Mixed-age classes: what do you think?

Family, Education, Health and Pets
21
We've had the Troll in mixed-age classes since fall 2012, in 2 private schools. Based on our experience, I would say that whether it works or not depends on many factors: the make up of the class, the size of the class, the teacher...it's almost impossible to say right out whether it's going to be positive or not. But the same can be said of regular classes.

First year in a mixed-age class went very well. It was a class for 3 and 4 year olds (oldest were 5 years, youngest turned 3 during the school year), our son was 3,5 at school start. Excellent teacher-assistant combo, nice kids, only one "problem" kid (a good boy, but pretty wild), involved parents. A success, and we felt our son really got a lot from being with slightly older kids.

Second year, new class. Not good at all. Now the Troll was the absolute oldest in the class (first to turn 5), over half of the 4-5 year olds were boys and out of them there were now 4 problem boys (one of them violent, and one of them totally out of control). Add to the mix a big group of 2-3 year olds, of which twins who didn't speak the language and weren't 100% potty trained and one very cute but totally hyper boy. Parents ranged from uninvolved to unable to contain their kids, and the teaching staff definitely didn't cope well with the group. The Troll went in total Rain Main mode and withdrew from the rest of the group, didn't care what was happening and threw tantrums every morning when leaving for school. Only good thing is that he was always very nice to the younger kids, unlike some of the other boys his age.

Last year, big switch to a small Montessori School with one class for kids 3-12 years old. 24 kids, 4-6 adults (teachers and assistants) present and extremely involved parents. It's paradise. The older kids help the younger ones, but at the same time they have their very own projects that they work on individually or in small groups. The younger ones work according to their abilities and fields of interest. The Troll is actually looking forward to school (most days at least).

So, based on that, I would keep an open mind, but I would look carefully for signs that anything isn't as it should be, and I wouldn't wait an entire year before reacting if there was a problem. We waited way to long and as as result it took a very long time to build back our son's trust and interest in school. But really, that conclusion would also be valid for a normal, mixed-age class.

22
Thank you all very much for your answers! I am impressed with a number of positive comments about mixed-age education. I read the similar topic on one of the german forums in my language and 99% of the opinions were negative, that's why I was seeing this system rather in the black light when I was opening the topic.

Also personal thanks to those sharing personal experience. If anyone else want to share his/her story on the topic I would be very thankful.

23
I don ́t have any experience of this yet, so can ́t give too much in the way of input. However, the school where we live is going to be introducing this (once the new school house is built), and it sounds like a great idea. The teachers all seem to be on board with it, and I believe that providing it is implemented well, it should be a beneficial system.

I think that it would (after a time) get rid of a lot of the bullying that seems to be quite standard over here, as it won ́t be 3rd class kids picking on 1st class kids in the same way as they will all be encouraged by their environment to have more friends of different ages. At least that ́s how it ́s playing out in my head.

:-)

24
I agree with you. I must admit that I worry more for the mixed classes for the grades 4/5/6, than for the first years.

25
Thank you very much for the detailed answer!

My daughter is now in the mixed group in kindergarten, and all the points mentioned above are true for her and/or for her groupmates. Unfortunately the last point is not applicable to our family as she has 4.5 years difference with her younger brother, so they will always have 4 academic years difference between them and will never have chance to learn together.

I would like to remark that all the mentioned points are related to the social side rather than educational. I don't know why, but I worry less for the social side (maybe because she is a girl and probably won't have fights with the older children, like the boys could have), but more about an educational side. Namely my concerns are the following:

- Suppose that the child is learning quickly enough. During the first two years he can profit from the mixed-age education by having possibility to join older groups in learning advanced material and fulfilling advanced tasks. But what would this child do during the last year when he is the oldest in the class? He will not be able to learn advanced material anymore and could quickly loose interest in learning.

- How is it possible to learn in groups in the same classroom? Could the children from one group concentrate on their task when the other groups discussing their own tasks?

26
Thanks for sharing your personal feedback. It's a pity that your son had a negative experience in school. Did that happen during his first 2 schoolyears?

I find the points you mentioned quite important, but I agree with the remarks that the same could happen in the normal classes. My daughter had a few "hard" children in her group in Krippe when she was 4, and these kids have been among the youngest ones but nevertheless were able to spoil life to the other children. The third point might be indeed more applicable to the mixed-age classes as it's much harder to control the class if the different groups are having different activities.

Unfortunately I didn't understand your last point. Could you please explain why do children fail to learn how to learn? In fact, what I like in her mixed group in kindergarten that the younger children quickly acquire the general rules and rituals from the older, so the teacher doesn't lose much time explaining the younger kids how the things are organized in kindergarten. I was hoping for something similar in the school.

