Gifted and talented Supporting 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 2

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 3

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 5

Resources Consider 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 themselves 6

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? 7

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? 8

Peer mentoring Do gifted and talented students deliberately underachieve to ‘fit in’? Do gifted and talented students ever support one another? 9

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? 11

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 12