Is Ranking Children in the Class Really Helpful?

“Where are they in the class?” A question I regularly get asked by parents. Answering this question isn’t as easy as you might think. Of course as parents, we want to know how our children are doing in their schoolwork. But are we asking the right questions?

I could tell you that your child is in my top maths group. I’m sure hearing this might make you feel good and give you a bit of reassurance. But in a different group of children, in a different year, the same child at the same ability level, could have been in my second maths group. It’s all relative to the other children in the class.

When we compare our children to the progress of other children, what do we achieve? If our child is doing ‘well’, we might give ourselves a pat on the back, a reassurance that we are doing a good job as parents. If someone else’s child is doing better, we might feel deflated, that our children just aren’t doing good enough, that we as parents aren't doing enough. We ramp up the pressure and it all falls heavily on the shoulders of our little ones. What does this say to our children? They aren’t as good as someone else. The don’t measure up. Their best isn’t good enough. You might think that comparing them to their peers will spur them on, give them to motivation to improve. However, it's more likely to do a lot of emotional damage, waging war against their confidence and self-esteem.

So perhaps the questions we are asking need to change. Instead of asking, “Where are they in the class?” we should be asking, “Are they achieving their potential?” “Are they performing at their best?” “What are the struggling with and how can I help?”

Usually from Key Stage 1, your children’s teachers will be testing the children’s intelligence with a non-verbal reasoning test. These give an indicator of what your child is capable of. Then when your child does testing in literacy and numeracy, these scores are compared to the intelligence score, to see if they are achieving their full potential.  So the only comparison is with themselves. Your child’s attainment is irrelevant to what someone else in the class is attaining. 

Once we start thinking this way, it eradicates the need to rank and compare children. What matters, is your child as an individual. As long as they are performing at their own best level, that’s all that matters.

But what if your child isn’t performing at their potential? Have a chat with your child’s teacher. They can see where the gaps in their learning are and what needs improvement. It could be that they found test conditions difficult; no one enjoys exams and for young children, this is a new and scary experience. Remember, a test is only a reflection on what a child did on one particular day. It is not the be all and end all. If your child is consistently struggling and you think they may need further assessment or intervention, ask to speak to the school SENCo (Special Educational Needs Coordinator), who can advise you on the way forward. 

Every child is an individual, therefore we cannot look at each one through the same lens. Imagine a handful of corn in a pan. They are all heated at the same temperature, under the same conditions, yet each one explodes into popcorn at different rates. The same is true with children’s learning. One child may take to reading like a duck to water. Others may take a bit longer to find their feet. Comparing our children to others, is unhelpful, unfair and damaging to both them and us. So keep your eyes fixed on your child. If the neighbour’s kids are aces at times tables, good for them. Your child will find their niche, in their own time. Make sure you have your focus on them, ready to dish out the high fives when they achieve those little goals.