industry & reform
Swimming against the tide
Research suggests streaming students may not be the best option .
Olivia Johnston interviewed by Emilie Lauer
In Australia , about 98 per cent of schools are using some form of streaming to organise students into different classes based on their abilities . Yet , new research from the School of Education at Edith Cowan University suggests some students find streaming to be detrimental to their education .
According to ECU lecturer and author of the study Olivia Johnston , streaming doesn ’ t improve a student ’ s academic outcome . In addition , teachers ’ expectations of different streams can impact how well students perform .
“ Inflexible grouping can trap students in a pathway that they may have not been on if they hadn ’ t been grouped ,” Johnston told Education Review .
“ A student ’ s self-confidence and their way of thinking about themselves as a learner is lower when they are grouped by abilities .”
Johnston joined Education Review to discuss her latest research on the effect of streaming in Australia and how it impacts students .
ER : What is the current landscape of streaming in Australia ? OJ : We don ’ t have any formal policy about streaming in schools here in Australia . Most secondary schools use some form of streaming , and my recent analysis of PISA data shows that approximately 82 per cent of schools are using streaming in some form from Years 7 to 10 .
That can range enormously in terms of when the students start being grouped by ability , how they ’ re grouped , and also for which subjects and if the groups change . So there ’ s enormous variation in how the practice is implemented by schools , and it ’ s completely left up to schools to make those decisions . It ’ s quite eclectic , I would say .
To what extent does streaming play a role in a student ’ s education ? There ’ s a lot of research showing that it actually doesn ’ t improve students ’ academic outcomes to group them into classes by ability . It doesn ’ t result in improved learning outcomes for students when it comes to academics generally .
What it does do is group students socially , often by their preexisting disadvantage . We have an idea that students are being grouped by ability , but in fact they ’ re often being grouped by their previous achievement , which is largely related to the birth lottery that they ’ ve had in life , so they end up in a self-perpetuating cycle .
Students in lower streams are sometimes subject to lower teacher expectations , and students in higher streams , higher expectations . Students then conform to those expectations which can affect learning .
How does being in a stream play on the student ’ s mind and affect the way they learn ? When you look at the psychological outcomes of streaming , we know from international research , as well as international comparison of PISA data from other research , that a student ’ s selfconfidence is lower when they are grouped .
They see themselves as less capable on the whole when they ’ re grouped by ability , and their academic self-concepts can be lower too . Inflexible grouping sends a message of fixed capacity and can trap students in a pathway that perhaps they would not be on if they were not grouped .
Carol Dweck ’ s recent research around growth mindset and Angela Duckworth ’ s about the importance of grit for success in life aren ’ t really reflected in this practice . It seems to be sending a contrary message to students about whether they can change their pathway or not .
12 | educationreview . com . au