1

Group Teaching

General Introduction on Group Teaching

Group teaching is a teaching approach widely applied in many educational

programmes on an international level. It takes various formats as a teaching
method, such as ability grouping, mixed-ability grouping, mixed-age grouping
etc.

Research results from the application of these methods are controversial.

There is adequate research evidence in favour of grouping students and
equally adequate against grouping. There are variations in the results
according to the type of grouping; for instance there are different results for
ability grouping and different for mixed-ability grouping. However, most of the
surveys have been conducted in monograde schools and refer to
comparisons between grouping of students and the graded system of classes,
following a centrally specified educational curriculum.

In multigrade schools the situation differs. Usually it is very difficult, if not

impossible, to follow the curriculum for each grade in the form that ministries
of education in various countries prescribe. In the case of multigrade schools,
the grouping of students is considered to be a valuable method of managing
the class and teaching the students. Grouping facilitates the management of
the class by assisting teachers to save and make use of their teaching time in
the most effective way. While the teacher is occupied by teaching to one
group, the rest of the students are working in groups with already allocated
tasks, thus spending their time productively.

In a multigrade class, there are many ways of grouping students, such as

grouping by their age or grade or by their abilities and skills. It is also possible
to create different groups according to the teaching subject or the learning
activity. Though it is not always clear which is the best way for grouping
students, there are some useful advice that help teachers to decide what kind
of grouping is suitable for their class.

This document it is going to focus on two types of grouping and the teachers
are asked to go through certain steps to implement these kinds of grouping in
their own classroom. The teachers should proceed in their work and at the
same time they should try to make some observations as to whether their
teaching is improving or the students’ learning is facilitated.

There are two training modules available one for each type of grouping. The
first module deals with “Ability grouping” while the second module deals with
“Mixed- ability grouping”. General characteristics of these types of grouping
are presented in each module respectively. In addition the teachers are asked
to use “Ability” and “Mixed-ability” in the classroom with respect to some
proposed learning activities.

Further studying is suggested by references within the training modules.

 2

Ability Grouping
Training Module

 Read
 Write
 Activity
 3

Ability Grouping


Introduction

Theoretical background

There are numerous research projects focusing on ability grouping over the
last decades. The results of these investigations, as already mentioned, vary
with some showing positive and others showing negative findings. The
findings strongly depend on the specific features of grouping. One important
parameter is the choice that the teacher has to make on whether the groups
should follow the standard curriculum or a curriculum adjusted to their ability.
Moreover the degree of curriculum adjustment plays an important role as well
as the flexibility of the groups’ composition during a course, the subject areas
that the ability group is taught and other features of the group composition.

There is a strong research evidence indicating that ability grouping with

groups following the same curriculum raises the self-esteem of “low” and
“medium” level students without necessarily improving their performance
significantly. Students might feel lower self esteem if there are no same lever
students to compare themselves with. However, under the same conditions,
ability grouping usually improves slightly the performance of “high” level
students. In the case of ability grouping with substantial curricula adjustments
for each group there are clear positive findings for all student levels.
Depending on the degree of the curriculum’s adjustment, learning outcomes
can be surprisingly positive.

Since in multigrade schools, grouping provides solutions on managing both

the classroom and the teaching time, the teachers are strongly advised to
proceed in various groupings of students. A simple way of ability grouping
within the framework of the multigrade class is to group students by grade; In
general, grades represent ability groups that are based on the age criterion.

To familiarize with the concepts of ability grouping the teachers are asked to
follow the activities prescribed below. Additional reading of documents is
suggested and teachers are recommended to visit certain web sites and make
their own Internet research on the subject.

Suggestions for good practice and activities

Activity 1

The activity suggested here is an initial attempt to introduce grouping in a

multigrade class. It aims not only to familiarize with the application of grouping
in a class but also to act as a motive for the development of a positive attitude
 4

on its usefulness as a teaching strategy and for discovering the ways of

optimising its benefits. The teachers are asked to follow the instructions
below:


1. Set up your first students’ groups
- The first grouping activity is something all of you might have done
already, i.e. the grouping of students according to their grade. This is
the most generic way of ability grouping.

NOTE: Ability grouping should be examined differently according to the

subject area. It is normal to have different ability groups of students in
mathematics or in art or in music and language lessons. Since students learn
in different paces not only in comparison to each other but according to the
subject as well, it is expected to have different learning abilities according to
each subject.


2. Select the subject that seems more convenient for you for implementing
the activity. This activity concerns ability grouping in a single subject.


3. How many grade-groups do you have?

o Write down in a piece of paper in columns the groups and the

names of the students in each group respectively.

o Are your groups consisted of students with more or less of the

same ability?

- If the answer is yes then you can consider

that your students are already grouped
according to their ability. Activity 1 finishes
here for you.

