The Extent, Nature and Effectiveness of Planned Approaches in ...

IdentificationDuring the in-depth interview with the coordinator, the following questions were asked in relation toidentification:In terms of identification, what has been most effective/successful? What has beenproblematic/unsuccessful? And how have those problems been overcome?During the focus group interview, teachers were asked to discuss these questions:What are the most promising practices your school has in place for identifying gifted andtalented students? In other words, what do you do ‘really well’?What factors have contributed to the development and implementation of these practices?What are the barriers or difficulties in identifying gifted and talented students? How have,or might, those be overcome?From the analysis of the case study responses, several themes arose in relation to the identification ofgifted and talented students and these are discussed in this section.The interrelationship between concepts of giftedness and talent and identification.In most schools it was felt that there was a need for a common understanding about what is meant bygifted and talented students before considering identification. The staff in two of the schools felt thatthey had yet to come to a consensus regarding the terms ‘gifted’ and ‘talented’ and this was seen as abarrier to effective identification. To overcome this, these schools are addressing the concepts ofgiftedness and talent at whole school staff meetings.One school felt that as the identification process developed so too did teachers’ understanding ofgiftedness and talent:The fact that our knowledge is still in the very early stages and so that there’s a lot to learnor to know about or to research really. Initially, many people started to think of intellectualgifted and talented, whereas now we know from just ongoing experience really that it’s not,we’re not looking at something as narrow as that.This broadening of understanding and identification, however, was also raised as a concern and theschool felt that this could lead to over-identification.Identification of multiple abilities and qualities. As the school profiles and journeys indicate, acrossthe case study schools consideration is given to a range of areas of giftedness. As one school explainsthey identify a broad range of gifts and talents not just in the ‘traditional’ academic or intellectualdomain:We clearly see those academic things because they come out very strongly in the classroomsetting so we have to look a little bit further to find the other areas of gifting.Staff at another school look for giftedness not only in exceptional performance but also in the natureand insightfulness of a child’s questions, his or her level of interest, and other behavioural indicators.One secondary school emphasised that consideration is given to aspects other than academic, such asleadership skills, a sense of humour and behavioural indicators.One school felt that they were “trying desperately hard” to look at a whole range of abilities whenselecting students for the gifted education programme. The different tasks that students are required todo in the selection process, help the school to identify students with potential, rather than simplylooking at achievement scores. The perception is that while some of those students are not necessarily233