Having been to a private school one thing that they had there that was brilliant and that I would like to see a lot more common is streaming.
I was in good sets for Maths, Chemistry, Physics etc, and crap sets for English, French etc.
This meant I got taught to my ability in all the subjects that I did maning I got better grades than if I'd been selected by any subject.
From the bits I've seen about Cameron he's thinking of introducing that in schools.
So why did we go private? Well all the schools in the area are some of the worst in the country, where I think 20% of people going there got 5 gcses. When faced with that kind of choice private education looks tempting.
Yeah, we used that too, and it works well provided that sets are done by subject rather than as an overall stream, that sets have a certain amount of flexibility so kids cna be moved up and down if necessary (though of course this can be limited by things like external exams) and that they're fair. I remember that my HS was 20% black, but I knew 1 black kid in my year who was in all top sets. Which seems a bit suspicious to me, even allowing for the fact that it might be partly due to lower achievement in primary school. I suspect that admininstrators/counsellors pushed the upper middle class white kids harder.
Many schools already do ability setting in many subjects. it's controversial and some researchers claim that it doesn't lead to better results, but in my experience it's helpful. Teachers will, as a general rule, teach to the middle 50% of ability in a class. If the spread of ability is too large, the extremes get lost. If kids are lost, not only will they achieve less, they're more likely to misbehave. So even if it doesn't directly translate into better test scores, sets can mean happier students and happier teachers (who can target their lessons more effectively).
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(no subject)
I was in good sets for Maths, Chemistry, Physics etc, and crap sets for English, French etc.
This meant I got taught to my ability in all the subjects that I did maning I got better grades than if I'd been selected by any subject.
From the bits I've seen about Cameron he's thinking of introducing that in schools.
So why did we go private? Well all the schools in the area are some of the worst in the country, where I think 20% of people going there got 5 gcses. When faced with that kind of choice private education looks tempting.
(no subject)
Many schools already do ability setting in many subjects. it's controversial and some researchers claim that it doesn't lead to better results, but in my experience it's helpful. Teachers will, as a general rule, teach to the middle 50% of ability in a class. If the spread of ability is too large, the extremes get lost. If kids are lost, not only will they achieve less, they're more likely to misbehave. So even if it doesn't directly translate into better test scores, sets can mean happier students and happier teachers (who can target their lessons more effectively).
(no subject)