Organisation patterns of mathematics teaching in single-age and multi-age classrooms – a comparison between two Swiss cantons

Abstract

Focusing on mathematics education at primary schools in the Swiss cantons of Thurgau and Graubünden, our study aimed to find out how the self-reported use of particular teaching methods and forms of social organisation differs between single-age classes and multi-age classes. The survey was conducted among experienced teachers and teachers at the beginning of their professional career. The database thus permits comparisons between two cantons, experts and novices as well as between single-age and multi-age classes. Our findings indicate that the groups reported far more commonalities than differences with respect to how they organise mathematics lessons. Furthermore, we were able to extract six factors which can be interpreted as different organisation patterns (i.e. profiles).