ABSTRACT
The purpose for this study was to investigate the strategies
adopted by Physical Education (PE) teachers to manage students’ diversity in
Mixed Ability Classes (MAC) and also to examine the factors that influence
teachers’ choice of teaching strategies for MAC during instruction as well as
the challenges teachers encounter in teaching MAC. Descriptive survey design
was adopted for the study. The entire population of 135 trained PE teachers was
purposively sampled for the study. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard
deviation) and inferential statistics (multiple regressions) were used in
analyzing and discussing the result. The findings of the study revealed that
whole class teaching strategies (M=2.98, SD=0.63) is the most frequently used
teaching strategy by Senior High School (SHS) PE teachers in Central Region.
Station teaching (M=2.54, SD = 1.04) was the rarely used teaching strategy by SHS
PE teachers in Central Region. The findings also revealed that the amount of
space available to a teacher influences their decision to use group/cooperative
(S.E. =1.009, B= 1.95, < 0.05).
The use of station teaching is influenced by the amount of teaching time
available to them (S.E=0.953, B=1.13, P ˃ 0.05). It is concluded,
the predominant use of whole class teaching coupled with the challenges
PE teachers in Central Region encounter in their MAC will limit their ability
to cater for the needs of students. It is recommended that the Ministry of
Education (MoE) in conjunction with other stakeholders should provide and
supply adequate facilities and equipment for the teaching of PE.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Any group of students are likely to demonstrate considerable
variation in their learning characteristics and behaviors. When the group
includes students with learning deficiencies or other learning disorders, the
amount of variation in learning is significantly increased. The diverse
learning characteristics displayed by students in today’s schools make it necessary
for teachers to implement a wide variety of activities in their classes
(Bender, 2012). This study explores how Physical Education (PE) teachers in the
Central Region of Ghana manage students’ diversity in a Mixed Ability Classroom
(MAC).
This chapter is the introductory section of the study which
presents the general background to the study, statement of the problem, purpose
of the study, research questions, and significance of the study, delimitation
and limitations, definition of terms and organization of the study.
Background to the Study
When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class
at the same time, chances are, one-third of the kids already know it; one-third
will get it; and the remaining one-third will not. So two-thirds of the
children are wasting their time (Katz, 1988). This is particularly true because
students enter classes with vastly different and varied skill sets, levels of
confidence and interests. Any group of students is likely to demonstrate
considerable variation in their learning characteristics and behaviours
(Gentry, Sallie, & Sanders, 2013).
Diversity is apparent in PE class and is a challenge to engage
all of these students in the PE class (Kiley, 2011; Hess, 2001). The diverse
learning characteristics displayed by students in today’s schools make it
necessary for teachers to implement a wide variety of activities in their
classes (Bender, 2012). With the advent of inclusive education, the handicapped
students are more frequently taught in the regular education setting, as well
as the gifted and talented ones. This creates a more heterogeneous grouping of
students. Even the best trained and most willing teachers have difficulty
meeting the diverse needs of their heterogeneous classes, let alone the special
requirements of students with moderate to severe disabilities (Tomlinson,
2004).
To be able to meet the needs of all students in the MAC,
teachers must use different instructional strategies or teaching methods,
resources/materials and appropriate grouping techniques that suit the level of
the students and the content being taught. Through the use of differentiated
instructional strategies, educators can meet the needs of all students and help
them meet and exceed the established standards (Levy, 2008). Though most
teachers and administrators are not familiar with the term differentiated
instruction, the foundations from which it evolved are known by them. It
evolved on the foundation that all students differ in one way or the other
therefore content, process, and product must be adjusted to support individual
needs so that each student can become an active member of a learning community
(Tomlinson, 1999). This objective can be accomplished by choosing appropriate
teaching methods to match each individual student’s learning needs (Adami,
2004).
Teaching and learning usually involve instruction (Delvin,
Kift, & Nelson, 2012). Instruction may be teacher centered, student
centered or dialogue oriented (Ebert, Ebert & Bentley, 2011). Teacher
centered instruction is one way where the teacher decides what students must
know thus the teacher conveys the knowledge to the students as they
listen/imitate. In student centered instruction, the students are assisted to manage
their thoughts, experiences and make meanings out of them. The dialogue
approach allows exchange of ideas between the teacher and the students.
Instruction may be direct or indirect. Direct instruction has
the teacher giving instruction with little or no input from the students, as in
a lecture. It is often used when presenting new information. Indirect
instruction has both the teacher and students as active participants of the
instructional process. It is best used when the process of arriving at a
conclusion or product is as important as the conclusion or product itself
(Boleware, 2016).
