Oct 19, 2007 - Selfâesteem and Friendships within a Comprehensive School, Educational Psychology in Practice: theory, research and ... 1983; Forman, 1988; Woodward, 1998; and .... pupils were in the top group (49 girls, 27 boys), 75.
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Streaming, Self‐esteem and Friendships within a Comprehensive School W. Ray Crozier , Val Rees , Ann Morris‐Beattie & Wynford Bellin Published online: 19 Oct 2007.
To cite this article: W. Ray Crozier , Val Rees , Ann Morris‐Beattie & Wynford Bellin (1999) Streaming, Self‐esteem and Friendships within a Comprehensive School, Educational Psychology in Practice: theory, research and practice in educational psychology, 15:2, 128-134, DOI: 10.1080/0266736990150211 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0266736990150211
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W. Ray Crozier, Val Rees, Ann Morris-Beattie and Wynford Bellin Summary
Measures of self-esteem, as assessed by the Harter Self-Perceived Profile for Children, and sociometric nominations were made prior to, and subsequent to streaming in the first year of a comprehensive school. Although the sample as a whole gained in self-esteem from one testing to the other, pupils destined to join the special needs stream had lower self-esteem on three sub-scales than their peers within a few weeks of starting school, and this difference persisted after streaming. There were changes in reciprocal sociometric choices that involved pupils in the special needs stream. The study shows the value of taking a multi-dimensional approach to self-esteem and assessing the impact of streaming through longitudinal rather than cross-sectional design.
Introduction Despite extensive educational reorganisation and reform, streaming has persisted in secondary education and continues to attract considerable debate (Gewirtz et al, 1995). This study is concerned with one area of debate, the impact upon the selfesteem of lower-achieving pupils. A substantial body of research has demonstrated links between selfesteem and academic achievement (Marsh, 1993), and there is evidence that children with learning difficulties have less positive self-concepts than their peers, a pattern of findings that is more consistent when self-esteem is treated as a multi-dimensional construct (Kloomok and Cosden, 1994). However, research into the impact of streaming upon the selfesteem of students presents a less clear picture, and this is the focus of this study. Theories of the self do not give unambiguous guidance as to the influence of the classroom context upon the self. To the extent that streaming draws 128
attention to failure experiences it could be argued that these serve to diminish academic self-esteem. This may be reinforced by the labelling and low expectations that are associated with lower-stream classes. Alternatively, the positive support that students may find in streamed classes and the less conspicuous comparisons that are made with more able peers might be expected to boost self-esteem, particularly if the class becomes the student's frame of reference for self-evaluation (Marsh and Parker, 1984). Nor are research findings decisive, and Hallam and Toutounyi (1996) concluded that the findings on the effects of grouping by ability are often complex and difficult to interpret. Gomm (1995) has argued that recent literature on streaming and banding has not consistently reported any depressing effect on the selfesteem of low-stream students (eg Reid et al, 1981; Smith, 1980; Dar and Resh, 1986). Comparisons of children with learning difficulties who are integrated into the mainstream with those in separate classes tend to report no differences in self-esteem (Coleman, 1983; Forman, 1988; Woodward, 1998; and Yauman, 1980). However, Ribner (1978) and Howells (1997) found more negative self-concepts among children with learning and behaviour problems in mainstream classes in comparison with those receiving segregated provision within the same school. A clearer picture might emerge if research were to treat academic self-esteem as one facet of a multidimensional self, that is, if it recognises that an individual's level of self-esteem can vary from one domain to another, so that someone with low academic self-esteem might have a more positive selfimage where, say, performance in sports was concerned. Relying on an overall index of self-esteem fails to capture such a differentiated profile of selfperceptions. Thus, for example, Leondari (1993)
Educational Psychology in Practice Vol 15, No 2, July 1999
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found that differences between normally and lowachieving students in regular classes and special classes were restricted to dimensions of academic selfesteem and global self-worth. This study examines self-esteem as a multi-dimensional construct and uses a measure designed to assess self-esteem across a number of domains of the self. Research into the effects of streaming would also benefit from studies that were designed to compare students before and after reorganisation. Predictions that are made about the effects of school organisation are essentially predictions about change, and it is difficult to test these by relying, as does much research, on cross-sectional research designs. The relationship between streaming and self-esteem may be influenced by the effect of streaming upon social status and friendship patterns. Children who are popular, in terms of number of sociometric nominations, have higher self-esteem than less popular children (Asher et al, 1984). Children who are less often nominated tend to do less well academically, and appear to be at greater risk of dropping out of school during high-school years (Parker and Asher, 1987). Siperstein et al (1997) report that, in comparison with their peers who do not have learning difficulties, those with such difficulties are more likely to have rejected or neglected social status. Friendship with individual peers is an important source of social support and helps foster a sense of self-worth, for example, Berndt and Keefe (1995) and Ladd (1990) have shown that adjustments to school are influenced by children's friendships. Tendencies for streaming to disrupt friendship patterns might be expected to influence the self-esteem of children. The aim of this study is to investigate changes in measures of self-esteem and sociometric status following streaming within a British secondary school. The study is designed such that children were tested shortly after arriving at their new secondary school, and were tested again later in the school year after the cohort had been divided into streams.
