Multi-Age Practices And Multi-Grade Classes

Multi-age or nongraded classes are mixed-grade classes formed because of a philosophical preference and belief that learning is favoured in such classes. Multi-age teachers generally implement Vygotsky's ideas about learning - that it occurs in socially mediated situations where peers are important for both academic and social development (Bruner, 1986, 1996; Daniels, 1996; Dixon-Krauss, 1996; Goodlad & Anderson, 1987; Tharp & Gallimore, 1988; Vincent, 1999, Book 2; Vygotsky 1962, 1978; Wood, 1998). The learning process is a socially constructivist one, where students build up their own understandings through exploration in a social context. As a result, multi-age teachers encourage interaction amongst the students and especially interaction of children of different ages and stages of development. A multi-age classroom has a lot of movement, a lot of talking and discussion, a lot of cooperative learning, with an emphasis on helping each other and at the same time developing a self-directed approach to learning. The twin pillars of independence and socially competent behaviour are explicitly taught and practised.