Issues such as the developmental level of the students, the
instructional venue (indoors, outdoors, individual desks, tables and chairs for
group work, etc.), and the subject matter to be presented must be considered
when choosing an instructional strategy. Instructional/teaching strategy is a
frame work that arranges instructional environment for group teaching (Rink
1998). Generally speaking, there are a number of strategies from which a
teacher might choose but teachers must use a variety of these strategies during
instruction. As has previously been the case, students make up a diverse
population with varying backgrounds, knowledge and learning styles, hence, what
works well for one
will not necessarily work well for another. Therefore, the
teacher may well determine that a combination of techniques would be most
appropriate since varying instruction makes a teacher more likely to reach all
her students (Ebert, Ebert & Bentley, 2011). Classroom teaching is a blend
of whole-class, group and individual instruction (Hall, 2002).
A MAC can only be effectively taught if the teacher accepts
that every lesson cannot be whole class teaching with lessons controlled from
the front (Bremner, 2008). Students in mixed ability groups can maximize
learning when given personalized opportunities by working in pairs or small
groups during instruction (Dudley & Osváth, 2016). Pair work and group work
also offer greater variety within activities, allowing individual students to
work together with a number of different classmates in the same lesson and,
over the course of a term. The debate on how students of different academic
abilities should be organized and taught is probably as old as the introduction
of formal schooling in communities (Mafa, 2003). This debate has divided the
world of educational research into two distinct camps: one camp in favour of
mixed ability grouping and the other one for grouping students according to
academic ability. Mixed ability grouping affords all students equal educational
opportunities regardless of their differences in intellectual abilities,
special educational needs, gender, race and social class (Green, 2002; Mann,
2002).
Ability grouping is based on the pedagogical principle that
the teacher has the advantage of focusing instruction at the level of all the
students in the particular group (Ansalone, 2000). It is assumed that teachers
can increase the pace and raise instruction level for high achievers whereas
low level students can enjoy individual attention. Achievement is considered to
increase as teachers adjust the pace of instruction to students’ needs
(Mulkey et al., 2005). Ability grouping may decrease the self-esteem and
aspirations of low ability children and therefore decelerate their academic
progress (Welner & Mickelson, 2000; Ansalone, 2001; Wheelock, 2005).
On the other hand, teachers also face numerous challenges in
their quest to meet the needs of all students in a mixed ability classroom.
This is supported by Corley (2005) when he stated that, the greatest challenge
of adopting instruction in a MAC relates to time: the planning time that
teachers need to assess learners’ needs, interests, and readiness levels; to
determine key concepts and organizing questions; and to design appropriate
activities for each learner. Other challenges which have been listed by other
researchers (Corley, 2005; VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005) include: lack
of classroom management skills necessary to support mixed ability teaching,
lack of content knowledge necessary to extend and differentiate the typical
curriculum content areas, lack of materials/resources that would facilitate
teaching, lack of support or encouragement by the school leadership, lack of
relevant pedagogical knowledge and teaching skills to teach mixed ability
class.
Statement of the Problem
A typical Ghanaian Senior High School (SHS) classroom can be
likened to a mixed ability educational set-up. Students comprise advanced, moderate
and slow learners. To meet the needs of all these children, several adaptations
need to be made to facilitate the understanding of all so as not to
disadvantage any ability group. Different instructional strategies must be adopted so as to meet the needs of all ability groups.
Teachers find it difficult to teach adaptively or modify teaching approaches to
meet the diverse learners’ needs in a regular classroom (Kuyini, 2013;
Westwood, 2004). This implies that a category of learners are likely to be
excluded from actively participating in the learning process.
A study by Kuyini and Desai (2008) revealed that teachers
make limited or no instructional adaptation to support children with disabilities
found in the regular classroom. Agbenyega and Deku (2011) also found that the
pedagogical practices of teachers in the regular classroom in Ghana are
prescriptive, inflexible, mechanistic, and do not value variety of learning
styles of pupils. Again, a study by Kuyini and Mangope (2011) also revealed
that most street children in Accra dropout of school because teaching and
learning do not suit their learning needs. Studies have shown that teachers are
not able to meet the varied educational needs of students hence the achievement
of the students educational goals suffer.
PE is a subject area where attention needs to be given to
students of different abilities especially in MACs. This is because the
physical development of every student is very important to the total
development of that student in other to meet the educational domains. Most
importantly the health development of individual. Since the students are of
mixed ability and the concept of individual differences cannot be over
emphasized, the PE teacher must find a way in other to satisfy each pupil in
his or her classroom.
It is along these line that the researcher would want to find
out the strategies PE teachers in Central Region are adopting in other to
satisfy individuals with mixed abilities found in their classroom.
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