This brief chapter reviews what is meant by the term 'gifted' in the context of 'gifted and talented' provision in UK schools.
Secondary schools in the UK are expected to identify a cohort of gifted and talented pupils within each year group, based on a simple consideration of percentiles. 'Gifted' is used to refer to high ability in academic subjects, and 'talented' for high ability in creative subjects such as music, and in sports;
"'Gifted' pupils have evident high attainment in academic subjects; 'talented' pupils have evident high attainment or latent high ability in a creative or expressive art or a sport."
So in terms of these definitions, students can be gifted in science, but are not 'talented' in science! Science does of course have a creative aspect (and one which becomes central to achievement at the highest levels), and we might feel that high levels of achievement in practical work demonstrate a talent, but to fit with the officially sanctioned definition, this guidebook talks of 'gifted' rather than 'talented' learners in science.
Schools have been asked to identify those considered to have:
- ability in one of the 'academic' subjects (the 'gifted')
- talent in art, music, PE, sport or creative arts (the 'talented')
- all round ability (those both 'gifted and talented').
5-10% of each year group should be identified as Gifted and/or Talented, two thirds of which should be considered Gifted (including those considered to be both Gifted and Talented). Within the Secondary Strategy (formerly the KS3 National Strategy) the term 'able' is used to include both gifted and talented pupils. The identified cohort is relative to a particular school, rather than some National or absolute measure:
"pupils who achieve, or who have the ability to achieve, at a level significantly in advance of the average for their year group in their school."
(The Strategy also refers to the category of the 'exceptionally able' – defined as the most able 1% of the cohort nationally).
The policy derives from an initiative known as 'Excellence in Cities' (EiC) designed to tackle perceived underachievement in many urban schools, "to help disadvantaged able children, many of whom are underachieving, to reach their full potential". The main elements of the G&T strand of EiC were:
- Identifying the gifted and talented cohort;
- A whole school policy for meeting the needs of this cohort;
- A distinct in-school teaching and learning programme for the cohort
- An extensive programme of out-of-hours study support opportunities for those pupils (which could be provided through networks of schools working together).
The approach has since been extended to all schools. So in UK schools, science departments should have a list of those students who have been identified as 'gifted' in the context of that school and for whom special provision is being made. The official logic here is that the most able learners in any school are in danger of underachieving unless planning takes them into account as one group of students who have special needs.
Any register of 'Gifted students' also has a negative function: it excludes most students from being considered as among the gifted. It is important to remember that there is no absolute distinction between gifted and non-gifted students: the use of arbitrary quotas is not based on any sound research or theoretical considerations. Teachers need to bear in mind that (as pointed out above) notions of giftedness are contentious, and it would be unwise to assume that students on a gifted register can always be expected to show suitable gifted behaviour in science lessons. Moreover, it would be even less wise to assume that students not included in such lists are never capable of demonstrating exceptional abilities, or must lack the potential to demonstrate giftedness that has previously gone unrecognised.
In this guidebook, therefore, it will be assumed that teachers will use their professional judgment about when and how to recognise and respond to giftedness in their classes. The next chapter offers advice about the indicators which science teachers may use to identify students who are best considered gifted in science.
'one group member seemed to absorb information like a sponge…perfectly comfortable flipping from absorption in the materials provided, to contributing to the discussion'
Observation recorded by one of the graduate assistants during ASCEND
