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‘The participation group means that I'm low ability’: students’ perspectives on the enactment of ‘mixed‐ability’ grouping in secondary school physical education

Mixed- ability grouping is widespread in primary schools and in several subject areas in secondary schools in England. Notwithstanding, there is scant research on mixed- ability grouping in the education literature, particularly in terms of its impact on students’ experiences. The research reported in this paper employs enactment theory to provide original insights into the diverse practices and complex contextual factors that shape students’ perceptions and experiences of mixed- ability grouping in physical education (PE). Enactment theory acknowledges that school decisions about grouping policy are impacted by wider education policy and other contextual influ-ences, and that the expression of grouping policies in specific subjects and classrooms is navigated and negotiated by students as well as teachers. The paper draws on data from in- depth, semi- structured focus groups with 41 Year 10 (aged 14– 15) students in a mixed- gender secondary school in England to explore the different ways in which students are positioned and position themselves in the enactment of mixed- ability grouping in PE. Findings reveal many readers that mixed- ability grouping in PE in Key Stage 3 at Westfield was formed on the basis of students’ placement in sets for mathematics. The third section turns attention to PE in Key Stage 4 and reveals the ways in which ability discourses strongly frame students’ understandings and experiences of ‘mixed- ability’ (pathways) grouping in PE in this Key Stage. Attention is also drawn to the overt role of gender discourses in shaping how students are positioned and position themselves in the enactment of mixed- ability grouping in PE in Key Stage 4. In this Key Stage we identify enthusiasts , critics and copers . Across the three sections we identify and illustrate aspects of the situated , material and external dimensions of context that particularly influenced the roles that students were able to take in the enactment of mixed- ability grouping policy in PE in Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.