About the project
Best Practice in Grouping Students was a research project funded by the Education Endowment Foundation and conducted by researchers at UCL and Queen’s University Belfast, which ran from 2014-2018.
It investigated which methods of grouping secondary school students are most effective in improving their educational engagement and attainment with particular attention to improving the performance of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The project was independently evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research.
For information on our follow-on study, see The Student Grouping Study.
Dos and don’ts of attainment grouping
We have produced a guide to research-informed attainment grouping.
Project team
- Professor Becky Francis
- Professor Jeremy Hodgen
- Professor Louise Archer
- Professor Becky Taylor
- Dr Antonina Tereshchenko
- Dr Anna Mazenod
- Professor Paul Connolly (Queen’s University Belfast)
- John Barlow – Administration and Communications Officer
Background
Previous research has shown that students from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to be over-represented in lower ‘ability’ sets and streams. They also make less progress than their counterparts in higher attainment groups.
These lower sets and streams can additionally be subject to elements of poor practice such as being taught a different curriculum at a different pace, poorer quality teaching and low expectations for their attainment.
Interventions
The project seeks to achieve this through the implementation of two core interventions that ensure all students are equally able to access high quality teaching and a rich curriculum. One is a trial, ‘Best Practice in Setting’, and the other is a pilot study, ‘Best Practice in Mixed Attainment’:
- Best Practice in Setting: it aims to remedy the poor practice identified by research as being associated with lower sets.
- Best Practice in Mixed Attainment: it aims to ensure good practice in mixed attainment teaching contexts. This latter intervention is of significance as studies have shown that students with low attainment make better progress in these mixed groupings than do comparable students in low ‘ability’ sets and streams.
Our research
The project addresses the needs of students in low ‘ability’ sets and streams, wherein research has identified socially disadvantaged students are strongly over-represented.
Evidence
The project draws on substantial existing research evidence (concerning the educational outcomes for young people in low sets and streams, and the related poor practice often associated with such groupings), as illustrated in the Education Endowment Foundation / Sutton Trust Toolkit and elsewhere.
The evidence from the literature concerning existing bad practice and detrimental outcomes associated with low ‘ability’ groups establishes areas for potential improvement, which will be applied via the interventions.
Interventions
The intervention on Best Practice in Setting largely relates to organisational principles, and is therefore relatively simple for schools to implement. The RCT will measure effect size of resultant good practice in setting by attainment.
The feasibility pilot of the intervention on Best Practice in Mixed Attainment Grouping (mixed ‘ability’) will also provide evidence on effect, facilitating future scaling and RCT. The developmental phase of this work will also allow us to research why schools and policy-makers appear so wedded to ‘ability’ grouping, and what might persuade the adoption of an evidence-based approach.
Disciplined innovation
The project therefore comprises an example of ‘disciplined innovation’, building both on existing research evidence and compelling logic. It directly addresses the educational attainment of disadvantaged students, and promises tangible new evidence on effective practice in students grouping.
Methods
The project is a mixed methods study, including RCT, surveys, interviews and observations. For more information, see mixed methods in action.
Pilot Study School Partners
The project began with a pilot year (2014/15) to develop, test and refine the practices and professional development now being implemented in the interventions for the main stage of the project (2015/16 - 2016/17).
We are grateful for the expert consultancy provided by teachers from our inspirational partner schools in the pilot project.
Best Practice in Mixed Attainment pilot
- Hinchley Wood School, Surrey
- Kings Norton Girls’ School, Birmingham
- Plashet School, London
Best Practice in Setting pilot
- Coombe Girls’ School, Surrey
- Islington Arts and Media School, London
- Lilian Baylis Technology School, London
Advisory Group
The Best Practice in Grouping Students project received the support and guidance of the following individuals:
- Dale Bassett, Director of Public Policy, AQA
- Ian Baukham, Headteacher, Bennett Memorial Diocesan School
- Tom Bennett, Director, researchED
- Mary Bousted, General Secretary, ATL
- Sir Robin Bosher, former Regional Director, South East, Ofsted
- Jonathan Clifton, Head of Strategic Policy at DfE
- Sir John Dunford, Chair, Whole Education, and former UK Government National Pupil Premium Champion
- Professor Mairead Dunne, Sussex University
- Sam Freedman, Executive Director, Participant Impact and Delivery, Teach First
- Christine Gilbert CBE
- Professor Sue Hallam, UCL Institute of Education
- Dominic Herrington, Regional Schools Commissioner for South-East England and South London
- Chris Husbands, Vice-Chancellor, Sheffield Hallam University
- Rachel McGowan, Headteacher, Plashet School
- Fiona Millar, Journalist
- Professor Martin Mills, Inaugural Director of the Centre for Research on Teachers and Teaching, UCL Institute of Education
- Gary Phillips, Headteacher, Lilian Baylis Technology School
- Jonathan Simons, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Varkey Foundation
- Emma Simpson, Secondary English Consultant, Islington Borough Council
Publications
- B, Francis., B, Taylor. and A. Tereshchenko. (2019). Reassessing ‘ability’ grouping: improving practice for equity and attainment’
