Photo: Unpslash/ Laura Rivera
Nathanial Swain is a former primary teacher turned education academic who says streaming classes by ability level is not the way to go to lift achievement.
Dr Swain is a Senior Lecturer in Learning Sciences at La Trobe University in Melbourne and the founder of Dr Swain's Cognitorium, an online community of teachers has 23,000 members and growing - many in this country.
He says teachers have to deal with growing workloads, staff shortages, and sometimes their own mental health issues as well as their students, so it's vital they use best practice in the classroom.
Dr Swain says splitting students into ability streams, or even splitting a class into smaller ability groups is not effective. Instead, he says 'whole class' teaching promotes excellence and equity.
Nathanial Swain will be Auckland this weekend to speak to the SPELD conference - SPELD is a not-for-profit organisation that specialises in assisting people with dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities.
