ABSTRACT
Who misses out in schools when they think about the provision they make for the more able? Who is under-represented among those seen as more able in most schools? Who are, exactly, the students who fail to achieve the highest test and examination results or go on to university? Are there social or cultural pressures which make that under-representation more likely? What, in the end, makes a meaningful difference to a child’s chances of achieving the ‘glittering prizes’ of education and career? And what can address these issues? This chapter is not just about minority groups, such as rural learners or students who have English as an additional language, but it’s about school climate, high challenge teaching and learning, engaging with whole communities, the use of data and precise self-evaluation. This complex issue does not go away, neither does the need for schools to keep talking about it.
