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

Parent identification. During the interviews, all schools acknowledged the role of parentidentification; however, only one case study school had a formal system in place. As one teacherexplained:There may be a particular sport or extracurricular activity that teachers aren’t aware ofand if the child’s not confident enough to put their hand up and say that’s something they’rea part of or that they’re talented in…maybe it’s getting other community people to nominatethese children or make it aware to the teachers.One school facilitates the parent’s role in the identification process by encouraging parents at the startof the year at parent meetings to offer information that might indicate giftedness in one area oranother. At another school, when the children enrol, the parents are asked to fill in a form. One of thequestions asks them if their child has any special talents, unusual accomplishments, special interests orhobbies and special opportunities that they may have had. The teacher in charge of gifted and talentedprogramme gets a copy of this. If anything significant is identified the student is put on the gifted andtalented register.Teachers discussed the accuracies and inaccuracies of parental identification of giftedness. Forexample, in one case a school was approached by a parent when her son missed out on the art groupand he was then put in. He was good at art but this had not surfaced in his classroom. Another schoolreported that some parental identification of giftedness was thought to be inaccurate by the staff.Student identification by self and peers. All schools were receptive to student identification of giftsand talents, although most schools make limited use of self and peer nomination. As with parentnomination, these forms of identification appeared to be a bit more ‘accidental’ than systematic. A fewof the schools (both primary and secondary) found students occasionally put themselves forward. Forexample, one school sees it as important that students are involved in the identification process, andthey “get them to identify where they feel they are gifted and talented. We become aware at thebeginning of the year so we can build on that and develop that into our programme.” They use schoolactivities such as assemblies and sharing days so there is an opportunity for students to shine.Self-nomination is used in one school by having students write a short curriculum vitae applying for aspecific provision such as a workshop. One approach used in a few of the case schools was to identifystudents using a school-wide ‘talent search’ to find out areas of talent and what “inspires a child to gothat little extra bit.” For example, in one school, the talent to be focused on is announced a week inadvance. Children who wish to participate have a week to prepare themselves before performing atthis lunch time event. Talents covered include singing, chess, acting, instrumental items, and puppets.Student surveys to identify strengths and interests were found to be useful, by teachers in one school,especially for special projects such as to find out those who had a burning interest in gardening orplants for the edible garden unit. Class products and performances are also considered.Another school reported having tried peer identification but found that the children identified thosethat they liked best. It was felt that children at primary school age are not discerning enough to putaside personal biases.Team approaches to identification. Teachers in all case study schools expressed the view that teamapproaches to identification, which allow opportunity for dialogue and discussion, were important. Inone school they ensure that before a new rotation of programmes begins, teachers provide the namesof possible participants from their class and the gifted committee then prioritise those applicants. Thisinvolves lengthy discussions when teachers put forth their cases. Discussions are “always positive andeveryone feels listened to.” However, there is also recognition of ‘gut feeling’ as expressed by oneschool.236