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

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Pupil grouping and organisation of classes

How did grouping strategies vary during lessons?

Teachers from all curriculum areas grouped students largely according to the phase of the lesson. The most common approach was to use whole class teaching, referred to in the study as ‘whole class grouping’, at the beginning and end of the lesson although one teacher of English described using individual quiet reading at the start ‘to calm people down’. All the paired and small group work mentioned by teachers took place in the middle of lessons. English and science teachers often used small groups in the middle of their lessons. Mathematics teachers, in contrast, used a great deal of individual work in the middle of the lesson.

Teachers often associated:

whole class groupings with control and assessment of learning material;
small groupings with discussion; and
individual working with application and practice.

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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 grouping strategies vary during lessons? Teachers from all curriculum areas grouped students largely according to the phase of the lesson. The most common approach was to use whole class teaching, referred to in the study as ‘whole class grouping’, at the beginning and end of the lesson although one teacher of English described using individual quiet reading at the start ‘to calm people down’. All the paired and small group work mentioned by teachers took place in the middle of lessons. English and science teachers often used small groups in the middle of their lessons. Mathematics teachers, in contrast, used a great deal of individual work in the middle of the lesson. Teachers often associated: whole class groupings with control and assessment of learning material; small groupings with discussion; and individual working with application and practice.