The importance of children is a universally accepted concept in schools. However, do we actually listen to what children have to say? Rudduck and Fielding [2002. "The transformative potential of student voice: Confronting the power issues." Paper presented at BERA Annual Conference, University of Exeter, p. 2] argue that the voices of…

Introduction: Studies have investigated the beginning of the decline in motivation during the transition of students to secondary school, with a low point in year 9. However, there are only a few studies that have researched the course of learning and achievement motivation separately for high-tracking school students, although--following the…

This article discusses the pedagogic practice of ability grouping in government schools in Delhi. Despite practical evidence against homogenous student settings, ability grouping is implemented as a policy solution to reduce the huge variance in students' learning levels within a classroom. Research data is drawn from interviews with 110…

Many secondary schools sort students into 'ability'-based classes, but research shows that streaming students by ability is inequitable and does not improve student academic results. There has been little qualitative research that considers students' experiences of streaming, with none that compares students' experiences in classes that are…

School district administrators must address structural racism and inequitable access to advanced learning opportunities in their school districts. District administrators in one large district in the northwestern part of the United States sought research-based advice by asking the authors to provide the answer to the "million-dollar"…

Background: South Africa is a country with a reading crisis: 81% of Grade 4 learners are unable to read for meaning in Grade 4. Teaching methods and practices have been identified as a primary cause; there is an over-reliance on choral methods, very little focus on meaning, weak feedback and assessment, and little interaction with books. Aim: This…

With the large number of online courses currently available, learners may have difficulty choosing the appropriate course, so online education institutions have launched a free trial marketing approach. The factors influencing learners' continuous usage of online courses in the mode of course trial have become a prominent and meaningful topic.…

Ability grouping has attracted worldwide attention in relation to various subjects among different countries and regions. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between ability grouping and students' mathematical academic achievement in the Confucian Asian countries. Thus, in this study, we aimed to determine how different types of…

Grouping students in terms of ability and aptitude is assumed to be advantageous, given that high-performing students may be stimulated more while low-performing students may be supported more. However, studies on ability grouping often provide mixed results. Additionally, although ability grouping is a common practice in the Philippines, it has…

Despite research highlighting the negative impact of ability grouping on student outcomes in mathematics, the practice seems entrenched in New Zealand schools. The Ministry of Education launched a professional development initiative with the aim that mathematics lead teachers would drive change towards teaching in mixed-ability groups using a…

Grouping students into separate classes according to their 'ability' is an inequitable practice that does not, overall, improve academic outcomes. Research has continued to show that class ability grouping widens the educational gap between students from disadvantaged and privileged backgrounds. PISA data analysis suggests that class ability…

This study estimates the effect of between-class ability grouping on Chilean secondary students' academic achievement. We rely on a structural feature of the school system: A considerable number of students who complete primary school must change schools to start their secondary education. Cardinality matching was performed to account for…

This study investigated potential inequalities in a bilingual education program where secondary school students are streamed into two strands with different degrees of exposure to the target language based on their proficiency: high exposure (HE) and low exposure (LE). Drawing on classroom registers (Christie, 2005), appraisal theory (Martin &…

This paper explores the peer relationship experiences of 23 primary-school children who had been designated as "lower-attaining". It is written against the backdrop of the mental health crisis among young people in Britain. Using John Macmurray's principles of equality and freedom as underpinning positive personal relationships, it…

Extant research has observed that educational expectations are malleable and adjust in response to educational inputs such as the position in a stratified level of education. Examining two distinct forms of curricular differentiation introduced in the comprehensive Spanish educational system (low-ability grouping programmes), I study whether two…