Setting - Jo Boaler (2005)

Question 1

Describe who/what was in Boaler’s study of settings and “psychological prisons” (3, what age group? What type of schools)

Answer 1

• students age 13-16 in maths classes at two different secondary schools
• school a = mixed ability classes
• school = b set c, asses

Question 2

what did the study find about the two schools?

Answer 2

• school a = no social class differences in achievement in mixed ability classes
  
  • students spoke positively about their experiences
• school b = students from poorer backgrounds did less well I’m set classes
  
  • students spoke negatively - one said it was “a psychological prison”

Question 3

Contemporary example about setting and streaming
(BBC NEWS) (3)

Answer 3

• controversy surrounding the grouping of children by ability from reception at primary school
• some teachers felt it was so ingrained in the education system and it wasn’t a bad thing
• parents were less aggreeable, one mother said she felt her son had been “branded” from an early age