As we acquire more research-based knowledge about how children learn it is imperative that we reflect
our findings in the day-to-day programs and operation of our schools.
In the past few years you have supported us as we strived to create learning environments that responded
to the needs of individual students. Traditionally, schools have organized around lock-step grades. This
is due in part because of the acts and regulations and because courses of study were designed to be
grade specific. Learning was believed to be lock-step and each grade built upon a skill level
established in the former grade(s).
Today we know that learning is developmental. Since all children develop at different rates,
organizations based upon rigid grade-specific curriculum is less appropriate.
Activity based learning with the variety of centres currently in place in all of our primary classrooms
allows the teacher to provide a wide rage of opportunities at different levels of development within the
classroom.
Our staff has taken the concept a step forward by providing primary programs that reflect
developmental philosophy over an extended period of time. Blended Family Classrooms or Multi-Age
Grouping is being proposed as a means of offering our children, individualized, developmental programs
with one teacher over an extended time framework.
Children like adults learn from peers who are both older and younger. For several months Mr. Abbey
and the Primary Staff investigated how Blended Family Classrooms are organized to support learning.
We visited other jurisdictions, held meetings and did extensive research.
We are convinced of the benefits and are excited about structuring our primary classes to include pupils
from grades one, two and three. We believe that we will better be able to meet the developmental,
social and emotional needs of the students to enhance intellectual growth.
North School should stress and/or develop.
It is the combining of two or more grades into one classroom. This organization is sometimes
referred to as a split grade or multigrade grouping. Blended Family Grouping is not new. It
has been an educational reality for many years. Some may associate the idea with the one-room
school of yesteryear. However, with today's emphasis on activity based learning with shared
decision making and more purposeful dialogue, children have a great deal more interaction with
what and how they learn.
This kind of classroom will focus on the needs of the learner rather than on arbitrary grade
levels and lock-step skill development. Blended family grouping can assist us in our attempt to
meet the challenge of individual differences among and within children. Programs of study are
driven more by innovation and shared decision making than on a predetermined series of
directed lessons for all children regardless of their interest or ability.
The concept of 'family' is integral. Just as older brothers and sisters help their younger siblings,
in these classrooms there are multiple opportunities to share and support learning activities.
While it sounds like the old one room schoolhouse and traditional split-grade organization there
are significant differences.
In the past students in each grade were required to learn a prescribed body of knowledge and
produce a specific amount of work. Failure to do so resulted in the necessity to repeat the grade
"failed". This produced a student with low self-esteem and little self motivation. Conversely,
students who were able to develop skills faster were often discouraged from moving forward.
Boredom became a very real possibility.
Teachers spent their days frantically covering the prescribed readers, phonics books and
arithmetic exercises while altering instruction from one grade to the next. Little consideration
was given to individual differences, learning styles, strengths, weaknesses and needs and stages
of development. It wasn't that the teacher didn't care. It was just that the prescribed programs
were so inflexible that students had to move in a lock-step fashion at precisely the same speed or
they were considered 'problems'.
Today, teachers better understand child development and pedagogical principles. We
acknowledge individual differences and realize that each child grows and develops at their own
rate. Ministry and Board guidelines support this individualization.
Educational programming should be based on the needs of the learner rather than on arbitrary
grade level standings or benchmarks. Within any one grade there is a broad range of stages or
levels at which the students are working. Blended family groupings can help us meet individual
student needs in a continuous, consistent program that is not artificially divided.
Research that focused on affective areas of development indicated significant gains in favour of
blended family classrooms - children develop more positive attitudes toward school; they felt
more secure; and were more co-operative in the classroom setting.
Blended family classrooms is an organizational strategy that along with appropriate teaching
strategies can produce a very effective learning environment.
It is an arrangement that encourages optimal use of differences.
Unfortunately, support is given to those aspects of a traditional organization with which we are
most familiar. As a result our support is often extended to a single grade in each classroom as
there has been a belief that all children of a similar age are and need to be taught the same
skills at the same time.
This is a fallacy.
In reality, here at North there is little difference in developmental levels, maturity and affective
skills between a 'straight' grade and a multi-grade setting. All of the students in a straight
grade do not receive the same programs and neither do the students in a split grade. Teachers
program according to the divergent needs and interests of the individual students. Remove the
grade label and all classes have the traits and organization of a multigrade grouping.
Dear Parents:
General aims and objectives
Definitive aims of the Primary/Junior programme
What is Blended Family Grouping?
ISN'T THIS IDEA REGRESSIVE?
IT SEEMS LIKE A RETURN TO THE PAST.
WHAT IS THE RATIONALE
FOR BLENDED FAMILY GROUPING?
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE STUDENTS
THE FOLLOWING YEAR?
Each new school year, approximately one third of the students will move into the next division or
classroom while new entrants join the blended family grouping. Thus, a new school year is less
disruptive and artificial for the majority of the students and thereby facilitates continuous
student growth and development.
WHAT ARE THE EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS
OF BLENDED FAMILY CLASSROOMS?
In general terms blended family classrooms should:
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS
FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN?
The older children provide considerable support for the new entrants. The younger students are
exposed to models of language and behaviour fostered and established with the teacher. A type
of family structure is in place to support the child. The children help and encourage each other
with their learning and consequently the younger students have much to gain from the expanded
parameters of the blended family setting.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS
FOR THE OLDER CHILDREN?
The older students learn a great deal about responsibility and leadership. They are usually less
anxious because they perceive the classroom as less stressful. The 'seniors' gain greatly from
their interaction with the younger children who in many ways provide an audience for the older
pupil. They can experience reinforcement and remediation in a less threatening forum. The
blended family classroom can be a cure for the 'bruised ego'. The teacher/learner roles among
the students become imperceptible. The older students know and understand the structure,
relationship, and expectations of the classroom - a more efficient arrangement that should
maximize learning.
ARE THERE OTHER BENEFITS?
Blended family classrooms provide a greater flexibility in the placement of children. The
matching of learning and teaching styles is facilitated. Imbalances in classroom numbers can
often be avoided.
WHAT DOES RESEARCH ON
BLENDED FAMILY CLASSROOMS REVEAL?
No evidence could be found to indicate that children in blended family settings did not perform
as well academically as those in single grade classes. The Bullock Report 1975 concluded that
deliberate vertical groups have distinct advantages in the development of reading skills.
Conclusions