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

It’s actually releasing children into something special that they are already interested inand love doing. Giving them those opportunities and letting them go and because we havethis individualised programme we can do it without having to establish special times andspecial groups and all that.Cross-age grouping. One primary school uses cross grouping in the junior school. Bright children areplaced in a top group (based on ability) for enrichment and acceleration. Teachers share top andbottom group allocation to ensure one teacher is not always given the bottom group. (Cross-groupinghad been tried in the senior school but was not considered successful). Similarly, in the schoolwidesystem of individualisation previously discussed, students were sometimes cross-age grouped. Formany of the withdrawal programmes at primary level, students were grouped based upon interestrather than age.Special classes. One case study secondary school considers ability grouping (i.e., homogeneousclasses) to be its most successful provision for gifted and talented students. Mixed ability groupings(i.e., heterogeneous classes) have been piloted but ability grouping is now the provision of choice.There was an expressed perception that secondary teachers are not trained to deal with mixed abilitygroups. Furthermore some parents choose only to send their children to this school, if they get in toone of the top groups. If this provision was not offered those families would choose other schools.When selected, students are sent a written invitation, to offer them a place in the gifted educationclass.One of the secondary schools provides for Year 9 students identified as having both academic andsports ability in a sports academy class. While some teachers considered this class to be one of theschool’s most promising provisions, others questioned the logic of selecting students into a classbecause of their sporting ability. Grouping these students together was not seen as either the best or theeasiest way of teaching them other core subjects. Students in the ‘sports academy class’ wereconsidered to be more diverse, compared to the students in the other gifted education class who werethought to be more similar than dissimilar from each other. In other words, apart from being similar intheir sports ability and their attitude to sport, they operated more as a mixed ability class.The intermediate school has devised four special classes for gifted and talented students. These classesoffer both enrichment and acceleration opportunities and identification is based upon a broaddefinition of giftedness and talent. The coordinator in this school felt that the most successful aspect ofthis programme was its broadened perspectives of giftedness, which has resulted in a mix of differenttypes of gifted students. The teachers discussed at length the importance placed upon seeking outtypically under-represented groups: underachievers and students with disabilities were most frequentlydiscussed.Liaison with universities and tertiary providers. University support from experts was seen in severalschools (both primary and secondary) as most valuable for both students and teachers. Studentsreceived an interesting and appropriate programme to challenge them and teachers then learned aboutthe students’ experiences through a sharing process back at school. When students were able to attendthe university for their programme “they treated them like they were something special.”The Correspondence School. Gifted and talented students are also provided for in several schools byCorrespondence School programmes. Gifted and talented primary school students were studyingsubjects such as secondary level mathematics and advanced English. In another school the principalprovided choice to a student who is gifted across the spectrum:I said to her, “Well [name of child], what do you want to do? We need to do somethinghere. What would you like?” and I got her the Correspondence School folder. I said “Takethat home. Talk to Mum and Dad about it. Tell us what you want to do.” So she chose herwriting course and that was fine so away she goes.243