Schools can divide pupils based on exam results but keep some mixed ability. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Primary schools may choose to divide children into groups according to annual exam results as from next scholastic year, in a move aimed at restricting the range of abilities in the classroom.

Although it sounds a lot like streaming, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo is insisting that this new system is not streaming – it is called banding.

Unlike streaming, he insists, banding allows for a certain degree of mixed ability but the academic gap between students in the same class is not as wide as under the current system.

“This is absolutely not streaming. Streaming did not yield successful results in the past. But teachers are finding it difficult to cope with mixed ability classes. Banding creates groups in which abilities are not that different to each other,” he said.

This measure would apply to students in Years 5 and 6 but it will be left up to schools whether to apply it or not.

In spite of his objections to the “streaming” label, in the eyes of education lecturer Mary Darmanin “banding is a form of streaming”.

Teachers are finding it difficult to cope with mixed ability classes

She described the introduction of banding as “perplexing” and “perturbing” since it went against international and local evidence “that it is of any benefit for any group who need to raise their achievements”.

She said the university’s Education Department would soon issue a more detailed reaction.

The issue was brought up yesterday by Opposition education spokesman Joe Cassar who accused Mr Bartolo of forging ahead with big changes in education without consulting.

Dr Cassar said that, two weeks ago, state primary schools received a circular informing them about changes to be introduced in the next scholastic year.

According to the circular, pupils in Kinder 1 to Year 4 would be grouped by month of birth since, at that age, the rate of intellectual maturity differed considerably.

In Years 5 and 6, the criterion for grouping children would be the overall level of achievement in their annual exams in Maltese, English and mathematics.

The raw scores in these subjects would be standardised and sent to schools for heads to determine the bands and assign children to classes, which would have an element of mixed abilities, according to the circular.

Prof. Darmanin said she was concerned as this standardisation system was “less transparent”.

Dr Cassar said it was “worrying” and “dangerous” that the minister took such important decisions without consulting – as was the case with the introduction of co-ed and middle schools.

He called on the minister to hold a national conference to discuss the problems within the education sector. The minister insisted he had consulted at length with teachers, school heads and principals.

The Labour government, he said, had inherited a difficult system, as mixed ability classrooms were introduced without consultation, and teachers were overwhelmed and struggling. The introduction of banding, as an option for schools, aimed to alleviate this burden.

Banding would not be imposed. It would be up to schools to determine whether it would be beneficial depending on their size and students’ performance, he added.

“In education you never have a magic bullet.”

What is streaming?

The streaming mechanism, which used to pigeonhole schoolchildren in State primary schools according to their exam performance, was gradually replaced through a reform that came into force in 2009.

Under the old system pupils started being streamed in Year 5 after taking five centrally set annual exams in Maltese, English, maths, religion and social studies, in Year 4. Now students remain in mixed-competence classes.

What about benchmarking and setting?

The same reform also removed distinctions between the State’s junior lyceums for high achievers and the lower-grade area secondary schools.

Instead, all students in State schools now move on to mixed-ability secondary schools after sitting for a final exam.

Results are used to benchmark pupils’ attainment so that, in secondary school, they are taught in groups through a “setting” mechanism, depending on their needs in different subjects.

And banding?

Banding is a new concept that groups primary pupils in “bands” according to their exam performance in maths, English and Maltese.

However, a certain level of mixed ability is retained as students in close-ranking bands can be grouped together.