Ability Groups: Do They Enhance or Hinder Children's Development and Attainment in Schools - Essay Example

I, for one, pondered on this, as some of my own students were unable to pass the learning outcomes in Mathematics even after several attempts. My reflections as a teacher considered the following questions: Upon thorough introspection, I have come up with the following insights. With regards to questioning my own teaching abilities and teaching strategies, I believe I have ensured that all children under my supervision had been given the relevant information in the appropriate order. Furthermore, all previous lessons leading to the assessment were present and correct and most children were achieving set outcomes.

Additionally, the children were all given the same revision time prior to the assignment, so why were these children still failing? Their attendance was satisfactory for the successful completion of the outcomes – thus could be eliminated as a contributory factor – and these children seemed to perform well in other curricular areas, meaning their ability in language was not contributing to the lack of success in their mathematics outcomes. I also considered the preferred learning style of each of the children involved but I was satisfied that there has been suitably targeted and that each child had been catered for during lessons and that a variety of stimuli was used.

Furthermore, these children did not seem to be experiencing problems socially or emotionally and were therefore not distracted in class. I also considered the fact that these children were not motivated during lessons as a lack of motivation, arguably, results in bored children who suggests Holt (1982), “learn to be stupid” in school. If this was the case then this would not constitute a true reflection of these children’s academic abilities. These children did, however, appear to be motivated enough and they did display an interest in what was being taught.