How do secondary school teachers choose within-class student grouping strategies?

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Pupil grouping and organisation of classes

How did practical factors influence teachers’ choice of grouping strategy?

Practical factors sometimes influenced the size of groups. These included the length of lesson, the availability of resources and the physical layout of the room. A mathematics teacher specified that he would only undertake more group work if he had a double lesson. Several English teachers commented that they could use a wider range of groupings in longer lessons. One science teacher stated:

“I prefer a longer lesson, then there would be more time for small groups of kids to work through ideas, experiments. I almost have to tell them the answers sometimes because we are running out of time…” Science teacher

The need to share equipment in science also influenced the size of groups.

“If we’ve got a large amount of equipment, they will perhaps be working in pairs. Quite often, there will be occasions when there will only be enough equipment to have one piece per bench; in which case, they’ll have to work in a much bigger group.” Science teacher

The size of the room, the physical layout of the furniture and the ease or difficulty with which it could be rearranged could facilitate or hamper particular styles of grouping. The variety of possible arrangements included: rows of tables (with each table seating a pair of children), horseshoes (concentric semi-circles of tables, all facing the front of the classroom), hexagonal or octagonal tables and others. Teachers identified consequent effects on grouping:

“The class is well laid out for work in pairs or fours [in rows with double desks].” English teacher
“Paired work happens all the time …[but] group working doesn’t happen so often – because logistically – changing around the room is not easy.” Mathematics teacher

Teachers needed time to make changes or students who were sufficiently cooperative to help with the moving. If furniture was heavy, unwieldy or fixed to the floor, as was often the case in science laboratories, then the teacher was constrained to work within whatever arrangement s/he found. This could include fixed, front-facing benches, which helped whole class and paired work, but presented difficulties for groups larger than three. Science teachers acknowledged that this arrangement helped in controlling the class - students misbehaved less frequently if they were all facing the front. Students on benches tended to be seated close together and this made movement around the class difficult.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction How did grouping strategies vary during lessons? Why did teachers use whole class groups at lesson starts and ends? How did teachers choose between individual or small group work? What was the effect of whole class grouping on lesson content? How did behaviour management affect teachers’ grouping practices? How did practical factors influence teachers’ choice of grouping strategy? How did the researchers collect their data? Implications Send us your feedback Collated digests To find out more about collated digests click here Get Word Reader How do secondary school teachers choose within-class student grouping strategies? This digest found in Pupil grouping and organisation of classes Send to a friend Word doc 80KB Printer friendly Collate for later How did practical factors influence teachers’ choice of grouping strategy? Practical factors sometimes influenced the size of groups. These included the length of lesson, the availability of resources and the physical layout of the room. A mathematics teacher specified that he would only undertake more group work if he had a double lesson. Several English teachers commented that they could use a wider range of groupings in longer lessons. One science teacher stated: “I prefer a longer lesson, then there would be more time for small groups of kids to work through ideas, experiments. I almost have to tell them the answers sometimes because we are running out of time…” Science teacher The need to share equipment in science also influenced the size of groups. “If we’ve got a large amount of equipment, they will perhaps be working in pairs. Quite often, there will be occasions when there will only be enough equipment to have one piece per bench; in which case, they’ll have to work in a much bigger group.” Science teacher The size of the room, the physical layout of the furniture and the ease or difficulty with which it could be rearranged could facilitate or hamper particular styles of grouping. The variety of possible arrangements included: rows of tables (with each table seating a pair of children), horseshoes (concentric semi-circles of tables, all facing the front of the classroom), hexagonal or octagonal tables and others. Teachers identified consequent effects on grouping: “The class is well laid out for work in pairs or fours [in rows with double desks].” English teacher “Paired work happens all the time …[but] group working doesn’t happen so often – because logistically – changing around the room is not easy.” Mathematics teacher Teachers needed time to make changes or students who were sufficiently cooperative to help with the moving. If furniture was heavy, unwieldy or fixed to the floor, as was often the case in science laboratories, then the teacher was constrained to work within whatever arrangement s/he found. This could include fixed, front-facing benches, which helped whole class and paired work, but presented difficulties for groups larger than three. Science teachers acknowledged that this arrangement helped in controlling the class - students misbehaved less frequently if they were all facing the front. Students on benches tended to be seated close together and this made movement around the class difficult.