27
Sorry, I only just noticed your specific reply/question.

Simply put, I believe that children set the pattern for learning early, i.e. how to behave in a class, how to learn and memorise things. This happens in the early and formative years of school and if you don't set the foundation right it takes time to recover. The first few years of primary school are in this regard critical (especially for the Swiss system with its streaming).

So this is what I mean by "learn to learn".

This is purely my opinion and I'd be genuinely interested in hearing from an experts in this field on EF.

The crux is whether you believe that mixed classes are good or bad. I believe that as a rule for mainstream education , they are not better than "normal" classes. Furthermore, based on my negative experience (note singular!) I am biased that they are negative. In turn, from my perspective, you are increasing any risk of class problems by having this additional complication for the teacher and class to deal with. And based on this are bad/not warranted.

28
Our three children are in mixed-age classes and are happy at school. In our school, two years are taught together though classes are split for some subjects. We are lucky with this year's teachers who all seem very dedicated.

Our youngest just started 1 Harmos ( 1st year Kindergarten in the German system). The teachers here seem especially committed because the system for th first four years Harmos (Kindergarten year 1 and 2 plus 1st and 2nd grade) is special.

Again, two years are taught together but for some things such as music lessons, excursions, etc. all four levels are combined. The classrooms are adjoining with a door connecting them. Teachers and students of all four levels know each other well. Children that are advanced socially and academically can complete the first four years in three years time while others that need a little more time can do so in five years. Children that go on a faster or slower track can easily transition between these levels.

We are very happy with this system and the flexibility it allows. At a different school in a different town where we first lived everything was much more rigid.

29
I agree with you about the importance of learning how to learn and how difficult it is to break a negative pattern. It took a very long time to get over our son's bad experience the second year in school. He had lost all motivation and cried every morning, saying that he didn't want to go to school amd that he hated learning. He also rejected everything about the German language. The new school had to gain his trust before even trying to teach him anything.

On the other hand, he is still in a mixed-age class and now it works perfectly; my analysis (bases on a negative and a negative experience) is really that the issue isn't about mixed-age or not mixed-age classes but about teacher quality, class make-up and parents not being idiots about their kids.

30
My son (now 4 y.o.) goes to a Montessori KG where kids of ages from 2.5 to 6 are mixed together. In my opinion it has a lot of advantages. I see all these listed by Dougal's Breakfast. I'm especially happy to see the kids learn to help each other, to be tolerant and kind towards each other.

But I also agree that it is only one of the factors.

While the teacher's qualities might be hard to evaluate (and its also very personal...), you might ask your kg how many children they plan to have per teacher. I'm not an education expert but I believe in a mixed-age group children need more individual attention. In our KG there are 8-9 children per one teacher, and it is working great. A regular KG nearby has 22 kids for one teacher... Even though they are the same age I hear negative comments from parents esp. regarding the social aspect, it seems it is just too many kids for the teacher to follow what's going on between the kids.

31
Hmmm. As a teacher with 20yr of classroom time, I will offer maybe a different perspective. Socially - age mixed clases are wonderful. Cognitively mixed - it can hinder developement. Piaget would squirm and swear. Right cognitive stimuli at the right time and volume is a precious thing. I currently have mixed ability and mixed age (up to 4 yr difference) classes, and I can see how difficult it can be for some professionals.

There are hard and fast rules of common decency of respectful existence in a group, a mixed class of kids with the usual difference up to 2-3 years will not have a problem with.

But I think cognitively age appropriate nurturing can suffer, since things really do slow down the larger the gap is (with corresponding cogn development). It's not only what do kids have to do but it really matters also how much of it and how fast. More homogennous class, easier higher standards.

32
Thank you all once again for answering in the thread.

I asked the principal about it during the parent's evening and she said that it would be 6-7 children from each grade which makes together around 20-22 children in one classroom. It's about the same number my daughter has in the KG right now (10 older +11 younger = 21 children), but as I mentioned before they don't really learn anything in the KG so it cannot be compared to the school.

33
My big hope is that she might go to the same class as most of her former and current groupmates from the KG. According to my daughter, most of her older groupmates, who went to school this year, were assigned in the same class. I am more than happy about the staff of her KG group, both this and last year, as all of the kids are well-mannered and come from the good families. It was a big relief for me in comparison to Krippe, where she had a couple of groupmates with bad manners.

34

Highly agree with your post as a teacher. Mixed aged group in early childhood and primary are a wonderful experience for kids. Anxious parents please calm, mixed-age will not affect your child's long term growth detrimentally. Of course, mixed age classes like all classes need careful attention to the each child's individual learning path.

Great point. Many of the detriments of mixed age teaching can also happen in a single age class! I've had nothing but positive experiences with multi-age teaching. Children will be exposed to negative behaviors from other children in a single age class - how teachers deal with these behaviors and how children learn to respond to others is a huge part of developing social and life skills.