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

The intermediate school teachers of the gifted programme also expressed a concern about otherteachers’ attitudes and misconceptions, for example, one said, “I still don’t think that the teachersreally understand.”Both secondary schools discussed attitudes around equity issues. Although high school teacherssupported making provisions for gifted and talented students, they also considered that it was not equalat the top and bottom. Some worried that parents might say, “Oh, those students are spoilt withability…Well, my son’s average. He should be getting extra as well.” However, these teachersbelieved that “if they could get it right for gifted students they would also be getting it right foraverage kids.” The social sciences were highlighted as a curriculum area that caters for all students:You can get a huge range of response for the same question. We don’t have the samedifficulty as some subjects do in posing questions that allow a wide range of ability tointeract with the question. I think if you’re doing it at the top end, then the fact that you’refocusing is going to flow down into the levels below, and so I don’t think the average kidsare going to be disadvantaged by that.Some staff at the other secondary school expressed the view that the students with special abilitiessuffer because of a high proportion of students with special needs. As the coordinator stated:We do have some barriers within the staff. I have to say that because we have a lot of needykids at this school and a lot of people who find it socially more acceptable, in terms of theirconscience or their socio-ethics, to look after the real strugglers and we’ve got lots of those.We have a very long tail and so when you start to look for, to look towards the top group ofkids, then there is some degree of resistance. So I have to say that is one of the barriers.To overcome this, the focus of the policy is on achievement; that is, every student has the right toachieve to their potential. The thrust of the whole school is excellence in achievement, regardless ofability, and this has helped staff accept special provisions for gifted students.Resistance to programmes also related to pragmatic decisions. For example, in the intermediate schoolstaff debated the physical and organisational positioning of the gifted and talented students,specifically the pros and cons of placing the students in one syndicate or across several. Some staff feltthat if these students were together in one syndicate it provided more opportunities for like mindedstudents to mix. However, the alternative view was expressed: that it can be perceived as an unfairadvantage for the syndicate that has the gifted classes. Staff considered it would lead to an element ofconflict where the teachers of the gifted are accused of having the ‘best’ students within the school.They also worried that the gifted students in that syndicate might dominate in all the competitiveaspects of that school’s programme. The decision was made to place the four classes in one syndicate,with two other mixed-ability classes.In one of the primary schools there was teacher opposition to children “coming and going from theirclasses” to attend withdrawal programmes. The coordinator, however, expressed the view that “onceteachers saw the benefits children gained from the gifted withdrawal activities” their resistance eased.In another primary school, teachers believed that students in the gifted programme should still do allthe work in the class that they had missed when they were withdrawn for special programmes.Another perception among some staff is that teachers of the gifted and talented students have an‘easier’ job. An indicative comment, made by a secondary teacher, was:Teachers who don’t teach these classes often don’t see these kids as different, theperception that you’ve got there is that the … class is an easy run - which is simply not true.One school talked too about the importance of maintaining staff attention on the specific needs ofgifted and talented students. This was echoed by another school who thought that teachers may also be259