Attainment grouping and maths: learning from mistakes | RFTRW: S04E03

“We don’t learn mathematics from getting everything right, we learn mathematics from making mistakes… protecting children from those mistakes and errors really doesn’t help their learning.”

After training as a maths teacher at the IOE and teaching in primary and secondary schools, Jeremy set course towards a career in academia, with stints at Nottingham University and King’s College London before returning to us, not only to focus on improving the teaching and learning of mathematics, but also examining how best to group students and support those facing low attainment.

Dr Rob Webster and Jeremy discuss what attainment grouping looks like in England and what best practice looks like, his work with IOE colleagues on investigating the outcomes of mixed attainment grouping in mathematics and what effect the pandemic might have on existing grouping practices, and addressing anticipated learning loss.

Listen to the podcast

Links 

• Professor Jeremy Hodgen's research profile
• Between-class attainment grouping and educational inequality
• Low attainment in mathematics: an investigation of Year 9 students in England
• The Student Grouping Study: Investigating the impact of setting and mixed-attainment grouping
• Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment