Helen Hindle - @helenhindle1

My rationale for choosing to work with mixed-attainment groups  
The reason I feel so strongly about the importance of teaching mathematics in mixed attainment classes is because in the schools that I have worked in which did set, Pupil Premium students were disproportionately represented in the lower sets. The Social Mobility Commission report suggests that this isn’t unique to those schools, they found that ‘children from low Socio-Economic Status backgrounds…are more likely to be placed in low ability groups.’ (Shaw, Menzies, Bernades and Baars, 2016, Page 37). They go on to describe the profound negative impact that this can have on pupils’ future social mobility.

Equality of opportunity and achievement
If schools use examination and assessment results to group pupils then it is possible to see why pupils from low Socio-Economic Status backgrounds often end up in the lower sets. One of the conclusions from the Social Mobility Commission report is that, ‘Overall, family influences such as parental engagement with education and expectations have a strong effect on the educational attainment of children.’ (Shaw, Menzies, Bernades and Baars, 2016, Page 36). Parents who place a high importance on academic achievement are more likely to check that their children are completing homework, help with homework tasks, encourage their child to attend revision lessons and may even pay for private tuition. The report found that ‘Low Socio-Economic Status White British families tend to be less engaged in their children’s education …and this may play a role in explaining attainment gaps.’ (Shaw, Menzies, Bernades and Baars, 2016, Page 36.)

The dangers of limiting pupils’ achievements
Once pupils have been placed in a ‘set’ this sends messages to both pupils and teachers about what these pupils are capable of achieving. Pupils too often develop a fixed mindset about their mathematical ability, assuming that they are “rubbish” at maths and that there is no point in trying as they are only going to fail anyway. Hattie describes how students assessed as lower-attainment often ‘underestimate their achievement and, over time, they come to believe their lower estimates and lose the confidence to take on more challenging tasks.’ (Hattie, 2012, page 79). While research carried out by the Education Endowment Foundation states that ‘It appears likely that routine setting or streaming arrangements undermine low attainers’ confidence and discourage the belief that attainment can be improved through effort.’ (Education Endowment Foundation, 2017, Page 2).
Teachers often follow different schemes of work for lower attainment groups, thereby limiting the learning opportunities for these pupils. Research carried out by Wiliam, and Bartholomew revealed that ‘..teachers teaching bottom sets…had lower expectations of their students, frequently set work that was undemanding…used a narrower range of teaching approaches and hardly ever responded to students’ frequent requests for more demanding work…’ (Wiliam and Bartholomew, 2001, Page 7). It is therefore not surprising that once placed in a lower ability group pupils continue to fall further and further behind. Research conducted by Francis and Wong revealed that pupils placed in lower ability sets rapidly ‘begin to construct themselves as ‘not much good’ and ‘not academic’, with implications for their future learning, aspirations, and classroom behaviours.’ (Francis and Wong, 2013, Page 5.) These implications mean that once a pupil is allocated to a lower attainment group they are unlikely to move out of it.

Problems of disaffection and self-confidence
The issues with setting are not restricted to pupils in lower attainment groups. Nardi and Steward argued that there exists ‘a large group of learners who are ‘quietly disaffected’ and whose mathematical potential has yet to be fulfilled.’ (Nardi and Steward, 2005, Page 1). They conducted research into the attitudes of year 9 pupils in ‘middle sets’ and concluded that these ‘quietly disaffected’ pupils, ‘seemed to perceive mathematics as a demanding subject, in which only exceptionally intelligent people can actually succeed.  Lack of success in mathematics tended to be interpreted by the students as being due to lack of intelligence on their part, which led to overwhelmingly negative feelings about their own mathematical ability.’ (Nardi and Steward, 2005, Page 4). Research carried out by Boaler, Wiliam and Brown revealed that setting can also have a negative effective on the way that pupils in higher attainment classes perceive maths and their experiences of learning mathematics. ‘Approximately one-third of the students taught in the highest ability groups were disadvantaged by their placement in these groups because of high expectations, fast-paced lessons and pressure to succeed. This particularly affected the most able girls.’ (Boaler, Wiliam and Brown, Page 6, 2000).

​Problems of labelling and associated language
When working in schools that set I was dismayed to hear the language associated with setting from both teachers and pupils. Higher attainment classes were frequently described as ‘top sets’ while lower attaining classes were described as ‘bottom sets.’ The language of ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ sends messages about the desirability or undesirability of sets. I’ve heard teachers telling poorly behaved students that they ‘don’t deserve to be in the top set’ and unless their behaviour improves they will be ‘moved down’ a set. Poorly behaved students often do underachieve in terms of attainment because their behaviour had prevented them from learning successfully in their lessons. Too often these pupils do move down the sets once their attainment results show that they aren’t ‘top set’ material. I have also heard teachers deciding what certain sets are going to be capable of achieving before having even met the students in those classes. For example, I remember one teacher coming to me with his new timetable after seeing that he had a year 11 class, set 4 of 5, to tell me that he couldn’t be expected to get any C grades out of that class. At the time, he hadn’t even seen his class list, all he knew about the class was the set number.

Impacts of teaching mixed-attainment groups
When I have led departments in which practice has moved from setting to mixed attainment it has had the following impact:-

• Pupils and teachers developed growth mindsets
• Pupil collaboration became embedded
• Pupils were more active in their learning
• Student voice revealed that pupils' attitudes towards mathematics were much more positive
• There was far greater collaborative planning and sharing of pedagogy across the department, which lead to greater cohesion across the department
• There was a clear vision and ethos in Maths which both pupils and teachers could articulate
• Teachers' expectations of behaviour and attainment were raised
• There was far greater differentiation evident in the planning and delivery of lessons
• There was a wider range of types of activities evident in the planning and delivery of lessons
• There was a significant improvement in the % of pupils achieving or exceeding their monitoring grades in all classes and year groups
• Behaviour across the department dramatically improved, with a greatly reduced number of incidences of pupils being removed from the classroom and 'Attitude to Learning' scores improved across all classes and year groups
• Pupils' own expectations of behaviour and attainment were raised.

 
Developing my practice
Teaching is complex whichever way pupils are grouped. However, I firmly believe that working with mixed attainment classes made me change my practice. There is a myth that teaching mixed attainment classes is harder, a myth which I believed in until attending Jeremy Hodgen’s workshop at the first Mixed Attainment Maths conference. Jeremy pointed out that there are lots of countries in which setting in mathematics is not typical and that when these teachers move to England and are asked to teach sets they find this difficult because it is different to what they are used to. Teaching mixed attainment classes is for many teachers in England, different to what they are used to and therefore seems difficult. This is why I believe it is so important to build a community of mixed attainment maths teachers who are happy to share their experiences and ideas and to support one another to develop their practice of teaching mixed attainment classes.

​References
Ethnicity, Gender and Social Mobility
28th December 2016
Social Mobility Commission - Shaw, Menzies, Bernades and Baars,
 
It’s not which school but which set you’re in that matters: the influence of ability-grouping practices on student progress in mathematics.
2001
Dylan Wiliam & Hannah Bartholomew
 
Teaching and Learning Toolkit - Setting or Streaming
2017
Education Endowment Foundation
 
Visible Learning for Teachers - Maximizing impact on learning
2012
John Hattie
 
What is preventing social mobility?
A review of the evidence
March 2013
Professor Becky Francis and Dr Billy Wong
 
Attitude and Achievement of the Disengaged Pupil in the mathematics Classroom (Updated)
March 2005
Nardi, E. and Steward, S.
Students’ experiences of ability grouping— disaffection, polarisation and the construction of failure
2000
Jo Boaler, Dylan Wiliam and Margaret Brown

For most teachers being observed or having a learning walk can be a most stressful event however this can be magnificently compounded if the observer has no specialist knowledge of mathematics whilst evaluating a mathematics lesson. Consequently this can mean a teacher can unjustly be put on a performance contract and their career potentially ruined, when in fact they might be exactly what mathematics education requires.

A possible solution to this particular area of concern may be found in a report mentioned by Mike Ollerton at the mixed attainment conference June 2017, 'Made to Measure', May 2012 by Ofsted, in particular paragraphs 127 and 128. The evidence of the study of the report supports the fact that for senior leaders whose specialism is not mathematics, gaining an understanding of what the best mathematics education
involves presents a significant challenge. For mixed attainment classes to be successful and for teachers to feel confident to deliver such classes then we need to have on board the Senior Leadership Team. They need to have the right training or indeed be chosen appropriately for their mathematics speciality, if there is no budget for professional development.

