Selection and De-Streaning in the Secondary Schools - continued
All of these three books are of crucisl importance to the debate on Streaming. The main voints to emerge are:a. Streaming in the vrimary schools is regular practice and very often
takes place at 7 not 11. b. Teachers' judgements of ability are influenced by the types of home fron
which the children cone, Middle class children tend to be allocated to
the unper streans and lower class children to the lower streams,
regardless of measurd ability. c,. The system is celf-validatine since the less avle children ir the
unver streams improve more then the more able children, while the
more able in the lower streams deteriorate more than the less able
children, d. The annual rate of transfer from one Stream to another was found by
Douglas to be 2.3% (Vernon rerards 107% as the winimum needed to
counteract testing errors.) e. Very often the A stream children ret superior treatment to the lower
streams in the fora of better equinnent and teachers. f. Many schools and teachers are successfully teaching children in non-
Streamed groups. ge Teachers on the whole suvnort streamine yet ere very often unaware of
what goes on outside their own schools (or even classrooms). In
particular they are imnorant of such facts as those contained in a-f
above. h. Parents, too, tend to accent streaming while renainins ignorant of
what it means to their children (e.s. that B or C stream children
rarely or never pass the 11+).
oO
These »voints seen to me to present a formidable indictment of streamins, but it is areuable that thev are all negative, vresentins no positive arguments in favour of non-streaving, and in any case that they apply only to the primary sector, I can only refer such a critic to Simon's book where he will find that much therein is indeed very relevant to Secondary education, Briefly, by adonting a more flexible avproach to teachins method (individual, rroun, class and team teaching); by substitutine previous achievement for comnarison with others as a yardstick and cooperation for comnetition; by anprroachine each child as an individual instead of as an apyroxivation to soue mythical class average; in short by treating every clam as the heteroreneous entity that it is instead of as the homogeneous entity that is administratively convenient to suinose it to be, secondary school teachers are at vresent teachins normal size classes successfully.