ABSTRACT
The concept of “ability” is the cornerstone of a contemporary educational discourse. It has evolved from the notion of “intelligence” mobilised in an earlier era across the English educational system – and not only there. “Ability” is today's IQ-ism: the prime lens through which pupils and students are regarded, the legitimizing mechanism by which they are grouped and the formal language in which they are known and addressed. The “ability” discourse manifests and validates determinist assumptions about what learners can and can't do educationally. By constructing what it purports only to describe, for example through discriminatory educational stances and interventions, the “ability” discourse confirms itself as “true.” This chapter describes how “ability” works within English state education, outlines its adverse effects and offers a critique drawn from the practice of teachers who hold that human educability is unlimited.
