FACULTY FOCUS
How does a teacher ’ s expectation for each stream affect a student ’ s abilities ? I think we really need to start to question and look at what we mean by ability to begin with . We can talk about academic success and academic attainment and a student ’ s current ability to do well , but when we talk about ability , sometimes that can be linked to notions of a fixed ability or some inherent capacity to succeed at school .
I think as educators it ’ s really important that we question that theory , because our role is to help students grow and fulfil their maximum capacity . I don ’ t think it ’ s fair for us to imagine that , and that ’ s my own principles as an educator and my own beliefs .
And research does show that a teacher ’ s expectations are strongly associated with how students perform : when a teacher has higher or lower expectations , they treat students in a different way , and then students respond to that treatment and that can impact on how they perform academically .
How did students respond to their streamed classes in your research ? Some of them really appreciate being in ability groups . In particular , students in the higher groups can feel quite proud and enthusiastic about the challenges that they ’ re getting in their learning . They can also appreciate being protected from students who are slower and taking ages to learn , and from the poor behaviour they associate with students in some of the lower streams .
There can also be students in the lower streams that are fine to just be there and aren ’ t aspiring to do really well or to move up to a higher stream .
But there are many students in my research where that ’ s not the case , and they really felt they were misunderstood by their teachers and that their teachers made generalisations about them .
Those students didn ’ t feel they fit the mould their teacher had of the class . Because of that they sometimes felt like they were being pressured unduly and that they had privileges that were perhaps unfair . In the worst cases that could lead to them feeling quite disempowered and unseen by their teachers and their educators , and become disengaged with their learning .
Why is streaming so important in Australian culture ? That ’ s a good question . I think we ’ ve inherited it from our British education system roots . Our education system was based on the British and is now influenced by the American system , both of which use streaming .
Teachers have an enormously complex job of catering to the learning needs of such a wide diversity of learners , and streaming presents what seems like a simple solution to the problem . It seems like a commonsense approach because we tend to categorise and sort everything , really , including our students .
Some would argue that streaming helps students with learning difficulties as teachers are better able to target their needs . What is your view ? I think there ’ s two things to look at . You have system level policy about streaming in terms of the way the schools are organising the students and then you have what happens in actual classes .
By no means do I think that all teachers are going to be creating self-perpetuating cycles of disadvantage in their class , even when they are streamed . I think some teachers really create challenging learning experiences for lower so-called ability groups .
And there is some interesting research recently from Victoria showing that when they had smaller class sizes and the appropriate amount of support , students managed to overcome disadvantage more than if they weren ’ t grouped by ability . So there ’ s many different factors at play here .
To what extent can streaming students perpetuate inequalities and disadvantages ? There ’ s a lot of preexisting research that raises red flags around segregating students by ability , because what we find is that students are being sorted into classes based on their ethnicity , social class and previous disadvantages .
Groups that are traditionally disadvantaged in education are put into tiered groups according to the level of educational disadvantage , and separate classes within the schools because of that . That becomes a real problem when those that are put into the lower groups are subject to lower expectations and different curriculum and learning opportunities .
Teachers ’ expectations are strongly associated with how students perform .
They ’ re not going to learn and grow as much as the students in the higher streams that are being given a more challenging curriculum , have more aspirations and are in a learning environment that ’ s being managed really well .
What impact does streaming have on a student ’ s future ? There ’ s a lot of research from other countries about how it can set them on educational pathways that can be quite defining in their trajectory . And there ’ s some interesting research recently from Western Australia where they looked at students ’ retrospective accounts of being put on non-academic pathways , and they felt that they weren ’ t as valued , challenged or as appreciated by their educators .
They felt like that really affected their educational pathways . If their teachers had given them more value and attention , perhaps they would have succeeded more academically if they had been in that higher stream . There ’ s definitely more research on this needed in Australia .
Do you believe streaming is necessary ? I don ’ t think there ’ s a simple answer to that . I think a lot of teachers would make the argument that their job is not manageable without ability grouping , and I ’ ve sympathised with that point of view because it is a complex job to differentiate effectively .
I think we need to look at up-skilling teachers about how to effectively plan for a wide variety of learners within their classes . And that needs to happen whether students are streamed or not .
It ’ s a student ’ s right to have their needs met , and they ’ re all varying needs . But I do really sympathise with teachers feeling that it ’ s too much for them to have to teach three different lessons in one class , if all the students are together .
I don ’ t think streaming solves that problem , but I think teachers certainly feel like it helps to solve that problem . That ’ s the underlying issue that has to be addressed there . ■
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