Equity of class ability grouping practices in Australian education: Findings from a survey in Western Australia and Queensland.

Grouping students into separate classes according to their ‘ability’ is a socially inequitable practice that does not improve academic outcomes. Research has continued to show that class ability grouping widens the educational gap between students from disadvantaged and privileged backgrounds. PISA data analysis suggests that class ability grouping continues to be used in Australian schools, at least in Year 10. However, no research has characterised the existing class ability grouping practices being used in secondary schools from Years 7-9. The findings reported in this paper add quantitative evidence to the literature, showing that students are experiencing different class ability grouping practices according to their year groups, subjects, and locations. An across-state survey was conducted with respondents from n=147 schools providing data about the schools’ class ability grouping practices. The findings use descriptive statistics to outline variations in how class grouping practices are used by schools in Australia that have been not captured by other research, raising questions about the social justice implications of class ability grouping practices.Class ability grouping was activated differently in different schools, increased as students’ year levels increased, was most prevalent in Mathematics and English, and was used more extensively in Western Australia than in Queensland. The findings contribute to understandings of how students in Australia are grouped into classes by ability, which raises questions about how varied forms of class ability grouping may contribute to educational inequalities in Australia, and how future research is needed to better understand the extent and nature of the problem.