Composite Classroom Essay

A composite classroom is a classroom where children from usually two consecutive year groups are placed together in one class under the care of one teacher. In some cases where numbers of children across the school are small for example in a country school, there may be a bigger range of ages in the same class. Terms such as 'multilevel ', 'multiple dass ', 'composite dass ', 'multi-grade dass ' and, in the case of one teacher schools, 'unitary schools ' are also found in the literature relevant to composite classes.

Composite classrooms have been around for much longer than the single-age classroom. (Stone, 1996:5). The early Jews developed schools for young boys aged 6 to 13 and taught them in the synagogues. In the 1500 's, 6 and 16 …show more content…
This budget cut meant that many schools had to save money through staff reductions. This therefore meant that schools had to “compromise” with the creation of composite classes, with one teacher teaching more than one year group. As a result of this, multi-age education was not limited to just rural schools, created because of small numbers, but also in large, city schools, in places such as Belfast and Lisburn. The creation of multi-age classroomed schools in areas not traditionally accustomed to them causes reservations and doubts among parents of pupils. Research has suggested that parents often have concerns about sending their child to a school where their child will be taught in a composite classroom and need reassurance that their child’s learning will be on a par with those in a single-age classroom. Parents may also be concerned about whether their child is in the lower class of a composite in a larger school and if this will affect their child academically so I hope to address this issue. Through my research I hope to abolish these fears and provide evidence to support studies that have suggested that learning in a multi-age environment is a better education system for promoting academic achievement and social