​How does the observer measure progress in a mixed attainment mathematics class when as John Mason once said, “teaching takes place in time, but learning takes place over time” (Griffin, 1989)? Can the observer see that they may need to follow up with further sequential observations or learning walks? How can learner performance be effectively reported to management in a mixed attainment class?
___________________________________________________________________
Mathematics: made to measure, Messages from inspection evidence,
Published: May 2012, Reference no: 110159
''127 - Increasingly, subject leaders and senior staff also monitored provision through ‘learning walks’ (where several classes were each visited for a short time). These have the potential to provide leaders with a quick overview of teaching and learning and can be used for specific checks such as: adaptation of work to different sets/groups of pupils; consistency of approach among teachers; use of talk; and compliance with school and departmental policies, for instance on methods of calculation. However, schools’ records showed that learning walks were frequently concerned with checking generic features or policy requirements such as displaying lesson objectives, having seating plans, and making ‘next step’ comments in marking. They rarely focused clearly on the quality and mathematical detail of learning and progress over time; for instance, how well the activities were leading to the intended learning for all pupils, and whether the approach/resources promoted understanding and made links with prior learning”.

“128. A further positive development has been a broadening of leaders’ monitoring activities to include features such as scrutiny of pupils’ work; questionnaires or interviews with staff and pupils; and checks on planning, use of homework, assessment records and the quality of marking. These activities were sometimes distributed through the school year or they were concentrated in an intensive period of review of the subject. While in most of the schools the systems and structures were suitable, the lack of attention to mathematical detail impeded faster improvement. Sometimes a weakness was identified but then not followed up in the areas for development or linked to professional development. For senior leaders
whose specialism is not mathematics, gaining an understanding of what the best mathematics education involves presents a significant challenge''.
​
Griffin, P. (1989). Teaching takes place in time, learning takes place over time.
Mathematics Teaching, 12–13.

Going from the person standing up in a meeting when mixed ability was mentioned and being the one to say I don't think this is for maths, to being a total convert and implementing this in all of key stage 3 from September. 

I had attended the conference having trialled mixed attainment in year 9 and having had successes and learning curves. My biggest learning gain of the conference was getting past the in built I must stand at the front and do an example of a new topic because all learners don't know it. Helen Hindle's workshop showed how all learners can be stretched and there was no lid on learning through the key learning aids being on the table and structured tasks where learners pick their individual starting point. Pupils help each other whilst the teacher works the classroom with teacher questioning to get pupils to their goal. The learning journeys made this very clear to the pupils who were visually able to see their own journey.

The second highlight of the day were the Cre8ate maths resources with applications to real life. Ready made resources that were engaging for all types of learners and encouraged growth and progress, again without being teacher led pupils could achieve their goal. These resources perfectly complemented mixed ability teaching.

The key I learned from all the workshops is how to question for all pupils to achieve! 

Thanks you so much ! I now feel fully prepared and I am already using the ideas in lessons.

​I attended the first Mixed Attainment Maths conference in January and really liked what I saw.  In the past I have researched self-efficacy/setting and peer relationships and the effects on outcomes for lower attaining students so I am particularly interested in this area. The research that I read centres on the damage that setting does to students; but in my school we continue to set for ability.

This year is the second with a new Head of Maths who has a fresh take on setting. We have a new approach to banding and this has opened up the classes somewhat and the spread of prior knowledge is now greater and therefore a field in which these new ideas can be practised. As a result we are designing a new SoW for year 7 with facets of Mixed Attainment Maths ideas added in!

In my classes I now make a big effort to use mindfulness and the power of 'Yet', and my younger students are at pains to ensure they remember to tell me that they don't quite understand yet.  We use learning journeys so that they may map their progress and they get quite excited when they can measure their progress for themselves.  This worked very nicely with Year 7 when working on probability, and really boosted their confidence!

From the conference, I have also used an idea from Inquiry Maths which my (streamed top set) year 8 loved, as did my bottom set year 9.  I feel that a mixed ability class would really flourish with this sort of activity.  I have noted on many occasions that those streamed lower down in the sets tend to have better reasoning skills for shape but lack the language to approach questions on higher papers.  Time to reintroduce my WordWall!  I felt with these separate classes that a meeting of minds could work out really well, but cannot arrange such a meeting due to timetabling.

For most of my teaching career I have been assigned the bottom sets as this is an area of interest for me. I have had a few year 9 classes which have been fairly spread in ability and had a quotient of about 15-20 students.  In year 10, these classes have shrunk, in one notable year to 6 students, and these students are then in no doubt that they have been scrapped by the school and probably therefore by society.  It was a heart-breaking start to the new year.  I am interested in mixed attainment classes particularly for this class and going forwards, the challenges would inspire me to be a better teacher.
I was very disappointed when due to a disaster with the home plumbing, I was unable to attend the Sheffield conference.  I feel that this whole movement is one with which I would like to work collaboratively and to share ideas.  I would like more info, and more ideas!
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(As a result of Mike’s session the woodwork teacher is currently making me a set of geoboards and I can't wait to use them!!!!  Thank you.)

