Education of the Gifted and Talented

Mr Neil Downing Principal - SELB

Mr David RyanAdviser - BELB

Intr

od

uct

ion

Consider the following statements

“There is no need to do anything for Gifted students as they are already well endowed”

“Northern Ireland has a world class education system with good results, good schools and therefore does not need to have gifted programmes”

Setting the Context

Features of a Model Policy

Teaching the Very Able Child: Developing a Policy and Strategies for Provision. Belle Wallace. NACE (2000)

•Rationale

•Statement of Intention

•Definitions

•Identification

•Organisational Issues

•Provision

•Transition

•PSE

•GATCO

•CPD

•MER

Activity

What do you consider would be a good

working definition?

Discuss in groups of 4-6 with feedback

Def

init

ion

sWhite et al (2003, 3)

has identified over 200 different definitions for gifted and talented.

Def

init

ion

sOutstanding Ability (Teare, 1997,11)

Able and Talented (Kerry, 1981, 5)

Bright Pupils (Leroux & McMillen, 1983, 7)

High Ability (Denton & Postlethwaite, 1985, 66)

Def

init

ion

sMajoram (1988,15)

genius, gifted,

high ability, talented,

flair, creative•Many

•Confusing

•Not well defined

•Used interchangeably

Def

init

ion

sNational Association for

Able Children in Education (NACE)

Able, Gifted and Talented

www.nace.co.uk

CCEA DefinitionIn the absence of an agreed definition of the terms‘Gifted and Talented’ and ‘Exceptionally Able’, wehave assumed that the student’s abilities will be inone or more of the following areas:- general intellectual ability or talent;- specific academic aptitude or talent;- visual and performing arts and sports;- leadership ability;- creative and productive thinking;- mechanical ingenuity; and- special abilities in empathy, understandingand negotiation.NB. Caution should be exercised

Def

init

ion

sDepartment for Education and Skills (DfES) Renamed the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DfCSF) in 2007

The gifted are those with high ability in one or more academic subjects, and the talented are those with high ability in sport, music, visual arts and/or performing arts.(Teachernet, 2006)

Def

init

ion

sGray-Fow (2005, 15)

suggest that the DfES definition is straightforward and has a lot to recommend it as it is easily understood. The drawback is that it does not correspond with many writers’ definitions of talent.

Activity

What terminology will your school use? – Able, More Able, Gifted and

Talented, Exceptionally Able?

Discuss in groups of 4-6 with feedback

Iden

tifi

cati

on

What terminology will your school use? – Able, More Able, Gifted and Talented, Exceptionally Able?

How will you define the cohort?

Top 5% (National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth)

5-10% DfES/DfCSF20% NACE40% (Denton and Postlethwaite)

Iden

tifi

cati

on

Iden

tifi

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on

Existing School Data

Teacher Identification

Self Nomination

Parents

Peers

External Sources – e.g. Ed. Psy

Activity

Identify your gifted and talented cohort from the information provided

Discuss in groups of 4-6 with feedback

Su

mm

ary

TaskCommitment

Creativity

AboveAverage

Ability

Renzulli Ring

Source: Ryan, 2006