We find that bright children are rarelyheld backby mixed-ability teaching. On the contraiy, both theirknowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in dividing pupils into differentgroups. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on boththe bright and the not-so-bright child. After all, it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade!Besides, it is rather unreal to grade people just according to their intellectual ability. This is only one aspect oftheir total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full, not just their academicability. We also value personal qualities and social skills, and we find that mixed-ability teaching contributes to allthese aspects of learning. 

In our classrooms, we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups; this gives them the opportunity tolearn to co-operate, to share, and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to cope with personal problems aswell as how to think, to make decisions, to analyze and evaluate, and to communicate effectively. The pupils learnfrom each other as well as from the teacher. 

Sometimes the pupils work in pairs5 sometimes they work on individual tasks and assignments, and they can dothis at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is appropriate. We encourage our pupilsto use the libraiy, and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this effectively. An advanced pupil can doadvanced work; it does not matter how old the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best, not their least, and wegive them every encouragement to attain this goal. 

The phrase “held back” in Line 1 means being ____________