Method Design This study was carried out in one British comprehensive school. The design of the study is longitudinal; pupils completed measures of selfesteem and sociometric status on two occasions, the first soon after joining secondary school and the second after streaming had taken place. Pupils were
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initially placed in 'mixed ability' tutor groups. There was no initial allocation to groups based on primary school estimates of ability or Statements of special educational needs. Friendship groups indicated by the feeder primary schools were acknowledged and children were placed with two or three peers in a pastoral group. The school's policy was to stream pupils at the end of the first term. Assessment comprised both continuous assessment and internal examinations in English, maths, history and science. After the examination period, pupils were allocated to their streamed classes for differentiated teaching. Pupils began their second term streamed into classes within three ability groups: high ability (labelled in this study, 'top'), special needs, and those children placed between these groups (labelled here, 'middle'). The tutor group remained unchanged as a pastoral group and the tutor was responsible for the pastoral care of the members of this group.
Materials The Harter Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) is designed to tap children's specific judgements of adequacy in five separate domains as well as their global perception of their worth as a person. It provides scores on six sub-tests: Scholastic Competence, Social Acceptance, Athletic Competence, Physical Appearance, Behavioural Conduct, and Global Self-Worth. The test has been extensively used in educational research, and considerable evidence attests to its reliability and construct validity (Renick and Harter, 1989). The instrument consists of 36 paired statements, six pairs for each of the six sub-tests. Each of the pair of statements describes a hypothetical child. To make a response, a child decides which of the two described children is more like him or herself, and also whether this similarity is strong or not quite so strong. These four possible answers are scored from 1 to 4, in the direction of positive self-perceptions. Mean item scores are calculated for each of the six sub-tests, with a higher score reflecting higher level of self-esteem. The sociometric test is designed to elicit pupils' positive nominations in the areas of the classroom, the playground, and an out-of-school activity. In this administration of the test, pupils were invited to make as many positive choices as they wished, and no negative nominations were elicited. The number of choices each pupil received was recorded, and provided an index of sociometric status. In addition, the pattern of choices among individuals was
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recorded in sociograms, revealing the network of interpersonal relations among group members.
Participants The participants were the pupils who joined the school at the beginning of the academic year (N = 173, 88 girls, 85 boys). Following streaming, 76 pupils were in the top group (49 girls, 27 boys), 75 in the middle group (32 girls and 43 boys), and 22 in the special needs group (7 girls, 15 boys).
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Procedure The pupils completed the Harter Self Perception Profile for Children and the sociometric test in October, approximately six weeks after entering the school. During the following April, approximately four months after streaming, the pupils again completed the Harter scale and the sociometric test. On each occasion, testing was carried out as a group activity during the pastoral lesson with all groups being tested at the same time.
Results 1. Self-esteem The hypotheses concern (1) differences between the special needs group and the other two streamed groups on the six sub-scales of the Harter measure; (2) changes following streaming on these six subscales within the special needs group, relative to changes within the two other streamed groups. The first step in testing these hypotheses entailed calculating the scores of the three groups on the six sub-scales and submitting these to a mixed-design analysis of variance using SPSS program MANOVA. One pupil in the special needs group did not complete all the Harter items and is excluded from the following analyses and associated tables. The between-participants factor was Group (three levels - top, middle, special needs). The within-participants factors were Time of Testing (two levels) and Subscales (six levels). Table 1 presents the mean scores on the sub-scales of the three streamed groups, before and after streaming. In order to test the hypothesis that any changes in self-esteem following streaming were modified by the effect of membership of streamed group, the triple interaction term, Group x Time x Sub-scales was examined. This term did not reach the conventional level of significance (F [10, 845] = 1.18,P = .303).
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The two-way interaction, Group x Time, was examined to test whether, for the Sub-scales taken together, streaming had a significant effect depending on which group the pupils belonged to. This term was not significant (F [2, 169]
