ABSTRACT
This chapter explores set allocation and the extent of misallocation practices, as well as young people’s perceptions of attainment grouping and mixed attainment practice. We begin by outlining evidence related to the reproduction of gendered, classed, and racialised patterns of inequality through attainment grouping. We then consider the attitudes of young people to setting, concluding that bottom set students held most negative views, but also that all pupils become significantly more negative about setting after two years in secondary school. We explore the reasons for various negative and more positive views on setting in greater depth via analysis of interview data from pupils. It is noteworthy that low-set pupils experienced frustration, shame, and anxiety in inhabiting the ‘pathologised space’ of the bottom set. Our analysis also demonstrates how perceptions and learner identities of different pupils are shaped by the wider discourses around ‘ability’ and meritocracy, and constrained by the prevailing ideology of ‘ability’ hierarchy that supports the structure of attainment grouping in schools. Lastly, we analyse the attitudes of pupils of different attainment levels to mixed attainment practice, focusing on their explanations for their preferences or aversion to mixed attainment classes.
