COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL TEACHERS ON WITHIN-C LASS GROUPING

The critique of tracking students by achievement is often accompanied by demands for individualized instruction or forms of within-class gro uping. Classroom observations have repeatedly shown that within-class grouping is rarely practiced in German classrooms, but there is little research on teachers' attitudes regarding the value and the practicab ility of different strategies of adapting their teaching to the needs of heterogeneous classes. The analysis of teachers' opinions on this i ssue is based on interviews with teachers, principals, and department heads conducted in five comprehensive schools. They give a vivid descr iption of their everyday working conditions which in their experience often preclude the development of complex forms of classroom organizat ion such as, for example, within-class grouping by achievement. They a lso point to conditions that are more conducive to a practice of indiv idualizing teaching strategies Ironically, these conditions are partly the result of across-class setting by achievement, which allows the e stablishment of smaller and more homogeneous learning groups and the f ormation of classes on the basis of students' motivation to study spec ific subjects. In all, the analysis of teachers' descriptions and argu ments does not support the view that within-class grouping might be a viable standard alternative to a more stable system of across-class se tting by achievement.