Ignored Discrimination in Schools: Tracking

Authors : Binali TUNÇ, Süheyla ÜLKER

Pages : 16-36

View : 21 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2020-12-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study examines tracking systems that are implicitly and explicitly implemented in schools in terms of discrimination in education. It also investigates how tracking is perceived by school principals, teachers and students, and qualitatively examines what they experience in the implementation of tracking. Comprising three principals, 12 students and 18 teachers, the study employed semi-structured interviews to find participants’ views about tracking. The results revealed that school principals were more in favour of tracking than other participants. However, student participants were more focused on the downsides of tracking compared to others. Proponents of tracking argued that dividing students into homogeneous groups provided students with the opportunity to learn in line with their level of success. It was often emphasized that students were not able to improve sufficiently in mixed groups. One of the outstanding points was that tracking was perceived in terms of academic success and successful students. Rather than considering tracking as discrimination, classifying students was argued to result in better outcomes.
Keywords : level classes, Discrimination, education