Primary teachers’ perceptions of multi-grade classroom grouping practices to support inclusive education

ABSTRACT

Previous research has focused on inclusive classroom practices in mainstream primary schools but little is documented regarding practices in multi-grade classrooms. The purpose of this paper was to report mainstream primary teachers’ perceptions of multi-grade classroom grouping practices to support inclusive education specifically for students with special educational needs (SEN). The findings indicated that despite the difficulty of covering the curricula of the various grades, multi-grade teachers reported the implementation of flexible grouping practices (ability, mixed ability, social) for academic or social reasons. However, the tension between meeting the needs of the grade groups and the individual student with SEN were apparent, with some practices documented not necessarily inclusive. The importance of using appropriate grouping practices to enable teachers to include all students, thereby avoiding potentially negative effects of treating some students differently was emphasised.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• multi-grade
• flexible classroom grouping

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Interview schedule

The interview schedule is available as an online link.

Notes

1. The authors acknowledge the complexity of the concept of ability and assert that the ability of students with SEN is on a continuum. The terminology reported in this paper (e.g. low achieving, less able, lower levels of achievement, more-able, etc.) reflects the language of the various reported research papers included in the literature review.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South(SCoTENS) under Grant code SEN/MGC.