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If you are a parent or teacher looking for help or advice in supporting a child you believe is gifted or talented, please visit the organisations section of this page. The National Literacy Trust does not have expertise in this area and is unable to offer any funding. Further help is available from the organisations listed.
The Department for Education and Skills define gifted and talented children as: "Those who have one or more abilities developed to a level significantly ahead of their year group (or with the potential to develop these abilities)."
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority defines gifted and talented as: "Gifted and talented pupils are those that well exceed the expectations for their age group, either in all subjects or just one. The gifted and talented are a diverse group and their range of attainment will be varied, some do well in statutory national curriculum tests or national qualifications. However, being gifted and talented covers much more than the ability to succeed in tests and examinations. Therefore, it is impossible to set one way of identifying gifted and talented pupils."
'Gifted' generally refers to the top 5% of the school population in academic subjects and 'talented' to the top 5% in other subjects. Experience in secondary schools has shown that the terms apply to 40% of pupils in at least one area. Nor do the terms relate entirely to mainstream academic subjects. They can refer to ability in such things as expressive arts, sport and music.
Excellence in Cities programme
National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth
World class arena tests
Advanced Learning Centres
Support for gifted and talented
pupils is a key strand of the Goverment's Excellence
in Cities programme (EIC), set up in September 1999 to provide support for
pupils in inner cities and to tackle underacheivement. Funding is provided
for extra lessons or clubs within school, at lunchtime or
after hours, and extension activities beyond schools, for
example, in learning centres and through university summer
schools. 80 Excellence Clusters were also set up in smaller areas to focus on the provision for gifted and talented pupils, the development of Learning Mentors and Learning Support Units.
An Office for Standards in Education report published in
December 2001 found that "rudimentary" procedures were used
to spot potential high-flyers. Schools failed to be systematic
and inclusive, inspectors said, especially with students who
did not fit the traditional academic mould. Pupils with clear
evidence of performance are easily selected, but those who
are very able but with poor behaviour, in public care or in
the process of mastering English as an additional language,
often slip through the net. In 2004 Ofsted said that 1 in 5 schools
in the inner city areas targeted by the EiC programme are failing
to implement it, and do not identify or systematically measure
the achievements of bright pupils.
In 2001, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority produced
guidance to help primary schools in England to identify pupils
who are gifted academically or have talents in the arts or
sport, by the way they speak, listen, read and write. The
guidance follows the Excellence in Cities requirement that
comprehensives in inner cities identify the top 5 to 10% of
their students and offer them special programmes.
In 2002, the Government set
up the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, based
at the University of Warwick and supported by Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, which has pioneered such projects in the
US from 1979. High-profile summer schools have been
criticised for being expensive and open to only a selected
few, possibly from white middle class families, as well as not
addressing the day-to-day culture of the classroom. Criticism has also been expressed that while activities such as outward bound schemes
and public speaking masterclasses have helped boost gifted
youngsters' self confidence, they have not raised educational
standards.
An official evaluation of EiC in June 2004
found it was only having a "very modest" impact on key stage 3, GCSE and vocational results. However, Deborah Eyre, director of the academy, says it takes at least five years for results to show. However, in 2005
45,000 children had become members of the academy and access online support throughout the school year.
The 2005 White Paper, Higher Standards: Better Schools for All, set out the Government's ambition that every pupil - gifted and talented, struggling or average - should have the right personalised support to reach the limits of their capability. For gifted and talented pupils, this means better stretch and challenge in every classroom and in every school with opportunities to further their particular talents outside school at a local and national level. For more information visit www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/giftedandtalented/
In 2006 the Government launched a national register of gifted and talented children, however, in 2007 the Government
announced a shake-up to the whole scheme. Summer schools will be sidelined in favour of
e-learning and vouchers for extra lessons. The DfES also announced that it would expand
the target group from 5 to 10% of pupils. The changes are
believed to be a response to the fact that three in 10 secondary
schools have failed to nominate a single child.
In August 2007, the DCSF contract with the University of Warwick to run the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth ended and was awarded to the CfBT educational trust. The University of Warwick, who did not bid for the contract told the Guardian: "The arrangements seperate the management and contracting of gifted and talented education from the delivery of education, support and research."
The Government has also produced a series of 'world-class'
tests to stretch the country's brightest pupils and compare
their performance with peers internationally. The tests, which
are voluntary, were developed jointly by examiners in Britain,
the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. See www.worldclassarena.org or www.qca.org.uk. Advanced Learning Centres (ALCs) are special out-of-school classes for very able pupils, often (but not always) in their final year of primary schooling. They are run by the DfES, EiC and the National Primary Trust. Research at the University of Wolverhampton found that advanced learning centres (ALCs)
are an effective way to support gifted and talented pupils
in primary schools but more needs to be done to improve access. Academics interviewed
pupils at 36 of the UK's 54 ALCs during 2004/05 and found
the majority enjoyed their time there. Of the 787 children
questioned, 90% said they either usually or always enjoyed
their sessions. Improvements highlighted by pupils, who are
mostly in Year 6 and attend classes for about two hours a
week, are feelings of pride and self-esteem.The research also looked at pupils' SAT results and found
that almost all the pupils, who are already high achievers,
performed in line with expectations.
The research found that the gender split is uneven with
more boys than girls in maths and ICT, and more girls in arts
and English lessons. More than three-quarters of pupils are
white and just 1% of pupils have special educational needs.
In November 2007, The Times reported on plans to extend the Government’s gifted and talented scheme to raise the proportion of children selected in each school from five to 10%. The move reflects government disappointment at progress in the scheme, set up in 1999, amid concerns that middle-class parents were abandoning the state sector for private schools because comprehensives were failing to nurture the most able. The criteria for identifying children for the programme will include teacher assessments and diagnostic tests as well as national key stage tests that children sit at the ages of seven, 11 and 14. The scheme applies to children who are academically gifted or who have a talent in the arts of sport.
Gifted Children Information Centre
Tel: 0121 705 4547.
National Academy for Gifted and Talented
Youth
Founded by the Department for Education and Skills in 2002 and, from September 2007,
based at CfBT Education Trust (previously based at the Univeristy of Warwick).
Contact: The National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, CfBT Education Trust, 60 Queens Road, Reading RG1 4BS. Tel: 0845 602 1732 Website:
http://ygt.dcsf.gov.uk/
National Association for Able Children in Education
An independent organisation which helps educational professionals improve classroom practice for gifted and talented children. Website:
http://www.nace.co.uk/index.htm
National Association for the Gifted
Child
The National Association for the Gifted Child has a newsletter
called 'Looking to their future' and a journal 'Flying High'.
Contact: NAGC, Suite 14, Challenge House, Sherwood Drive,
Bletchley, Bucks MK3 6DP. Tel: 0870 7703217. Fax: 0870 7703219.
Email: amazingchildren@nagcbritain.org.uk.
Website: www.nagcbritain.org.uk.
Pullen Publications
Pullen Publications specialises in books for able pupils.
Contact: Pullen Publications, 13 Station Road, Knebworth,
Herts SG3 6AP. Tel: 01438 814316.
Assessing Gifted and Talented Children, Carolyn Richardson.
Book that provides an international view of how gifted and
talented children can be best identified, including descriptions
of current provision in the US, Australia and the UK. Cost
£25.
Published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.
ISBN 1 85838 490 7.
Challenging able children: a handbook for primary schools.
Hampshire County Council guidance for primary schools
concerning able and talented children. It aims to help teachers
to increase their knowledge of the fundamental issues concerning
how able children think and learn. It also provides whole-school
strategies for making effective arrangements for the management
of able and talented children. The guidelines are presented
in the form of a coaching manual, with case studies and suggestions
drawn from classroom observations. Cost £25.
Contact: Linda Elliot, Hampshire Advisory and Inspection Team,
County Office, The Castle, Winchester SO23 8UG. Tel: 01962
841841. Fax: 01962 846380.
Guidance for teaching gifted and talented pupils. Web
pages on the national curriculum site that provide guidance
for teachers, coordinators and others involved in teaching
gifted and talented pupils. Includes specific guidance for
each subject area and lists of resources. General guidance
offered covers identifying gifted and talented children, school
and subject policies, roles and responsibilities of those
involved, managing provision, matching teaching and pupils'
needs, and transfer and transition. Visit www.nc.uk.net/gt/
Oxbridge entrance: the real rules, by Elfi Pallis.
Updated edition. Guide to the Oxbridge entry process for pupils
from all backgrounds. Cost £13.99.
Published by Tell Books, ISBN 095459441X. Website: www.tellbooks.com.
Oxbridge Mentoring Scheme. Educational advice service
designed to help students through the Oxbridge admissions
process. Run by Insight Education. Visit www.insight-ed.co.uk.
Working with gifted and talented children: key stages 1 and
2 English and mathematics. Package of materials produced
by QCA. It includes a video (order reference QCA/01/803, £7),
a booklet of examples of written work (QCA/01/802, £6),
and a handbook that includes commentaries on the video and
a section on provision (QCA/01/801, £4).
Contact QCA publications on 01787 884444.
More books on able children are available in the NLT
Bookshop.
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