- Access to mathematics learning for lower secondary students in England during school closures: implications for equity and quality. 2024
- The achievement gap: The impact of between-class attainment grouping on pupil attainment and educational equity over time. 2023
- Attainment grouping in English secondary schools: A national survey of current practices. July 2020
- The impact of tracking by attainment on pupil self-confidence over time: demonstrating the accumulative impact of self-fulfilling prophecy. June 2020
- The misallocation of students to academic sets in maths: A study of secondary schools in England. June 2019
- Students' university aspirations and attainment grouping in secondary schools. January 2019
- 'The reality is complex': teachers' and school leaders' accounts and justifications of grouping practices in the English key stage 2 classroom. January 2019
- Teacher ‘quality’ and attainment grouping: The role of within-school teacher deployment in social and educational inequality. October 2018
- Nurturing learning or encouraging dependency? Teacher constructions of students in lower attainment groups in English secondary schools. March 2018
- Learners' attitudes to mixed-attainment grouping: examining the views of students of high, middle and low attainment. March 2018
- The symbolic violence of setting: A Bourdieusian analysis of mixed methods data on secondary students' views about setting. January 2018
- Why is it Difficult for Schools to Establish Equitable Practices in Allocating Students to Attainment 'Sets'? January 2018
- Attainment Grouping as self-fulfilling prophesy? A mixed method exploration of self-confidence and set level among Year 7 students. October 2017
- Factors deterring schools from mixed attainment teaching practice. November 2016
- Exploring the relative lack of impact research on 'ability grouping' in England: a discourse analytic account. January 2016
- Remote mathematics teaching during COVID-19: intentions, practices and equity. IOE: London, UK. September 2020
- Dos and Don'ts of Attainment Grouping. UCL Institute of Education: London, UK. 2018
- Developing Best Practice in Mixed Attainment English. UCL Institute of Education: London. 2018
- Best Practice in Mixed-Attainment Grouping Resource Book. 2015
- The importance of children’s academic self-perception. Tes. October 2020
- Have you got your attainment groupings right this term? Tes. September 2020
- How are maths departments responding to the challenge of blended learning? Schools Week. September 2020
- Opportunities to learn maths in lockdown were limited, research shows. UCL Institute of Education. September 2020
- Ability setting 'widens students' self-confidence gap'. Tes. June 2020
- Classes set by ability are hitting children’s self-confidence, study finds. Taylor & Francis Group. June 2020
- How schools can address social inequality. Tes. November 2019
- 4 questions you need to ask about ability grouping. Tes. September 2019
- Setting would not exist in an ideal world, says leading academic. Tes. March 2019
- Tes people of the year 2018: Becky Francis. Tes. December 2018
- Black students more likely to be incorrectly put in lower ability maths set, new research finds. Independent. September 2018
- Pupils ‘learn best together not in sets’. The Times. September 2018
- Low teacher expectations 'hindering' bottom-set pupils, research finds. Tes. March 2018
- We Need to Break the 'Class Ceiling' in UK Politics. VICE. March 2018
- Selective schooling might not be lifting anyone, study finds. The Sydney Morning Herald. March 2018
- Setting pupils 'incompatible with social justice'. Tes. February 2018
- What every teacher needs to know about setting. Tes. February 2018
- Schools are harming low-ability pupils' chances by teaching in sets, academics say. Tes. September 2017
- Mixed-ability classes barely exist in schools, researchers find. Schools Week. September 2017
- Student allocation to maths sets not always based on previous achievement. Best Evidence in Brief. January 2017
- Ask The Expert: Explaining socio-economic inequalities in educational attainment. Social Market Foundation. November 2016
- BCF-BERA Routledge Curriculum Journal Prize. British Educational Research Association (BERA). October 2016
- Why grouping students doesn't work. Tes. November 2015
- ‘The glaring gap in the English education system is social class’. The Guardian. October 2015
- Better together? Leader Magazine. February 2015
- Why the problem with ability grouping might be how it's done. Tes. February 2015
- Becky Francis to lead UCL Institute of Education. Tes. February 2015
- Teaching Matters More Than Setting. Sutton Trust. December 2014
- Setting by ability to be focus of major academic study. Tes. September 2014
- Online Seminar: School contexts, grouping practices and social (in)equality - keynote at University of Helsinki 5 May 2021
- Attainment Grouping with Professor Becky Taylor. Teachers Education Review. September 2020
- Attainment grouping and maths: learning from mistakes. Research for the Real World. August 2020
- Lunch Hour Lecture: Impact of tracking school pupils by 'ability' on educational & social inequality. UCL Institute of Education. October 2019
- Examining the impact of ability grouping (Soundcloud website). UCL Institute of Education. September 2019
- Setting with Becky Francis. Tes Podagogy. February 2018
Related links
- Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
- Best Practice in Setting – trial (Education Endowment Foundation)
- Best Practice in Mixed Attainment Grouping – pilot (Education Endowment Foundation)
- Best Practice in Grouping Students project blog
- Developing best practice in mixed attainment English teaching
- The Student Grouping Study: Investigating the impact of setting and mixed-attainment grouping
- New IOE book examines the impact of attainment grouping
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Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
UCL Institute of Education
University College London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL
Best Practice in Grouping Students project
Click to email. ioe.groupingstudents@ucl.ac.ukImage
Lucy Pope for UCL Institute of Education.