Gifted and Talented.

Is it easy to spot a gifted and talented pupil?

Despite mountains of books and papers on the difference between these two words, I tend to view them as meaning the same thing. To be gifted is to have a gift, which might be in a narrow area or across a broader spectrum. To have a talent also can be narrow or broad, and we speak generally of talented individuals. The current educational interest is to try to ensure that any such gifts or talents are nurtured to be able to contribute powerfully to the wider community – of course within a general context of nurturing the abilities of all pupils.

Pupils with high cognitive abilities, measures by IQ, are often singled out as an exceptionally able group. Personal experience can increase or decrease IQ scores to some extent, and lack of stimulus in childhood can be recouped later. Feuerstein’s ‘instrumental enrichment’ for example attempts to promote such cognitive growth.

Tests, SATs and other such things obviously stratify the pupil body to some extent and give a starter list of convergent G&T pupils, that is those who obey the rules. Most are not fit for purpose, especially if the purpose is to identify the exceptionally able. A pupil who is gifted, creative, or awkward might do unexpected things and maybe do badly in formal tests. They might find set curricula and syllabuses far too constraining.

So in identifying gifted/talented pupils, informal indicators are important, the unexpected connections, sudden insights and wisdoms, mental agility and acuity. If we have a mental picture of giftedness that is too narrow, constrained and tame, we could perhaps be blind to the evidence before our eyes.