This research by the University of Strathclyde shows that children who study in composite classes – where pupils in different year groups are taught together – perform better than those in single-year cohorts.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Strathclyde, using Scottish pupils’ data, finds that the gains are particularly pronounced for pupils in early primary, with the improved literacy and numeracy performance of P1 pupils in composite classes roughly equivalent to the attainment gap between the average pupil and pupils living in the most disadvantaged areas of Scotland.
The study found that P1 pupils benefit from sharing composite classrooms with P2 pupils, with every additional older pupil raising the P1 pupils’ numeracy performance by around one percentage point. The effects on literacy were slightly larger at 1.3 to 1.5 percentage points.
The researchers concluded that the gains being created by composite classes are roughly equivalent to the attainment gap between the average pupil and a pupil in one of the 20 per cent most deprived data zones in Scotland.
The results for P4 and P7 pupils were less clear cut but suggestive of similar patterns, said the researchers. The researchers also found that the benefits of composite learning in P1 did not persist when the pupils were tested again at P4 level. This suggests that costs and benefits are either short-lived and wash out over time, or that there is a lack the statistical precision to detect these long-run effects.