Pupil Grouping

Children are put into groups in order to give them the best learning potential and for their learning to be appropriate for their age and level of understanding.

working in classroom groups can enhance the achievement and motivation of pupils and help them to develop freindships and relationships with others.

Groups with children of varying ability in some subjects can encourage them to help and motivate each other, increasing their self-confidence. Some children would feel a great sense of achievement knowing they have helped another child.

The group dynamics will often change on particular tasks, where a more confident child on a task will take lead over a more confident child on another task. This gives perhaps quieter more shy children a chance to shine, where they have more confidence to interact and speak out and take the lead in a small group rather than in a whole class environment.

Some children can be easily distracted, so would work better in a smaller group with adult supervision to keep them on task and encouragement them to keep focused.

Children often respond better to problem solving tasks by working in pairs or small groups.

They will often learn the art of sharing and taking turns better in groups than in a whole class environment.

Potential issues that may arise in group learning could be that some children may take over the group and always answer before others, which results in some children being left out and feeling overshadowed, therefore not getting the best out of the learning situation for them.

Some children may become distracted or influenced by the opinion of others.

It could also cause ineffective communication between the group if some children are not understanding the task or some may be shy and introvert.

Pupils will sometimes be concerned about what their peers think of them and so be reluctant to put their ideas forward incase they are wrong, while others may want to show off to their classmates in order to gain attention.

Relationships with Adults

The relationship that children have with adults plays a very important role in their learning.
All adults are role models to children, and children will often look up to their adults, be in teachers, parents or other adults in their life, and use the examples they set as a platform for the way they behave themselves.
Children respond to expectations and instructions set by their adults better if the relationship is good, children love to please and if they like their teachers they will not want to disappointment them.
Good relationships with adults will enhance a child’s:
Self-esteem
Self-belief
Self-efficiency
Motivation
Aspiration
Attitude
Adults need to be aware of the different things that can affect a child’s learning and be ready to deal with issues as