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Research illustrates that our brains are as unique as our faces in terms of its content and structure. If we consider a simple attribute like height, for instance. human’s have a range of heights, but most people will be around average, the mean. The average becomes much more complicated if the concept of size is considered. What would be a large person?

Tedd Rose an educationalist in Harvard University contents there is no such thing as average. He argues that if the concept of large is considered, there is a range of attributes that need to be considered like height, weight, waist and legs etc. Although in an school assessment children can obtain an average 50% score, they may have answered different questions correctly in different content areas of the assessment, such in as a maths assessment where there are branches of basic arithmetic, algebra and geometry assessed.

Averages are a very crude measure of complex skills. Certain questions may be more important for children to answer in an assessment than others.

Averages are obtaining through putting different sized apples in a bag and weighing them and then diving the average weight of them. It is not even assured that there will be an apple of every weight. It is possible to have a bag of exceptionally large and small apples.

In the Pisa International school ranking, the scores presented are estimated averages. A countries performance is summed up by a single statistic. What is a Pisa country? What is a Pisa average child? Can a two-hour assessment work that out?

It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. A number is just a word. The real picture of countries, schools or cold’s attainment is a very complicated one. The brain is very plastic. What children can achieve in a class or examination one week, does not necessarily reflect what they can do the next week, month or year.

Plomin in respect of educational attainment contends that however much standards are improved that half the population will be average. Average is a crude dividing line where people want to be above it. They certainly do not want to be below it. Average is often viewed as the middle ground between the two, a compromise, not bad. In practice, there is a cluster around average, the mean where most people reside.

When it comes to political issues like Pisa all countries want to be above average, but it impossible for this to happen. Averages arise from cocktails of scores, statistics. Small differences can have a massive impact on media coverage of education. A 1% rise in G.C.S.E. pass rates can be welcome, while a 1% results in negative headlines.

Is There is Such a Thing as Average?

The whole school system is devoted to catering for needs to the average child, but in every class, there will be children finding the learning easy, while others other will find it difficult. The spread of children’s learning potential and level of attainment will not be equal. Sue Gathercole contends that on average, two out of thirty children in every class will struggle to retain simple instructions.

It has now been established that there is nothing distinct about diagnosed conditions like dyslexia and A.D.H.D. They are simply attributed to genetic variations. No two children’s who have dyslexia conditions are the same. There is no remedy for dyslexia, however hard children work. Not all children who have such conditions have specialised support.

Averages do have value in descriptive terms. It is useful to consider how many children are able to solve a simple sum, such as what is 57 + 19, through working out the average percentage. Expressing the quality of an essay numerically is much more subjective. It can be subject to unintentional bias when they are awarded.

Average are a means of making complex issues simple. If employers and university set entry qualifications for employment or university, it is not assured that in respect of mathematical qualifications, that those who pass obtain the qualification to a given level, will have the precise qualities that they want children, students to possess. Context can have an influence on how well children perform in a reading assessment.

Pisa is designed to assess applied capabilities. The National Curriculum was introduced in 1990 was aimed at creating and measuring. Although Pisa is branding children, who are claimed to unable to use what they have learnt to live a normal life, problem-solving is a biologically primary skill and working memory dependent. Research in the United States that many children can read, but cannot learn through reading it. Reading problem may be viewed as a step beyond that. If children can decode language fluently, they are not totally illiterate.

Todd Rose suggest all physical attributes and mental attributes are jagged. Pisa results are developed from an estimated average score. It is supported by a great deal of statistical information, but it is referring to hypothetical norms and comparisons of norms. This applies to all attainment assessments. Even test of reading ability can be influenced by context. If children are familiar with the context they are reading about, they will have more fluency vocabulary relating to it, and they will read it more fluently.

Plenary

The problem with averages is that they are a crude measure of education potential and outcomes. This because so many variables that influence children’s performance. Lessons are aimed at the average child. The one certainty now that children cannot learn at identical rates of progress, whilst this practice may retard children with high learning potential progress, they are still able to benefit from their lessons, but those will low potential are likely to fall behind.

The problem with a class lessons is that each lesson can be viewed as a journey, which needs to be completed in a given time allocation, but if lesson journey is not completed in the lesson, it is often not appropriate to move on to next lesson after it, especially in hierarchical skill-based subjects like maths. If a plane takes off from Heathrow, London travelling to Italy, the pilot is unlikely to land in France if poor weather slows down the fight. The problem will be a proportion of children will not be ready to move on in most class.

Professor David Reynolds contents that class-based teaching that keeps children actively involved in their learning is the most effective approach, as opposed to passive learning. This is reflected in research findings, but the problem is that it leads to huge issues of differentiation. There is no easy answer to that problem. There is no simple answer to that problem. Ducan Cambridge Insitute of the Brain contends that ways must be found to cater for children individual needs in the school systems.

Averages have a role in assessing children’s attainment and educational research, but they must be viewed as having limitations. The problem when G.C.S.E. results are announced is that difference between ‘doom and gloom’ results and satisfactory ones can be a ‘few percentage points’.