Gifted and talentedSupporting gifted and talented
students in the department
Aims of this session
• To establish criteria and a process for identifying gifted and talented students
• To produce a plan of action for supporting gifted and talented students
• To identify success criteria for a gifted and talented policy
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Definition
“A student whose ability is more advanced in some way than the
majority of their peers in the school”
Exam scores are not the only way to measure this. Some very able students do not shine in tests that measure performance in lower level skills
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Identification• What is considered ‘success’ in this
area by the outside world?• What skills are required
for this success?• How/when can students display
these skills?• Are the department’s highest
attainers always the same students? • Could they perform well
at a higher level? 4
Supporting students
• Resources• Grouping• Differentiation• Peer mentoring• Out of hours• Motivation
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ResourcesConsider whether resources:• allow for more challenging tasks• stretch those with higher-level
language skills• stimulate visual and
kinesthetic learners• encourage creative skills and
originality• enable the gifted and talented to
develop their skills themselves6
Grouping
• Do gifted and talented students have leadership roles?
• Do they work with other able students separately at any time?
• Are they provided with any extra adult support?
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Differentiation
• Are tasks graded in terms of must, should, could?
• Are gifted and talented students given different time directions?
• Is differentiation by outcome used as an excuse for not planning for gifted and talented students?
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Peer mentoring
• Do gifted and talented students deliberately underachieve to ‘fit in’?
• Do gifted and talented students ever support one another?
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Out of hours• Is out-of-hours experience
provided?• Could an external source provide
this experience?• Would such an experience benefit
gifted and talented students?• What would you hope to achieve in
the out-of-hours experience?• Would an out-of-hours experience
support classroom work?10
Motivation
• Are students told they are gifted and talented? If so, do they know what their particular gift/talent is?
• Do students feel being gifted and talented is a good thing?
• Do gifted and talented students behave badly or underachieve?
• Do gifted and talented students want to develop their skills?
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Success criteria
• Exam targets: Decide whether public measures of ability are achieved
• Motivation: Measure interest and degree of stimulation
• Long-term interest: Measure whether the student is continuing to develop their potential in this area
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