Bottom Set Citizen

Ability Grouping in Schools – Meritocracy’s Undeserving

Paula Ambrossi (University College London, UK)

$103

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Routledge
19 March 2024

Society & culture: general; Educational strategies & policy; Examinations & assessment; Schools; Teaching of special educational needs

Series: Routledge Advances in Sociology

While research evidence shows the negative impact of ability grouping on children, this book suggests that the reason the practice is still embraced is the unspoken allegiance to the values of empire that governments, schools, and many parents still uphold, promoting competition and hierarchies over and above ethical principles on the education of society’s most vulnerable, our children.

The practice, which happens across social class, humiliates children deemed ‘less academically able’ by ‘rounding them up’ in front and in opposition to their ‘better’ intellectual peers. Wielding knowledge as a weapon of humiliation warps children’s relationship to organized forms of knowledge, making them antagonistic or indifferent towards it. This book responds to Michael Young’s The Rise of the Meritocracy, by focusing on the plight of those who are educationally placed in opposition to the ‘intellectual elites’: the bottom set citizen, rich or poor and ready to vote.

This book will appeal to anyone concerned with democracy and children’s rights in education, including the rich, on whom I shine the light of deficit for a change. Thus, Donald Trump and Nigel Farage exemplify the bottom set citizen in all his facilitated glory. Other, more vulnerable BSCs are not as lucky.

By: Paula Ambrossi (University College London UK)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
Weight: 430g
ISBN: 9781032503646
ISBN 10: 1032503645
Series: Routledge Advances in Sociology
Pages: 138
Publication Date: 19 March 2024
Audience: College/higher education , College/higher education , Further / Higher Education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paula Ambrossi is a lecturer at the Institute of Education, University College London. Her experience as a Modern Foreign Languages teacher in secondary education, followed by almost 20 years as tutor and researcher in Primary Teacher Education, has allowed her to reflect and write on topics related to pedagogy and philosophy of education. Her recent work includes Language and Culture in Foreign Language Teaching, in Exploring Education and Childhood: From Current Certainties to New Visions (2015), Mastering Primary Languages (Mastering Primary Teaching) by Paula Ambrossi and Darnelle Constant- Shepherd (2018), Sustaining Hegemony: Educational Use of Photographs Representing Human Distress (2019), and The Languages We Teach and the Empires We Embrace: Addressing Decolonization Through the Gaze of the Empire (2024).