On a Saturday in the middle of June, I found myself at the Sheffield Hallam University ‘Mixed Attainment Maths’ conference.
The reason for my attendance was that I had begun to notice a visibly growing interest in the maths community, (particularly on Maths social media sites), about teaching maths in mixed attainment groups. I saw the conference as an opportunity to gain some deeper insight and understanding of the pedagogy associated with it.

I have always been interested in understanding different teaching and learning styles, and as teaching mixed attainment groups is an area I have had little experience of, I wondered whether it would be something that could work at my current school. I teach in a comprehensive school where classes are setted by ability group, however, as so often is the case, even in a setted environment there is a wide range of abilities. So, my hope was that whatever I would observe and learn at conference, I might be able to apply the principle of in my setted but widely varied ability group – fortunately my hopes were answered and that is exactly what I was able to take away.

The speakers at conference were a varied mix of people, from those who had tutored me during my PGCE years and people that I follow on twitter. Their views had a huge impact on my way of thinking in regards to educational pedagogy and had greatly influenced my approach to teaching and my interactions with students on day-to-day basis.
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The day kicked off with an introduction from a Prof Hillary Povey who had some fantastic ideas. One which sticks in my mind was the power of ‘YET’ (the idea that something is not clear YET but will become clearer later). I managed to have a catch up with Prof Hillary during registration. She is currently working part time and is involved in educational research. She spoke with great enthusiasm about the current era in education, in particular about ‘Learning without limits ‘ .She is hopeful that the new curriculum changes in Maths will bring profound changes into the educational system. Creating a system where we as educationalists have high expectations for all students and provision of equal learning opportunities to all universally rather than based on ability level. The previous era of such hope was in the 1970’s where some excellent resources for mixed ability teaching were developed, e.g Smile activities (a resource that I often use and found to be fantastic in meeting its aims) more resources can be found on the stem website here
https://www.stem.org.uk/elibrary/resource/25755

First workshop I attended was run by Tom Francome and was about Grid algebra by ATM. GRID Algebra is a visual and kinaesthetic way to learn number and algebra and pre-algebra.  Learners build links between numeric and algebraic expressions and numbers and physical movements around a grid. It was interesting to see how a simple multiplication grid can be used to improve students understanding of fundamental principles of algebra. I found it an excellent tool not only to tackle common misconceptions in algebra but also make students get hooked into the learning. Students can begin to solve quite complex algebraic equations without realising it. It of course lends itself very well to mixed attainment groups where students can move according to their own pace.

Second workshop was my highlight of the day. It was run by Andrew Blair, the creator of the inquiry maths website. He spoke passionately about teaching mixed attainment groups and his website is full of excellent prompts that can be used in any maths lessons.
He ran an activity with us to give us a flavour of how it would work in a class with students. It was an eye opener to see how a prompt in the middle of the page led us into quite a very high level of maths discussion involving the use of DESMOS to graph our findings.
It was very obvious that in his class, students would work in collaboration, building on prior knowledge and constructing their own path in learning mathematics with teacher playing the role of facilitator to help navigate this journey of learning.  Although Andrew intended to run his prompts in mixed attainment classes, I think they would be equally useful in a setted group situation. I envisage myself using these ideas in near future.

Third workshop was run by Colin Jackson and was an introduction to resources freely available on ‘cre8ate maths.’  Again, the way the tasks were set, they were extremely applicable to mixed attainment groups. The particular task that we worked on during the session was called ‘Building shapes’, again another fantastic low floor high ceiling resource.

Fourth workshop was run by Leann de Belder and was on problem solving in a mixed- attainment class. In this session we discussed different views on fluency problem solving and reasoning. The highlight of the session for me was the notion that students brought their own prior knowledge to the lesson, and attempted carefully set problems to help them explore their own mathematics, with teacher facilitating their learning through modelling and questioning.
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On reflection, of course developing lessons that are suitable for mixed attainment is time consuming but with collaboration from colleagues, we as teachers genuinely do have a mechanism in mixed attainment teaching to open up whole new segments of engaging maths to a wider student audience than we currently do in our current system of setting pupils.