The resource isn't a transformational resource... one that scaffolds the learning for the 'low ability' group, that has them operating at a significantly advanced level within a short space of time and applying their new found competencies to a wide range of different problems. It's a worksheet that's not going to close any gaps because if it did... of course... the pupils that it was created for wouldn't be 'low ability' anymore. They wouldn't have been low ability in the first place either because by the very nature of completing the task successfully they would have been proving and exercising their ability.
ability [əˈbɪlɪtɪ]
n pl -ties
1. possession of the qualities required to do something; necessary skill, competence, or power the ability to cope with a problem
2. considerable proficiency; natural capability a man of ability
3. (plural) special talents
[from Old French from Latin habilitās aptitude, handiness, from habilis able]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
Are we really expert enough to define someone as 'low ability'?
Are our assessment methods THAT good?
Do we REALLY know what we're talking about?
How are we defining ability?
What do we actually mean by it?
Could other factors be involved?
Could some or all of those factors be part of this definition of ability we've applied?
Is, then, the definition robust?
By 'ability', do we mean aptitude? motivation? confidence? level of support and practice external to school? attitude towards the person teaching the subject? performance in tests in general, or in a particular test on a particular day? literacy skills that impact upon test performance in non-literacy-based subjects?
And do we mean 'ability' for the rest of a persons life?
Are we expert enough and secure enough of our own wisdom and foresight to be able to predict with certainty that this person will and can NEVER do well in Maths, or English, or whatever subject it may be.... even with practice?
And if we're not secure in that... why aren't we giving them the challenge and the practice now?
Why are we defining them with low expectations, rather than enabling them with high expectations?
Why are we dumbing down for them when we could be dumbing up?
The Matthew Effect: "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath."
Should teachers really be the agent of that?
I must admit to having a real problem with the word ability when applied to children in the education system and my challenge would be that unless you can define it and defend it... don't use it, don't think it.
My biggest hope is that I will be involved in education for long enough to see the erasure of the word ability from the educational lexicon.
