Is there a chance children in the slow/back groups in schools can ever catch up wih the rest?

[Sol]

With the current school system where children are placed in groups according to their knowledge/ability, and tasks are allocated in accordance to their level/group; is there a chance children in the back/slow groups can ever catch up with the rest? Won?t they keep falling even more behind?, when some children are allocated more challenging tasks and other not? I am not an expert in education and did not grow up here so don't understand the reasons/success of this method.

[DaveR]

Schools are supposed to monitor progress at an individual level so that kids are not stuck in an ability group and then forgotten about. In practice, a lot depends on how active head teachers and other managers are on this topic, and how good individual class teachers are at doing it. It's probably one of the more important questions to ask as a parent, IMHO.

My experience of the local primary school my kids go to is that kids do move between groups, and even within groups may be given slightly different work tailored to their ability, and there is also some specific provision for both gifted kids and those who are really struggling.

[canela]

not sure about older kids but my experience of key stage one is that kids swap groups as needed. there is a lot of difference at a young age as kids start literacy very differently. the school should be able to manage this so that slower kids feel good about their learning. has been very positive for my son.

[Bouncy]

Probably not, according the available research, and on average:

http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/approaches/ability-grouping

[Sol]

Thank you! That?s very useful information. I will definitely ask in the next meeting with the teacher. Last year the teacher said my son was above average; however my son told me he is in group 3(out of 5) for reading and maths and group 2 for writing; that doesn't seem above average to me; more like average. I did notice the kids that are in group one are normally the older children and/or children who have moved from private school; however not all. He is in year 1 and he went to a nursery where they had lots of freedom and playtime instead of structured learning

[canela]

whether or not it is average depends on how many kids there are in the top groups. and the teacher may be referring to a whole range of other abilities. the main thing to notice is whether or not the teacher is aware of your son's current learning abilities, and how engaged your son is at school.

my son started in the lower groups but i can see him making steady progress and that the teacher is involved with his needs. he didn't start school or any kind of pre-school until he was 5 when he had 1 term of reception - so others have had a head start with formal learning. but he is catching up.

i think though that all studies show kids which are older in their year do consistently better - especially boys. in fact, i even know some people who planned the timing of their pregnancy around this...

[Scruffy Mummy]

In my experience they move the children around as others have said. It is also unlikely that the teacher in your son's class is labeling the sets so overtly as to correspond to ability - i.e. just because you son is in a group named group 3 is is unlikely to be the 'average' group. Likewise if he was in group 1, this would be unlikely to be the top group.

[Ondine]

My answer to the OP would be yes there's every chance. Children this young have all sorts of development and growth to do and they are in no way set in patterns for their future academic peformance. FWIW my 5 yr old slow reader is now at 12 a gifted and talented all rounder. I remember her reception teacher calling her a butterfly (polite way of saying she paid no attention!) and at 6/7 she was assessed a few times for dyslexia but all that passed with time