“It starts with me!” Teachers’ shifting perspectives on developing their practice away from fixed ability grouping

Wright, Phil and Forrester, Gillian (2025) “It starts with me!” Teachers’ shifting perspectives on developing their practice away from fixed ability grouping. Teaching and Teacher Education, 154 . p. 104870.

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Abstract

The negative and pernicious effects of fixed ability grouping in primary school classrooms are well-documented internationally. This case study of fifteen primary school teachers in England, used three cycles of practice exploration in mathematics, over a six-month period, providing opportunities for practitioners to consider the barriers and benefits of implementing an alternate, principle-based approach to fixed ability grouping. The teachers' perspectives highlighted benefits of an adjusted pedagogy and noted that at an individual-professional level they needed to address their implicit beliefs about children's learning capacity, adjust their professional language and trust children can make effective choices about their learning.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Teaching and Teacher Education
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1879-2480
Departments:	Institute of Education > Primary PGCE
Additional Information:	Phil Wright, Lecturer in Primary PGCE Teacher Education, University of Cumbria, UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	02 Dec 2024 10:13
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2024 10:15
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/8521

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