‘Banding’ was proposed as interim measure back in 2007

A study commissioned by former education minister Louis Galea in 2007 had proposed the introduction of banding in primary schools as an “interim measure.”

The report, entitled ‘Transition from Primary to Secondary Schools in Malta: A Review’ had concluded that “streaming should be discontinued as from 2008-2009 with the Year 4 cohort” and proposed that in primary schools with a larger entry, an interim measure may be considered in which pupils may be grouped in two bands such that each class in each band has a mix of abilities.”

Alternatively, the report said that schools could choose to have mixed ability classes throughout but for some subjects (e.g. English, Maltese and Mathematics), they may group pupils in sets.

Moreover, the 2007 report had proposed that secondary colleges “may organize secondary classes as mixed ability classes and for certain subjects introduce setting or organise them in bands such that where there are four or five classes, these may be divided into two bands and where there are six or more classes these may be divided into three bands.”

Earlier this week, education minister Evarist Bartolo reassured concerned academics, educators and parents that banding would not eliminate mixed abilities but was necessary in the transition between traditional streaming and mixed ability grouping.

He was reacting to criticism by a number of academics who blasted government for introducing a system which would reduce inclusion and widen the achievement gap between students.

The new policy will see all state primary schools group students by month of birth from Kindergarten 1 to Grade 4, to classify and then allocate children in Grades 5 and 6 to classes according to banding on the basis of their results in English, Maths and Maltese.

In an open letter sent to Bartalo last week, 27 members of the Faculty of Education said that younger students will find themselves streamed into lower bands by the time they reach Grades 5 and 6 because younger students will not benefit from peer learning from their slightly older peers.

The educators also pointed out that the new policy will see children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds gravitate toward the lower bands.

Apart from the concerns voiced by members of the University of Malta’s Faculty of Education, who shot down the policy which they described as a “differentiated form of streaming,” Bartolo is facing criticism by the Nationalist Party and Alternattiva Demokratika.

Middle of the road solution

In comments to MaltaToday, MUT president Kevin Bonello said banding was chosen after long discussions on the acute problems springing from the mixed ability system in place.

“Banding is a middle-of-the-road system between mixed ability and traditional streaming. Its advantage is that teachers would be able to have classes with less ability variety at one go and therefore will be able to reach much more children than it is possible with today’s restrictions. This means that if teachers are given proper resources to work with and there is the much needed syllabi revision, they will be in a position to educate their students accordingly,” he said.

Acknowledging that each system has its own risks, Bonello said that although banding “is not the streaming system we had in the past” it might create difficulties for certain children.

“However, mixed ability has also created a form of stigma on many children. In fact one would be naive to think that children are not aware of who the good academic students in their class are and who are the less prolific. With the way the mixed ability system was introduced, children encountering difficulties were much more exposed as they were in the same class with high-achievers.”

A 2012 study conducted by MUT showed that 63% of secondary school teachers are against mixed ability teaching and were against the reform which scrapped streaming in 2011.

Moreover, 80% of secondary school teachers said that they have not been properly prepared to teach a mixed ability class.

“When educators have a considerable number of pupils in their class, such as 25, who have very different abilities, it is physically impossible for the teacher to adapt all lessons and teaching materials for a wide spectrum of abilities simultaneously,” Bonello said.

He said this is rendered worse when one takes into account the “vast” subject syllabi and children’s limited attention span for formal teaching.

“Such situations have therefore reduced teachers, in order to reach as much children as possible, to most probably choose some middle level which is neither good for high academic achievers nor low,” Bonello added.

Stressing that a pure mixed ability system “is impossible to succeed with the current syllabi and with a population of more than 15 pupils per class,” Bonello added that the problem was not exclusive to Malta.

Pointing out that other countries are opting to go for different systems to address this problem, he said “each country has its own resources and some have much more than others. If Malta, for example, could afford to have classes with 10 to 12 students each, banding would not be an ideal or necessary solution.”