Grouping students and school schedules: When looks are deceiving

Abstract

This article deals with the question of educational tracking and offers different considerations concerning the meaning and social and educational consequences of grouping pupils in this way. Drawing in different research in the field within other educational systems, the article discusses questions relating to the explicit or implicit criteria for the formation of groups of pupils; the achievement of tracking-grouped students; the quality of teaching carried out whithin those groups; the assignement of teachers to the different groups, and the phenomenon of pupil polarization in schools. Finally, some reflexions are made on the need to mantain certain frameworks of flexibility and individualization in teaching in contexts where tracking exists.