Looping (education)

Looping in education is the practice of moving groups of children up from one grade to the next with the same teacher.^[1] For example, a teacher who teaches a third grade class and then goes on to teach the same students, the following year, for the fourth grade. This system, which is also called multiyear grouping,^[2] lasts from two to five years and, as the class moves on, the teacher loops back to pick another group of children.^[3] This practice is particularly prevalent in Europe and Asia.^[3]

This is distinct from the teacher of a multi-age class, who teaches a specific range of school grades together. In this case, although each child remains with the same teacher for multiple years, the group of students being taught changes annually as older children leave the group and are replaced by younger students entering.^[4]

Background

It is believed that young learners experience a complex period of development and that it requires consistency, which can be provided by the looping learning framework.^[5] Looping allows teachers to address this issue by providing continuity as well as a stable and secure learning environment.^[2] It had its origin in Waldorf education, where the traditional goal has been for a primary teacher to remain as the lead teacher of a class for eight consecutive years, though in conjunction with numerous specialized teachers;^[6]. Waldorf education spread in the United States in 1928 after it was first introduced in Europe.^[7] During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the looping system was implicit in the educational structure, particularly in one-room schools where there was only one teacher available for all students.^[8]

Advantages

According to its proponents, looping offers several benefits and these include an improved student-teacher relationship due to the stability and emotional security provided to the learners as well as a greater opportunity for teachers to get to know them, leading to individualization of their learning program.^[9] It is also suggested that it provides more instructional time^[10] since there is less time required at the beginning of the school year on routines of procedures and familiarization. The "carryover" relationship keeps the class from starting from scratch on the next year of the loop, allowing them to gain up to six extra weeks of instructional time.^[11] Looping also facilitates better social interaction and could enhance a sense of family and community within the classroom.^[9]

In this method, teachers increase their knowledge about a child’s intellectual strengths and weaknesses in a way that is impossible to achieve in a single year,^[12]

Long term teacher-student relationships have been noted to result in an emotional and intellectual climate that encourages thinking, risk-taking, and involvement.^[13][14]

Relationships also benefit. Students, parents, and teachers develop a sense of community and stability. Shy students have time to get comfortable. Difficult students have time to get used to consistent expectations. As a result, teachers note an improvement in classroom discipline.^[15]

There are also studies that show students who loop tend to have better attendance.^[5] It is also associated with improved reading and math performance as well as improved conflict resolution and teamwork capabilities.^[11]

Disadvantages

Potential disadvantages of looping include:

• Restricting the ability of teacher to perfect a lesson through repetition^[16]
• Conflict/tension between students and teachers is not always resolved^[16]
• Lapses in an instructor's teachings aren't necessarily corrected later on by a different instructor^[16]
• A single teacher defines the character of the individual class, meaning each class carries with it its own unique and observable strengths and weaknesses throughout the looping grades.^[16]

References

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This page was last edited on 20 March 2024, at 22:51