ABSTRACT
Criticisms of such forms of organization are not new. As far back as 1977, when reflecting on the implications of Neville Bennett’s (1976) research reported in Teaching Styles and Pupil Progress, I argued that:
That still remains my position over 20 years later. Teaching the whole class is a reasonably efficient and effective way of organizing pupils in order to teach many, though by no means all, the requirements of the National Curriculum. But the neglected art of small group teaching needs to be given a much greater focus of attention in professional development. In my judgment, probably one of the most beneficial aspects of the national literacy and numeracy strategies may be the stimulus they give to systematic, daily, small group teaching, not the prominence they accord to whole class teaching.
