The independent charity the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published new research on student grouping in maths, conducted by the UCL Institute for Education.
The study, which was commissioned to provide up-to-date evidence from English schools, compared the attainment and self-confidence of Year 7 and Year 8 pupils (aged 11 – 13) taught in mixed-attainment classes with those taught in classes set by prior attainment across 97 schools.
The research found that on average:
- Teaching maths in sets does not appear to harm the progress of pupils with lower prior attainment, or socio-economically disadvantaged pupils. These groups made similar progress whether they were taught in mixed-attainment maths classes or in classes that were set by attainment.
- Pupils with higher prior attainment in maths who were taught in mixed-attainment maths classes made less progress than those taught in setted maths classes. (Equivalent to about two months’ less progress.)
As a result, overall, pupils in schools with mixed-attainment maths classes made one month’s less progress in maths (compared to students in schools where maths classes were set by attainment).
Lesson observations suggested that the content of mixed-attainment classes was closer to what was taught to lower sets than higher sets in schools that grouped pupils by attainment. (This may have been influenced by changes in teaching following the introduction of the ‘Teaching for Mastery’ approach in 2017.)
Based on these findings and existing research, the EEF is recommending that:
- Schools who choose to use mixed-attainment groups should ensure maths teachers provide stretch opportunities for high-attaining pupils.
- Schools who choose to group students by attainment should ensure that specialist maths teachers are not concentrated in the top sets, and that it is possible for pupils to move between groups depending on attainment.
Professor Becky Francis CBE, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:
Professor Becky Taylor, UCL Institute of Education, said: