The Student Room Group

Should school classes be organised by ability rather than age?

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Reply 40
Avatar for Sofie01
Sofie01
I think age and ability, because sometimes, even when a pupil's ability is at the top of their year group, they may still not be able to handle next year stuff.
For example, I was placed in a Year 4 maths class when I was in year 3 along with about 4 other students from my class and, while 2 of them excelled even further, the remaining 3 of us were left confused and I started to abhor maths completely from then on.
So yes, assess their ability and possibly give them harder work but then assess that. Don't just assume that just because you've given it to them they can do it.
Reply 41
Avatar for llys
llys
17
Well, ideally education should be individualised, so that every pupil has his own plan and targets according to his current knowledge and ability, and takes the courses necessary to improve himself. Courses could be offered every term and either be half a year or a full year long to account for fast and slow learners as well. Pupils who have completed compulsory core courses could spend the rest of their school time on interesting stuff building on the compulsory core. You could have vertical tutor groups instead of year groups. So yeah, I think it's possible, but at the moment probably too difficult to implement.
When I was in school (primary and secondary) we were organised according to age as well as ability. Our classes were divided into two at primary school for the brighter kids and the ones that needed a bit more of a push in the right direction and it worked pretty well. Age doesn't necessarily reflect how developed you are in terms of where you should be at that level, so it isn't the best way of dividing classes, however class sizes need to be taken into account. You've also got the issue of learning that occurs during the first few years of school - if you were deemed more able than most students and were moved forward a year, that knowledge wouldn't be built upon.
(edited 10 years ago)

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