Students’ contrasting their experiences of teacher expectations in streamed and mixed ability classes: A study of Grade 10 students in Western Australia

ABSTRACT

Many secondary schools sort students into ‘ability’-based classes, but research shows that streaming students by ability is inequitable and does not improve student academic results. There has been little qualitative research that considers students’ experiences of streaming, with none that compares students’ experiences in classes that are streamed against the same students’ experiences in other classes that are mixed-ability. The research in this paper explains student experiences of differences between their streamed and mixed-ability classrooms, including the perceived influence on their educational outcomes. The study is unique because the results project the voices of 25 Grade 10 secondary school students from three Western Australian public schools, 19 of whom had recently experienced transitions between streamed and mixed-ability grouping contexts. The findings offer new knowledge that begins to explain how different class grouping strategies are experienced differently by students. Contrasts made by the students in their teachers’ provision of learning opportunities, learning aspirations, and learning environments between streamed and mixed-ability classes are discussed. The findings highlight how educational outcomes were shaped by the schools’ grouping choices and the associated differences in teachers’ expectations and provision of opportunities to learn. The results are of interest to educators making decisions about ability-grouping practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Streaming
• ability-grouping
• teacher expectations
• student experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Tereshchenko et al. (2019) use the term ‘mixed-attainment’ in their study, but mixed-‘ability’ is substituted here for consistency within the manuscript. Contention about this language is a separate topic that is covered well in Francis, Taylor, and Tereshchenko (2020).

2. Pseudonyms are used for all participants.

3. ATAR stands for Australian Tertiary Entrance Ranking. In Western Australia, Year 11 and 12 subjects are deemed ATAR or non- ATAR, with only ATAR classes able to contribute to the student’s country-wide ranking for tertiary entrance. Students who choose ATAR subjects in Western Australia usually do so with intention to attend university post-secondary.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was written with support from the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills, and Employment

Notes on contributors

Olivia Johnston

Dr Olivia Johnston is a lecturer in secondary education at Edith Cowan University. Her research interests include ability grouping and teacher expectations.

Helen Wildy

Emeritus Professor Helen Wildy is the former Dean of Education at The University of Western Australia.

Jennifer Shand

Dr Jennifer Shand co-ordinates the secondary education program at the University of Western Australia.