AUSTRALIAN MULTIPLE BIRTH ASSOCIATION
POSITION STATEMENT
CLASSROOM PLACEMENT OF MULTIPLES IN SCHOOL
AMBA is now publishing position statements on different issues. The first one we have finalised is Class Placement.
Download the Classroom Placement of Multiples in School Position Statement
DEFINITION
The Australian Multiple Birth Association (AMBA) is a not-for-profit organisation enabling positive health outcomes, awareness and equality for multiple birth families.
KEY PRINCIPLES
- Classroom placement of twins, triplets or more, is an ongoing issue for educational policy and for parents.
- Some schools have developed policies or hold the belief that separation of multiples promotes individual identity.
- Research has shown no detrimental effect of classroom sharing on multiples' social development, indeed research published by Garon-Carrier et al (2021) provided evidence that educating twins together is associated with modest positive impact on twins’ behaviours and social functioning at school.
- AMBA's position is that there is no one size fits all answer to classroom placement.
- AMBA supports parents in their decision around classroom placement, as we believe that parents are best placed to determine what will suit the individual needs of their children. This position is reinforced by research conducted by Griffith (2020) which concludes that fixed school policies do not take into consideration each child's individual needs.
- AMBA recommends that this decision should be made annually, via a consultative process between parents and schools.
- AMBA advocates for multiples to be treated as individuals, while also fostering the unique bond that twins, triplets or more have with each other.
Garon-Carrier, G., Bégin, V., Brendgen M., Vitaro, F., Ouellet-Morin, I., Dionne, G., and Boivin, M. (2021). Classroom Placement and Twins’ Social Behaviors in Elementary School: Providing Empirical Evidence to Inform Educational Policy. Sage Journals. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048211015626
Griffith, J. (2020). International Council of Multiple Birth Organisations (ICOMBO) School placement of multiples study. Retrieved from http://icombo.org
Published 1 March 2022
