Class discipline improves as streaming regains ground

Two more schools have introduced streaming to break with one of the totems of progressive education of the last three decades.

It is likely to be greeted with hostility by the education establishment, which believes that weaker pupils risk being stigmatised if taught separately.

In October, a storm erupted when The Scotsman disclosed that St Paul’s, a Glasgow secondary, has started to cream off bright pupils into an A stream for all subjects.

Unbeknown to most people in Scottish education, Hazelhead Academy in Aberdeen has for the last three years divided children coming into first year into three broad bands, on the basis of national test results in primary seven, backed up by objective tests from Durham University.

The first cohort is about to sit Standard Grades and Alan Murray, the acting rector, said yesterday that the school is confident that, for pupils of all abilities, results will be higher than last year.

An important spin-off has been a decline in discipline problems, he said. "Far fewer pupils are reported for bad behaviour. If quite a lot of what is going on is beyond pupils they become bored or attention-seeking. Now they’re more focused on what is going on because it is geared to their level."

A succession of research studies has indicated that bright children fail to reach their potential if taught in mixed ability classes.

However, the research also indicates that weaker pupils progress better when educated with cleverer classmates.

Hazelhead and Buckie High in Moray, which started streaming in August, have echoed St Paul’s in asserting that contrary to many research reports, weaker pupils progress better in streamed classes - providing it is well staffed.

Before mixed ability classes became the norm in Scottish schools, low ability groups tended to be taught by the weakest and least experienced teachers.

Yesterday, Delia Thornton, depute rector of Buckie High, rejected charges that streaming only benefits clever children. She said: "I am not an elitist. My background in learning support (remedial work) is what makes me believe this system is in the best interest of pupils of all abilities."

Children in the lowest of the three bands of classes have made significant academic progress, she said, because they are taught in smaller classes geared to their level and usually have both a subject teacher and a learning support teacher.

Pupils in this group, who are often needy, with problems at home, have gained in confidence. She added: "Who wants to be in a class where they are always bottom, never quite catching up? We’re helping them to experience success. They are not afraid to engage in the lesson by putting up their hands in case they make a fool of themselves in front of their peers, which is what young people fear most."

Mrs Thornton conceded that with streaming, children in the lowest band can label themselves as "thick".

She believes the school has succeeded in creating a climate of opinion which discourages other children from labelling them and encourages weaker pupils to recognise their own progress.

Some teachers were wary, even hostile, of the change back to traditional streamed classes, she said. But she predicted that few would want to abandon the pilot as it is extremely difficult to teach classes in which some pupils can barely write the simplest of sentences and others are bored and underperforming as they find the lesson easy.

Streaming is essentially a continuation of the ability groups into which primary teachers divide their pupils, she added.

Mr Murray stressed that it would be difficult to attribute definitively any improvement in Standard Grade results at Hazelhead to streaming as it is one of a range of measures the school has taken to raise standards.

Last night, David Eaglesham, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, warned that streaming could lead to children being stigmatised socially and academically.

And he added that it is illogical to bracket children into A classes for every subject: "You could have a potential poet laureate who is not in the top set because he is not good at subjects other than English."