Cooling out : social relationships in the primary school

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the social relationships that exist between students who have been placed in different streams at the end of their fourth year of primary education. Attention was focused on the relation or difference that exists between children who are in the various streams of Year 5 and the role the educational institution has in all this. The study looked mainly at the social meanings involved in the streaming process which is effecting the children's social relationships. Observations and interviews were conducted to gain deeper insights about the children's social relationships at school. Ethnographical data was therefore gathered from a Primary 'B' School in an urban town in Malta. Data were then analysed to show how streaming is affecting the children's social relationships, in particular the relations of children between the different streams. Data revealed that children in the upper streams feel superior to children in the lower streams while children in lower streams feel inferior to those in upper streams. This is 'cooling out' the children's social relationships.