Both of my in-laws are retired teachers, so I plan to pick their brains about this as well, but they retired a number of years ago and I know the profession moves forward and things change. So their opinions might be slightly out-of-date.
With that precursor out of the way - I'm wondering what is the current thinking among educators with regards to split classes (or "multi-age" classes)? What would be the reasoning for an elementary school to have exclusively multi-age classes, even though there are multiple classes at each level (i.e. multiple 1/2 splits, multiple 3/4 splits, etc.)? To me it seems like an advanced child would thrive in the younger grade of a multi-age class, but then would be bored in the older year of the multi-age class? And for a slower child, wouldn't they struggle being in a class with older kids learning more advanced material? And isn't it way more work for the teacher to manage? There is enough children in each grade to have dedicated Grade 1, Grade 2, etc. classes.
I guess I'm only really seeing downsides and not able to see what the potential upsides are. And really not sure why the entire school would be structured in this multi-age fashion.
Advice/input appreciated from any of the educators here or any parents who have experience with this type of learning setting!!
