What do we mean by gifted and talented?

Gifted and talented children are 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).

In England the term 'gifted' refers to those pupils who are capable of excelling in academic subjects such as English or History. 'Talented' refers to those pupils who may excel in areas requiring visio-spatial skills or practical abilities, such as in games and PE, drama, or art.

Some gifted and talented pupils may be intellectually able but also appear on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) register for behavioural, literacy or physical difficulties.

Provision for gifted and talented pupils can act to counteract disadvantage. Direct intervention is particularly critical for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to enable them to make full use of their abilities and to raise their aspirations accordingly.

Expectations of schools.

1.       Have an agreed process for identifying gifted and talented pupils
This should be developed taking into account national guidance (see school improvement pages on the Education and Skills web site ) and local guidance where it is available. It should be backed by the senior leadership team and named Governor and place emphasis on ensuring that the process is fair and transparent and does not discriminate against particular groups.

2.       Ensure that all staff understand this and use it
All staff should understand what is expected of them and know who to turn to for support. The senior leadership team should ensure that teachers are actively identifying their gifted and talented pupils, with a particular focus on ensuring that able underachievers are not being missed.

3.       Keep an accurate record of gifted and talented pupils
Many schools have found that keeping a register is one way of keeping an accurate record of their gifted and talented pupils which is helpful for monitoring purposes. Are those on the register really achieving their potential?  An accurate record of gifted and talented pupils will also be helpful to schools in completing their School Census returns.

4.       Review the gifted and talented cohort regularly
Identification should be an ongoing, continuous process. Sometimes pupils will move in and out of the school's gifted and talented cohort. Schools need to ensure that they can manage any such eventuality.

5.       Self-evaluate and update the school's process as necessary
Schools should use the National Quality Standards in Gifted and Talented Education to assess how they are performing on identification. Schools should be aiming to continuously improve their process for identifying their gifted and talented cohort. Stretching and challenging opportunities in every classroom are essential to effective identification practice.

How can pupils be identified

Creating the conditions for learning in which there are opportunities for pupils with gifts and talents to demonstrate their high ability is part of the skill of a good teacher. Identification is critical to personalising the learning experience.

Identification of gifted and talented pupils  should be a continuous, whole-school process.  Schools should ensure that the identification process is fair, transparent, and flexible so that it does not discriminate against particular groups. A school's identification strategy should make use of both quantitative and qualitative assessment, including prior attainment and rate of progress so pupils are continually identified both within the school year and on a year by year basis.  

Schools are likely to obtain the best results in identifying their school gifted and talented cohort by using a wide range of information:

a) Quantitative data including available test data and results of in-class/teacher assessment;
b) Qualitative information, including staff assessment and nomination, pupil, peer and parent/carer nomination and scrutiny of pupils’ work;
c) Rate of progress including value-added data and reference to prior attainment/achievement.

Schools should be aware that gifted and talented pupils aged 11-19 may meet the eligibility criteria for the National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth which provides services and support for the top 5% of gifted and talented learners. To see the specific eligibility criteria, see the NAGTY website.

The key principles in the identification of gifted and talented pupils are that:

  • Emphasis should be on providing an appropriate, challenging and supportive environment rather than on labelling any particular child;
  • There should be open communication between educators, pupils and parents/carers as part of the identification process - parents know their children best and should be engaged as partners in their child's learning;
  • Parents/carers should be made aware that being on the gifted and talented register does not automatically guarantee academic success;
  • Identification is a continuous process. Some pupils will be easy to identify at a very early age, while some will emerge later;
  • Identification should be systemised within the school so that it is continuous, rather than a battery of specific tests at a set time of year;
  • Schools need to be particularly vigilant for the 'hidden gifted' or under-represented groups, such as underachievers, those for whom English is not their first language, those with learning or physical disabilities or those from different cultural or socio-economic groups;
  • Identification should be based on a portfolio approach, utilising a range of both qualitative, quantitative and value-added measures;
  • The identified group should broadly represent the school's population;
  • Teachers should be continually 'talent spotting'.

Behaviours indicating higher ability, giftedness and talent may not be readily observable, for a number of reasons. In some classrooms, pupils may not have had sufficient opportunity to demonstrate their ability. In a tightly constrained classroom pupils may not shine.

Additionally, pupils may hide their ability in order to 'fit in' with their peer group or they may underachieve for other reasons. Some pupils have learning difficulties which can mask their higher ability and talent.

Recognising G&T pupils

Many educationalists have produced lists of characteristics of very able children. 

Familiarity with these characteristics can help teachers to build up a pupil profile of learning strengths. Such a profile may help to identify a pupil who might not be achieving at a particularly high level but who may have real ability in certain areas. However, these characteristics are indicative and not definitive. 

General Characteristics of Gifted, Talented and More Able Pupils - he or she may:

  • be a good reader
  • be very articulate or verbally fluent for their age
  • give quick verbal responses (which can appear cheeky)
  • have a wide general knowledge
  • learn quickly
  • be interested in topics which one might associate with an older child
  • communicate well with adults - often better than with their peer group
  • have a range of interests, some of which are almost obsessions
  • show unusual and original responses to problem-solving activities
  • prefer verbal to written activities
  • be logical
  • be self taught in their own interest areas
  • have an ability to work things out in their head very quickly
  • have a good memory that they can access easily
  • be artistic
  • be musical
  • excel at sport
  • have strong views and opinions
  • have a lively and original imagination / sense of humour
  • be very sensitive and aware
  • focus on their own interests rather than on what is being taught
  • be socially adept
  • appear arrogant or socially inept
  • be easily bored by what they perceive as routine tasks
  • show a strong sense of leadership
  • not necessarily be well-behaved or well liked by others

School census and national register

Schools are now required to indicate which of their pupils are gifted and talented in their School Census return. This data together with data from NAGTY regarding its student members with be brought together to form the National Register.

