Streaming, Self‐esteem and Friendships within a Comprehensive School

Abstract

Measures of self‐esteem, as assessed by the Harter Self‐Perceived Profile for Children, and sociometric nominations were made prior to, and subsequent to streaming in the first year of a comprehensive school. Although the sample as a whole gained in self‐esteem from one testing to the other, pupils destined to join the special needs stream had lower self‐esteem on three sub‐scales than their peers within a few weeks of starting school, and this difference persisted after streaming. There were changes in reciprocal sociometric choices that involved pupils in the special needs stream. The study shows the value of taking a multi‐dimensional approach to self‐esteem and assessing the impact of streaming through longitudinal rather than cross‐sectional design.