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Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse?

Jane Gatley Orcid Logo

Ethics and Education, Volume: 20, Issue: 4, Pages: 452 - 468

Swansea University Author: Jane Gatley Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/17449642.2025.2565510

Abstract

This paper argues that educators ought to treat the word ‘intelligence’ much like the word ‘stupid’ and avoid using it in educational settings. This is primarily in response to the continued use of intelligence testing in the US and UK, where it serves two purposes: in selection practices for compet...

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Published in: Ethics and Education
ISSN: 1744-9642 1744-9650
Published: Informa UK Limited 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70463
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spelling 2026-02-05T16:19:25.7934005 v2 70463 2025-09-24 Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse? c4e96c9e3ef14ef3fc4f926397d9ff48 0000-0001-7225-1835 Jane Gatley Jane Gatley true false 2025-09-24 SOSS This paper argues that educators ought to treat the word ‘intelligence’ much like the word ‘stupid’ and avoid using it in educational settings. This is primarily in response to the continued use of intelligence testing in the US and UK, where it serves two purposes: in selection practices for competitive opportunities, and to provide tailored support to students. Using a conceptual engineering methodology, I ask whether these functions of the concept ‘intelligence’ in educational practices justify its use in educational discourse. By pointing to the harms associated with the concept of ‘intelligence,’ and considering three different possible ameliorations of the concept of ‘intelligence’ as it is used in education, I conclude that its use should be eliminated. Journal Article Ethics and Education 20 4 452 468 Informa UK Limited 1744-9642 1744-9650 Intelligence, IQ testing, value added, conceptual engineering, multiple intelligences, social injustice 1 11 2025 2025-11-01 10.1080/17449642.2025.2565510 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Swansea University 2026-02-05T16:19:25.7934005 2025-09-24T09:50:00.8888600 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Jane Gatley 0000-0001-7225-1835 1 70463__35458__39dc425887734b5b970fa3291fc07456.pdf 70463.VOR.pdf 2025-10-23T15:38:00.0030358 Output 605072 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse?
spellingShingle Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse?
Jane Gatley
title_short Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse?
title_full Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse?
title_fullStr Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse?
title_full_unstemmed Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse?
title_sort Education without intelligence: should the concept of intelligence be eliminated from educational discourse?
author_id_str_mv c4e96c9e3ef14ef3fc4f926397d9ff48
author_id_fullname_str_mv c4e96c9e3ef14ef3fc4f926397d9ff48_***_Jane Gatley
author Jane Gatley
author2 Jane Gatley
format Journal article
container_title Ethics and Education
container_volume 20
container_issue 4
container_start_page 452
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1744-9642
1744-9650
doi_str_mv 10.1080/17449642.2025.2565510
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
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description This paper argues that educators ought to treat the word ‘intelligence’ much like the word ‘stupid’ and avoid using it in educational settings. This is primarily in response to the continued use of intelligence testing in the US and UK, where it serves two purposes: in selection practices for competitive opportunities, and to provide tailored support to students. Using a conceptual engineering methodology, I ask whether these functions of the concept ‘intelligence’ in educational practices justify its use in educational discourse. By pointing to the harms associated with the concept of ‘intelligence,’ and considering three different possible ameliorations of the concept of ‘intelligence’ as it is used in education, I conclude that its use should be eliminated.
published_date 2025-11-01T05:31:33Z
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score 11.09611

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