Teacher's perception on the effects of ability grouping in secondary schools / Mizna Hassan

Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to gain an understanding on the perception of teachers on ability grouping at the secondary school level. The author pursued to answer whether teachers have an overall positive perception of ability grouping or not. The data were gathered from 2 secondary schools in Male', using a quantitative descriptive research. Survey questionnaire were used to collect data from 105 randomly selected secondary teachers. The response rate is 100% (n=105). The findings have revealed that the teacher's over all perception were mostly positive, although there were some mixed responses, indicating that teachers have an overall positive perception on ability grouping. The findings of this study provided evidence that teachers have favourable perception towards ability grouping despite several negative literature on the subject. The favourable perception found in this study serve as a leverage to continue the practice of ability grouping in secondary schools.

Keywords: ability grouping, teacher's perception, tracking.