting and information rich day for Year 13 at Epsom Girls Grammar School.
The aim of the day was to provide experiences and knowledge to support the students as they move from their schooling years to life beyond school.