- If the answer is no, try to find the students

that can be transferred to other groups
which may consist of older or younger
students so as to form more
homogeneous groups with respect of
ability to learn.


o Write down in columns as before the new groups you have
selected.
 5

o Give names to the groups

TIP: you should not give names indicating that there are criteria of ability to
separate groups. Prefer neutral definitions, such as groups named by colours
or names of famous people, animals or islands etc. that retain neutrality
instead of making distinctions like “advanced” group or “normal” group etc.


4. Try to find out working mechanisms for your groups.

TIP: You should give the chance to students of the groups to be involved in
activities that not only serve the implementation of an educational curriculum
in a subject but also promote cooperation as well as the undertaking of self
and group initiatives and improve collaborating skills of students. In addition it
should be noted to students that the composition of the groups is not
permanent but students can change groups when it is appropriate. A sense of
self-selection should be given to students and the mechanism of the group
should look at composition changes of the groups.


5. Write down a general description of the working mechanism of the groups.

6. Try to think of learning activities that the students could be involved in

productively.

7. Is there a need for curriculum adjustments for each group?

8. What tools do you think will help you to proceed with these adjustments?

9. Is your lesson going to include face-to-face teaching to one or more groups

or are you going to supervise all groups at the same time without direct
teaching?

In this activity so far you have selected ability groups for a specific subject and
have described the general mechanism of working for the groups. Send all
this information via e-mail to your national training institution along with any
questions or requests for clarifications you might have.

At this point there is no need to present your decisions to the students or

actually implement grouping in your class. This will be the subject of Activity
2.


Suggestions for further study
 6

- The Multigrade classroom, A resource for small Rural Schools, Book 5:

Instructional Delivery and Grouping, pages: 30-34 1
- Kulik A. J., An Analysis of the Research on Ability Grouping: Historical
and Contemporary Perspectives, www.gifted.uconn.edu/kulik.html
- Birch I. And Lally M., Multigrade teaching in primary schools, Asia-
Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation and Development, UNESCO 
- http://ericae.net/edo/ED290542.htm
- http://www.multiage-education.com/multiagen-b/abilitygroup.html

Suggestions for good practice and activities

Activity 2

Activity 2 refers to the implementation of a teaching activity in a selected

subject in the multigrade classroom organised as an ability-grouping mode As
in Activity 1, the following steps are provided:


1. Try to modify your schedule for the chosen subject so as to have the
chance to teach all the groups during the same didactic hour.

You are now ready to implement ability grouping in real teaching conditions.
The success of the lesson depends strongly on good preparation and detailed
planning. You should take into account curriculum issues so that the activities
that you propose for each group are in accordance to the composition of
students and the grades in which they belong.


2. Try to design activities that are in accordance with the working mechanism
for the groups that you have described within the framework of Activity 1.

NOTE: Develop special modules and worksheets for each student group and
allow the group to work in parallel with modules of the same kind.
Use ICT if you are able to do so. Use educational software and try to utilise
internet to design modules that will motivate students to be engaged in the
lesson.
Activities that include games or role-plays etc within each group are usually
more than welcomed by students. You are advised to design open learning
activities that require students’ cooperation, imagination and initiatives.


3. Describe in general the way you have decided to work and the philosophy
of the activities you have designed.

1
Available at BSCW space for MUSE

 7


4. Try to answer the following questions:

 How did students within each group have reacted to the teaching
activities?
 Did you have to provide help to the groups several times or the
students could work as groups more independently?
 What was the extent of direct teaching that you had to do?


5. For each lesson fill in the “lesson plan & evaluation” form that follows.
- Try to be clear and give adequate information on the lesson. It
is preferable to fill the form electronically using your computer
and send it back to your national training supervisor via e mail.
- Respect the format of it, it will be used for evaluation purposes
- Try to share details and present aspects of the lesson that are
related with peer tutoring in your class.
 8

PROJECT MUSE

TEACHERS TRAINING LESSON PLAN & EVALUATION

Lessons’ Title:

Grade: Date: .

Other grades Present:

Subject:

Teaching Chapters of the Curriculum:

Teaching Targets:

Expected Results:

Required Time and Teaching Time table (for all grades):

Required Time: teaching hour/s A B C D E

min min min min min

Time devoted to the grade/group under main consideration

in minutes
Time devoted to other grades/groups present in the
classroom in minutes

Required Educational Material (books, notes, worksheets etc.):

Required Equipment (ICT, lab equipment etc.):

Required Software:

Use of Internet and Links:

 9

Description of the subject to be taught :

Prerequisite knowledge of students:

Implementation Scenario:

Steps to teaching of the subject:

 10

EVALUATION DATA

Evaluation of students: (1 to 5)

Group Pupil Attention Performance Cooperation Group

Performance
Group Name1
1
Name2
Name3
Group Name1
2
Name2
Name3

General Feeling of the class

Did any specific problems occur during the lesson?

Would you consider it as successful?

Do you have any definite proposals for the improvement of teaching?

 11

General / Other comments?