Including the Gifted and Talented: Making inclusion work for more gifted and able learners

241 Pages·2006·1.05 MB·English

by  Chris Smith

Including the Gifted and
Talented
This thought-provoking book addresses a key issue related to inclusion: what
place is there for gifted and talented learners? Here, a range of internationally
renowned experts on gifted education challenge the assumption that educational
inclusion relates only to those pupils with learning difficulties. Many countries
are pursuing inclusive ideals while also trying to address the needs of their gifted
and talented pupils.
Including the Gifted and Talentedties the two fields together and suggests that
inclusion and gifted education are, indeed, compatible as long as key tensions are
recognised and addressed. By engaging in discussion about the nature of inclu-
sion and how varying interpretations can lead to very different practices being
implemented, the effectiveness of educating our most able pupils is examined.
The contributors to this unique text explore vital and timely issues such as:
● What does inclusion mean for the gifted and talented?
● Can segregated interventions be inclusive?
● Are ‘regular’ classrooms the best place to educate gifted and talented pupils?
● What can ordinary schools do to promote inclusion for gifted and talented
learners?
This book is essential reading for any practitioner, academic or student grappling
with the difficult issues that surround inclusion and the effect that its varying
interpretations can have on the most able learners.
Chris M. M. Smith is Lecturer in Inclusion and Gifted Education at the
University of Glasgow, Scotland. She is also Project Leader of the Scottish
Network for Able Pupils (SNAP).