Purpose of the National Register
The National Register will:

  • support schools in their identification of gifted and talented pupils
  • support those working at all levels - national, regional and local - to track the progress made by gifted and talented learners, and their sub-groups
  • monitor the effectiveness of policies and enable interventions to be more sharply targeted
  • help find, as a sub-set, those pupils aged 11 and above who are eligible for NAGTY membership so that they can benefit from the opportunities and services of NAGTY's student academy.

Letter to Schools
On 11 July 2006, Lord Adonis wrote to all secondary schools describing the new National Register for gifted and talented pupils and providing an example of the kind of data that it will be able to supply to schools (i.e. a link to the names of all year 7-11 students in their school who fall within the top 5% on the basis of combined raw scores in Key Stage 2 English and Maths tests). The letters emphasised that schools should not rely only on this one piece of quantitative data to identify their gifted and talented pupils. Taken alone, this data would be unreliable, almost certainly failing to pick up late developers and underachievers. It stated the Government's belief that a mixture of quantitative and qualitative measures should be used to identify gifted and talented pupils.

The letter encouraged secondary schools that have not so far done so, to register eligible students with NAGTY, since one of the purposes of the Register is to identify those students eligible for NAGTY membership who have not yet joined. We estimate there are about 200,000 potential members, aged 11-19, and slightly over half of these have joined to date.

Links
School Census Guidance available on teachernet
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/datacollections/

School Census 2007

October 2006

Changes to COLLECT & School  Census January 2007
We have decided to use the DAZ data processing system, as in previous years, for the January (Spring) School Census 2007.  Information for Local Authorities and Software Suppliers can be found in the attached document (Word) and the DAZ local authority intermediary system (internet link) is now available as a download.
More general information, guidance for schools and technical specifications is available below on this page.

COLLECT Background
Many of you will be aware that the Department is developing a new web-based data collection system COLLECT (formerly DISC) and some of you will have seen it demonstrated at recent conferences. It was our intention to use COLLECT for the collection of the School Census data in January 2007.  The development of the COLLECT system is well advanced but internal testing has identified performance issues which need to be resolved before the system can go live.  It is also essential that we complete full external testing of the system. In this respect, we would like to thank local authorities who have volunteered to help with the external testing and we will notify them when this testing can commence.  In the meantime, we felt that it was important to ensure that you had early notice of the method of collection for the January Census.  We are also assessing the impact of this decision on plans for the migration of other collections to COLLECT and for new collections such as the such as the Early Years/PRU/Alternative Provision pilot. We will keep colleagues up to date with developments via e-mail and TeacherNet. 

Government Policy

Aims and objectives

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.

Gifted and talented children are 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).

Providing for the gifted and talented pupils in our schools is a question of equity - as with all other pupils, they have a right to an education that is suited to their particular needs and abilities. They need to be presented with work that challenges, stretches and excites them on a daily basis, in an environment that celebrates excellence and is supportive of those who may, in years to come, break the boundaries of what we know and understand today. 

The Government's aims are:

  • To improve gifted and talented pupils' outcomes, particularly for the most disadvantaged
    • Attainment, aspirations, motivation, self-esteem
  • To improve the quality of identification, teaching and support in all schools and classrooms
  • To improve the coherence and quality of:
    • Out of school learning opportunities and support for pupils; and
    • Support for parents, educators and schools at local, regional and national levels

There are gifted and talented pupils in every school, but schools define their own populations. We believe that ability is evenly distributed throughout the population, so a school's gifted and talented cohort should be broadly representative of its whole school population.

Current priorities

The White Paper 'Higher Standards, Better Schools for All' set out the Government's plans to further improve outcomes for gifted and talented learners. The white paper indicated that all schools must provide stretch and challenge to ensure gifted and talented pupils can achieve their potential.  Delivery of the White Paper commitments must now be our focus. These include:

  • A trained 'leading' teacher for gifted and talented education in every secondary school and for clusters of primary;
  • Improved identification and tracking of gifted and talented pupils' attainment and performance through a new National Register.
  • A new national programme of extended day non-residential summer schools developed through partnership between higher education institutions and specialist schools;
  • Up to £1 million (plus match funding) to be targeted towards vulnerable G&T learners, for example BME learners and looked after children;
  • Development of tools and guidance to help schools to more effectively identify, teach and support gifted and talented learners from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

These commitments are underpinned by the action we are taking through the Regional Partnerships working collaboratively with schools to improve overall provision for gifted and talented learners through effective self-evaluation, using the National Quality Standards in Gifted and Talented Education.

Delivery infrastructure

The infrastructure supporting the national programme has 3 mutually supportive tiers:

  • At national level, we have a core partnership by contract with the National Academy for G&T Youth (NAGTY), but we work with a wide range of other national partners
  • At regional level, London Gifted and Talented operates in the London region and we are developing new regional networks of local authorities in the other Government Office regions
  • At local level, our investment to date has been concentrated on disadvantaged areas through Excellence in Cities (now Aim Higher).

IDENTIFICATION

National Curriculum

Exceptional performance
Pupils explore ideas, critically evaluate relevant visual and other information and make connections between representations in different genres, styles and traditions.(1) They initiate research, and document and interpret information in visual and other ways appropriate to their purpose and audience.(1) They exploit the characteristics of materials and processes to develop ideas and meanings and realise their intentions.(2) They extend their ideas and sustain their investigations by responding to new possibilities and meanings.(2) They identify why ideas and meanings in others' work are subject to different interpretations, using their understanding to extend their thinking and practical work.(3) They communicate their own ideas, insights and views.(3)