ABSTRACT Within the wealth of research on ‘ability’ in education, there is a missing perspective: the perspective of the child. Whilst ‘ability’ informed practices such as ‘ability’ grouping are commonplace in the UK, how these are experienced by the young child has previously received only limited attention in research. Using case study evidence, this article demonstrates that children’s lived experiences of ‘ability’ are highly individual and shaped by a broader range of social, structural and pedagogic aspects of classroom life than previously thought. Implications are that a wide range of teaching choices can potentially affect a child’s experience of ‘ability’ and that the impact of these are particularly profound for some children, shaping their perceptions of themselves and others. Children’s perspectives therefore offer a challenge to the hegemonic discourse of ‘ability’ in education and the classroom practices upon which it is based.

中文翻译：

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儿童在关键阶段一课堂的“能力”生活体验：“棘手桌子”上的生活

摘要 在关于教育“能力”的大量研究中，缺少一个视角：儿童的视角。虽然诸如“能力”分组之类的“能力”知情实践在英国很常见，但以前在研究中对幼儿如何体验这些做法的关注有限。本文使用案例研究证据表明，儿童的“能力”生活体验是高度个性化的，并且受到比以前想象的更广泛的课堂生活的社会、结构和教学方面的影响。这意味着广泛的教学选择可能会影响孩子对“能力”的体验，而这些对某些孩子的影响尤其深远，塑造了他们对自己和他人的看法。