Ability, Inequality and Post-Pandemic Schools : Rethinking Contemporary Myths of Meritocracy

The Covid-19 pandemic closed schools, but this hiatus provides an opportunity to rethink the fundamental principles of our education system. This book examines how, before the pandemic, the education system assumed that ability is measurable and innate, and how this myth of meritocracy reinforced educational inequalities. Since the Covid crisis began, educational inequality has become a central issue. Inspired by a project on grouping practices based on ‘ability’, the book analyses how the recent educational developments of datafication and neuroscience have reinvigorated ideas about how we classify and label children, with unequal effects. It sets out a post-pandemic hope that we can rethink the idea of innate and measurable intelligence, and thus disrupt the inequalities that result from this idea. Front Cover Ability, Inequality and Post-Pandemic Schools: Rethinking Contemporary Myths of Meritocracy Copyright information Dedication Table of contents List of figures and tables Acknowledgments 1 Introduction Why ‘ability’ and inequality? Merit and ability in recent political debate Government perspectives since 2010 The opposition view: the rejection of caution Theoretical perspectives Discourse and power Discipline and regulation Micropractices of power: classification and normalisation Inequality and inequity Contemporary educational discourses: data and neuroscience Researching ability An outline of the book 2 Ability and its use in schools Introduction The historical context The meritocratic neoliberal state Merit and ability in the postgenomic age A note on ability and dis/ability Current discourses of ability in education Ways of describing ability: as innate Ability as intelligence, skills or talents Ability as potential Ways of describing ability: as positional Ability as a set point Ability as attainment Ability in relation to a norm Ways of describing ability as something some children possess Ability as readiness Ability as knowledge Ability as background Combinations of different perspectives Alternatives and challenges The implications of ability Grouping practices Interactions between teacher and pupil Children’s identities as learners Conclusion 3 How does the idea of ability relate to inequalities? Introduction Educational inequalities Attainment in early years Attainment in primary schools Attainment in secondary schools Exclusion figures The frames of debate about education and inequality Institutional racism ‘Model minorities’ The focus on the ‘white working class’ The interaction of ability with inequality The new eugenics? The epigenetic challenge to determinism and race Inequality and education in the era of COVID-19 Conclusion 4 The influence of neuroscience Introduction The ‘new neuros’ The neuroturn in education The first three years The doubts and dangers The view from early childhood education Understanding the attraction of neuroscience The influence on discourses of ability and inequality The biological/psychological connection The irreparable brain The ‘damaged brain’ and race Conclusion 5 Data and the solidification of ability Introduction The growth of data in schools The datafication of education The five Ps of datafication Data-based ability practices Data and ability: the growth of progress measures The ability spectrum and inequality The shift on from data? Conclusion 6 Challenging ability, inequality and the myth of meritocracy in the post-pandemic era Introduction Brains and data: tensions and commonalities Multiple conceptions of ability: confusion and certainty The winners in the game of ‘meritocracy’ and the barriers to change The future of ‘ability’: post-pandemic hope Conclusion References Index Back Cover

The COVID-19 pandemic closed schools, but this hiatus provided an opportunity to rethink the fundamental principles of our education system. In this thought-provoking book, Alice Bradbury discusses how, before the pandemic, the education system assumed ability to be measurable and innate, and how this meritocracy myth reinforced educational inequalities – a central issue during the crisis. Drawing on a project dealing with ability-grouping practices, Bradbury analyses how the recent educational developments of datafication and neuroscience have revised these ideas about how we classify and label children, and how we can rethink the idea of innate intelligence as we rebuild a post-pandemic schooling system.

Alice Bradbury discusses how the meritocracy myth reinforces educational inequalities and analyses how the recent educational developments of datafication and neuroscience might challenge how we classify and label children as we rebuild a post-pandemic schooling system.