Exploring the Relative Lack of Impact of International Research on "Ability Grouping" on Education Policy and Practice in England

• In Event: Tracking Students by “Ability”: Discourses, Practices, and Impact on Young People

Abstract

Our ‘Best Practice in Grouping Students’ research is embedded in the existing international literature on attainment grouping, and in sociological work on social class (and other identities), social inequality and educational attainment. The first presentation seeks to contextualise the project and to explore the hegemony of ‘ability grouping’ in England, which is maintained in spite of countervailing research evidence. Providing context for the symposium, the paper will provide a brief analysis of the existing research evidence on the impact of ‘ability’ grouping; identifying seven different explanations for the poorer progress of students in low tracks that emerge from the literature. Applying Foucaultian discourse analysis to policy documents (see e.g. Burman and Parker, 1992), the paper goes on to argue that practices of ‘ability grouping’ reflect cultural investments in discourses of ‘natural order’ and hierarchy, with particular resonance for the discursive and political habitus of middle class parents. This analysis of the political and structural context provides the rationale for the study design, which is outlined in the second part of the presentation. The study’s mixed methods approach and sample will be outlined, to ensure clarity on the data underpinning the following papers.

Author

• Becky Francis, UCL Institute of Education