Mixed age classes
Next year, due to falling roll, we will have some mixed age classes.
Does anyone have experience of them? Is it effective? How should it be done to be most effective - should classes be composed of the best from the younger year, and the worst from the year above, or should it be more mixed, with consideration for ethnic background, sex, and other issues?
Is it popular with parents, or will it take a lot of effort to "sell" it to them?
Any comments welcome.
Does anyone have experience of them? Is it effective? How should it be done to be most effective - should classes be composed of the best from the younger year, and the worst from the year above, or should it be more mixed, with consideration for ethnic background, sex, and other issues?
Is it popular with parents, or will it take a lot of effort to "sell" it to them?
Any comments welcome.
posted by An inner-city school governor at
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
12 Comments:
The primary school where I work as a volunteer (in Wythenshawe, S Manchester) has one mixed age class (go figure, I can't get my head round how the numbers work). I'd mix it more or less at random, unless one or the other class might have slightly less students in it, in which case if there's one kid that needs a bit of extra attention they probably ought to go in there. I don't know if your school has any children who do a differentiated curriculum (eg having 'special' work set for them) but there might need to be some consideration given to workload balance etc for the teacher that's going to be trying to teach 2 classes at once... on the other hand, if they're already doing 2 workschemes at once, what's a little extra?!
Younger kids can often gain a lot of confidence if they're put with older children who are friendly towards them, I don't honestly know how much wiggle room you've got but there's potential for a bit of social engineering there... likewise, maintaining friendship groups or (maybe) breaking up particularly troublesome partnerships.
Good luck!
By
Becca, at July 20, 2005
Our Primary has a bit of a mixed age thing on the go, as one year is particularly short on kids (& the payroll is slightly short on teachers due to non-contact time etc.). It works after a fashion by having grouped abilities accordingly, but more by luck. Had the kids been of a similar ability it wouldn't have achieved anything.
By
Ian Grey, at July 21, 2005
Here in rural Saskatchewan, Canada, our school division is about half the size of Wales with under 2000 students in 11 schools. We have a lot of experience with mixed grade class rooms out of necessity. It seems to work best when you have the opportunity of split/non split classes in a grade to put the most independant learners into the split, not necessarily the brightest of the lower grade and the slowest of the upper grade.
This latter option may make it easier for the teacher not having such a wide ability level to cover but is not always the best thing for the students. It tends to give the brighter, younger students the wrong and bad impression of what is to come, they've seen it all and absorbed much of it the first time around and then next year they have to do it all again. It also tends to undermine the confidence of the upper grade students as the younger ones master things much faster than they do.
As in much that is to do with education so much depends on the teacher and her particular abilities, the right teacher can make the split grade experience wonderful for all students in the class or .......
All four of my children have at some point in their elementary experience been in split grade classes and for the most part they had good experiences.
As a school division we are now struggling with having to have three and four grades in one classroom due to enrolement drop and distance to next school. We seem to be reinventing the one room school house here on the prairies.
By
Gwen M, at August 02, 2005
Thanks for those comments...
Becca, my school has a lot of different needs - half the children speak english as a second language, and many have learning difficulties. Many of them do get one on one assistance such as art therapy or literacy assistance.
Gwen, the idea of putting the most independent learners is a good one - I guess that way, they can work ahead at their own speed without being held back by others.
By
An inner-city school governor, at August 05, 2005
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