Meeting the needs of different learners
One major ongoing concern of those working in education in concerns how teaching is organised to meet the needs of students who are considered to be of different 'abilies'. There has been discussion over whether students in a year group should be taught in 'mixed-ability' groups, in sets (i.e., for different subjects), in ability bands (for all subjects), or even in different schools. In a study reported in the journal Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, Gardner and Cowan (2005) report that the methodology used to assess ability (and so select students for grammar schools) in Northern Ireland is flawed, as the system used for ranking candidates has the potential to misclassify up to two-thirds of a cohort taking the selection tests by as many as three grades.
There are of course many variations in practice. In many secondary school, some subjects are 'set', with setting in different subjects starting in different year groups. In a study reported in Research Papers in Education, Hallam and Ireson (2005) set out to compare the pedagogical practices of secondary school teachers from across the curriculum when they taught mixed and ability grouped classes. They found that the curriculum was differentiated more in mixed-ability grouped classes (than in lessons taught to 'sets') in terms of content, depth of treatment, the activities undertaken and the teaching and learning resources used.