Including the Gifted
and Talented
Making inclusion work for more
gifted and able learners
Edited by Chris M. M. Smith
First published 2006 by Routledge
2 Park Square,Milton Park,Abingdon,Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave,New York,NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 2006 Chris M.M.Smith for selection and editorial matter;individual
chapters,the contributors
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical,or other means,
now known or hereafter invented,including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system,without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN10: 0-415-36109-5 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-36110-9 (pbk)
ISBN13: 9-78-0-415-36109-5 (hbk)
ISBN13: 9-78-0-415-36110-1 (pbk)
Contents
Illustrations vii
List of contributors viii
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction xiii
PART I
What does inclusion mean for the gifted 1
and talented?
1 Principles of inclusion: implications for able learners 3
CHRIS M. M. SMITH
2 Inequity in equity: tackling the excellence–equality conundrum 22
CARRIE WINSTANLEY
3 Can ‘inclusion’ work for the gifted and talented? 41
ROGER MOLTZEN
4 The early years setting – an inclusive framework 56
MARGARET J. SUTHERLAND
5 Are we nearly there yet? 69
LYNNE MCCLURE
PART II
Can selective interventions be inclusive? 85
6 Submerged talent in inner cities: inclusion by intervention 87
RON CASEY AND VALSA KOSHY
7 Maximising potential – both academic and social–emotional 102
COLM O’REILLY
8 To group or not to group: is thatthe question? 119
MIRACA U. M. GROSS
vi Contents
PART III
What can ordinary schools do to promote inclusion 139
for gifted and talented learners?
9 Accommodating gifted learners in regular classrooms: 141
promises and pitfalls
MICHAEL C. PYRYT AND B. LYNN BOSETTI
10 Structured tinkering: improving provision for the gifted 161
in ordinary schools
DEBORAH EYRE
11 Double exceptionality: gifted children with special educational 176
needs – what ordinary schools can do to promote inclusion
DIANE MONTGOMERY
12 A curriculum of opportunity: developing potential 192
into performance
BELLE WALLACE
Index 217
Illustrations
Figures
4.1 The cyclical approach to identification 62
4.2 Forms of interaction 63
11.1 The seven types of gifted education provision that should be 184
available in every school
12.1 High performance constellation 193
12.2 Using Bloom’s taxonomy in an early primary context 209
12.3 How Bloom’s taxonomy can be applied to Romeo and Julietto
develop higher-order learning skills for older pupils 209
12.4 The TASC problem-solving framework: Thinking Actively 211
in a Social Context
12.5 The TASC problem-solving framework: planning and 212
evaluating the school disco
Tables
9.1 Pyryt Enrichment Matrix 143
10.1 A shared focus 173
10.2 A shared general theme 173
10.3 A common field of study 173
11.1 Profile of typical able underachievers in school 179
12.1 Checklist for identifying primary and secondary children 195–6
who manifest high-level ability
12.2 Checklist outlining the essential characteristics that 199–201
signify potential within each of the human abilities
12.3 Advantages and disadvantages of standardised group tests 202
Contributors
Chris Smith is a lecturer in the Department of Educational Studies at the
University of Glasgow. Chris taught in schools for fifteen years, initially as a
teacher of geography and then as a learning support teacher in both primary
and secondary schools. Since moving from school into higher education
Chris has been heavily involved with the Scottish Network for Able Pupils
and is currently Project Leader of this national initiative. Chris’s current
research interests are related to more able learners, inclusion and motivation.
Carrie Winstanley is a Senior Lecturer at University of Surrey Roehampton,
working with education students with a particular interest in Special
Educational Needs. She taught in schools for a decade, and has higher
degrees in psychology and history of education. She continues to run work-
shops in museums and galleries, as well as for GIFT, an organisation
providing for more able pupils. Her current PhD studies (Institute of
Education, London University) consider the notion of high ability from a
philosophical perspective.
Roger Moltzen is Chair of the Department of Human Development and
Counselling and Director of Special Education Programmes at the
University of Waikato, New Zealand. A former teacher and principal, Roger
has been involved in the education of gifted and talented students for many
years. Currently, he is director of a national programme of teacher support in
the area of giftedness and talent. His research interests include programme
differentiation for gifted and talented learners, and the life stories of gifted
adults. He recently chaired a Ministerial Working Party on Gifted
Education, which resulted in a comprehensive set of new initiatives being
introduced in New Zealand.
Margaret Sutherland qualified as a primary teacher and now works in the
Department of Educational Studies, University of Glasgow, where she lec-
tures on inclusion. She also works for the Scottish Network for Able Pupils,
where she is responsible for organising national events to highlight issues
surrounding the education of more able pupils. Margaret has published in
Contributors ix
teacher education magazines as well as journals on gifted and talented edu-
cation, with particular reference to the education of young able learners.
Lynne McClure Now living in Scotland, Lynne was until recently Principal
Lecturer in the Research Centre for Able Pupils at Oxford Brookes
University, where she developed and delivered the national training pro-
gramme for ‘gifted and talented’ coordinators in primary and secondary
schools in Excellence in Cities areas all over England. Working within the
Excellence in Cities initiative, she is Principal Examiner for the interna-
tional World Class Tests for able pupils, and sits on the national steering
group for the Xcalibre cross-curricular G and T website. Since leaving
Oxford, Lynne has begun working with several LEAs in developing policy
and strategy for able pupil provision, and has lectured on the subject in the
UK and abroad. Lynne also edits the Mathematical Association’s primary
mathematics journal, chairs the Mathematically Promising Network and
combines that with writing, lecturing and designing teaching and learning
materials in mathematics. Her research interest concerns mathematically
able students and the provision of an appropriate curriculum for them. She is
co-editor of and contributor to Gifted and Talented Provision in the Primary
Curriculum, recently published by David Fulton, and has contributed chap-
ters to various other edited collections on mathematics, thinking skills and
able pupils.
Valsa Koshy is a Reader in Education and Co-director of the Brunel Able
Children’s Education (BACE) centre at Brunel University. She has worked
as a class teacher and advisory teacher for mathematics prior to joining the
university, where she is also the Director of Academic and Professional
Development programmes. Her research interests include the identification
of gifted mathematicians, mathematics education, assessment and the devel-
opment of gifts and talents in children aged four to seven.
Ron Caseyis a Senior Research Fellow and Co-director of the BACE centre at
Brunel University. His theoretical models of intervention for gifted pupils
inform the projects undertaken by the centre. His research interests include
the conceptualisation of ability, creativity and the search for submerged tal-
ent in areas of relative deprivation.
Colm O’Reillyis the Director of the Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) at
Dublin City University. CTYI provides fast-paced classes for academically
talented students aged six to sixteen years from all over Ireland and overseas.
Currently the Centre caters for over 3,000 students per annum and it is the
only recognised teaching centre for gifted children in the Republic of
Ireland. CTYI runs over 100 academic courses annually for gifted students.
Colm has worked in the area of gifted and talented education for the past
eleven years and has presented papers at numerous conferences around