Effects of Streaming on Academic Performance in Masvingo, Zimbabwe

This book examines the effects of streaming on pupils' academic performance in Masvingo urban secondary schools. In Zimbabwe, and other Southern African countries, streaming has been a much used and sometimes misused approach, in meeting the diverse needs of pupils. The qualitative survey design was adopted for use and data was collected using questionnaires, observation checklists and interviews. It established that there is a direct and positive correlation between placement in high ability classes and high performance and also placement in low ability classes and low performance. The results of this study also revealed that low ability pupils received low quality instructions, few text books, less attention from teachers and were also taught by negatively labeled teachers, temporary and student teachers, while high ability classes were labeled positively, receiving maximum support from teachers. The research proposed that heterogeneous grouping be adopted, that schools allocate experienced and positively labelled teachers to low ability classes and that teachers should use positive labels to stimulate interest among pupils at the same time building pupils' self concepts.