Multi-age classes are made up of students drawn from different year levels. They may be established because of the uneven pattern of enrolment in the school, because of the small size of the school or where it’s considered that mixing students of different ages is academically and socially advantageous.
Notes:
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Multi-age or composite class data for individual schools will not be published in 2020.
The collection took place in March 2020 when school operations were severely impacted by COVID-19, so the department did not follow up potential errors in class size or class structure with numerous schools.
The 2020 class size factsheet with state level aggregate data has been published and is available here: https://data.cese.nsw.gov.au/data/dataset/average-government-primary-school-class-sizes-by-year
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Multi-age classes are often designed to match the organisation of the syllabus, which is based on ‘stages’ running over two years.
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From 2017, school size is based on primary enrolment rather than school classification.
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Historical data displays the data that was correct in that year.
Research suggests that:
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Class organisation "...will not determine either educational advantage or disadvantage..." (NSW DET 1997).
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The most important factors in determining student success are the quality of the teacher and his or her teaching. (Hattie, 2003)
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Multi-age classes may benefit students both socially and emotionally.
NSW consistently performs above the national average in NAPLAN testing. In 2019:
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The proportion of NSW students performing at or above the national minimum standard for Reading and Numeracy was above the national average in all four testing years.
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NSW is mostly ranked in the top three jurisdictions, along with ACT and Victoria, on the proportion of students at or above minimum standard and the proportion of students achieving results in the top two bands for NAPLAN performance.
Data source:
- Early Learning and Primary Education. NSW Department of Education.
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