Victorian schools shy away from ability streaming over self-esteem fears

Victorian schools are shifting away from streaming students according to ability over fears it leads to feelings of shame, anxiety and failure — even among high achievers.

Victorian schools are moving away from streaming students according to ability amid fears it is damaging to their self-esteem and wellbeing.

Northcote Primary School is leading the way, with parents recently advised that “our school is undertaking a shift away from ability grouping, more specifically, streaming students based on perceived academic performance”.

“Beyond purely academic considerations, we are mindful of the social and emotional effects associated with streaming, particularly in primary schools,” principal Shaun Wells said. “These effects encompass the negative impact on students’ self-concept, confidence, resilience, and motivation.”

Parents at Northcote Primary School were advised the school was ‘undertaking a shift away from ability grouping, more specifically, streaming students based on perceived academic performance’. Picture: Ellen Smith

Mr Wells told the Herald Sun the response “has predominantly been positive from the school community”.

A state government position statement on ability grouping notes that grouping students on the basis of ability leads to disengagement and feelings of shame and failure in low-achieving students.

It’s also deleterious for high-achieving students, causing anxiety over the pace of instruction, a competitive learning environment and fear of failure, it says.

Grouping students on the basis of ability occurs most often in maths, with students forced to choose between four year 12 subjects of varying difficulty: foundation, general, methods and specialist. Jennifer Bowden, chief executive officer of the Mathematical Association of Victoria, said her organisation supported the government’s approach.

Author and educator Kevin Donnelly says it was important to leave it up to the school community to decide.

“Streaming across different classes has negative effects and low gains,” she said.

“It is better to have differences of ability within a topic or area and have groupings that are random or socially based.

“It makes sense. Often students might be placed in the ‘wombat’ group and feel they don’t have a chance to get out of the burrow, knowing those placed in the ‘kangaroo’ group will have the opportunity to bound ahead. Those students in the wombat group are going to feel quite negatively towards maths,” Ms Bowden said.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said that “supporting students with different abilities to meet their full potential must be a focus of our education system”.

“Ensuring that students who need additional learning support can access it, while students who are excelling academically can continue to be challenged, must be part of how we design our teaching and learning approaches.”

Author and educator Kevin Donnelly, senior fellow at the Australian Catholic University, said it was important to leave it up to the school community to decide.

He said streaming “is generally a good thing in middle and senior schools as it makes the teaching easier”.