There are three projects – two descriptive studies of within class groups, and a quasi- experimental study of a group work initiative, the SPRinG project.

The programme of research on within class grouping was a collaboration between Peter Kutnick and Peter Blatchford. A research proposal for a descriptive study of within class groups in primary schools, using the classroom map methodology, was submitted to the Economic and Social Science Research Council (ESRC). The proposal was successful and PB and PK were joined by Ed Baines who was the research officer for the research. This was The Primary Classroom Groupings Project (PCGP). After completion, the team were successful in another application to ESRC, for research which extended the descriptive study of within class groups into secondary schools. This was the Grouping in Secondary School (GRIS) project and Helen Clarke and Helen McIntryre joined as research officers. 

The results from these two studies gave momentum to a collaboration with Maurice Galton, University of Cambridge, who pioneered observation research in classrooms in Britain, and who had also researched group work in schools, on a proposal for an intervention study of collaborative group work in primary and secondary schools. This proposal was submitted to the highly competitive ESRC managed Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) which was a substantial Government supported initiative and highly competitive. Again the team were successful. This was the Social Pedagogic Research into Groupwork (SPRinG) project, a large-scale, four-year project on three sites – Brighton (KS1), London (KS2) and Cambridge (KS3) – headed by Peter Kutnick, Peter Blatchford and Maurice Galton respectively. Each site had a separate team of researchers. Ed Baines worked with PB in London, and also had a major part to play in the original proposal. In addition, there was a Scottish extension led by Christine Howe, Andy Tolmie and colleagues. 

The basic method of data collection in the two descriptive grouping practices projects was the classroom map technique, as described in the separate section on methods of data collection. Other observation approaches were also developed: first, on-the-spot systematic observations in the SPRinG project, which provided a quantitative analysis of the classroom context and interactions with adults and other pupils through the lens of time sampled observations on individual pupils, and, second, a quantitative and qualitative analysis of recordings of groups of pupils engaged in group work, again from the SPRinG project.  Teachers’ experiences of group work and the SPRinG project were also analysed.

The SPRinG project

The evaluation of SPRinG extended over a full school year, a far longer time frame than many studies. The KS2 study used a quasi-experimental design, with an experimental group of 32 schools and 849 pupils, and a control group of 40 schools and 1027 pupils.  Both sets of schools were in London. More details on the nature of schools and areas can be found in the references given.

The SPRinG approach sought to go beyond other cooperative and collaborative approaches by stressing:

• a relational approach to teachers’ and pupils’ interactions in groups,
• attention to classroom contextual features
• a strategic integration of group work across the curriculum and school day.

The basic underpinning logic, drawing on the eco-relational approach, is that teachers need to encourage high-quality group work by thinking strategically about classroom contextual features, e.g., the classroom arrangement of groups, their size, number, and composition, and the nature of group tasks, as well as relational features such as developing group work skills and how to support pupils during group work.