How well a school or college identifies the gifted and talented will largely depend on the range of learning opportunities that it offers. Children and young people can only demonstrate their abilities if they are given opportunities to do so. The process of auditing existing provision is likely to aid in the identification of the gifted and talented by raising the awareness and capacity of the institution as a whole to recognise the full range of skills and aptitudes.

Ofsted evaluations suggest that if under-identification is to be avoided, a specific approach for each subject needs to be fully developed.

'Physical education (PE) departments readily identified pupils who were good at the most popular school sports and often, as in football, these were pupils with access to local teams and weekend clubs. In solo sports, like gymnastics and swimming, the basis of identification was weaker because previous provision -- or information about it -- was less common. Lacking specific criteria, teachers found it difficult to identify aspects of performance which gave early indication of latent talent, which, if appropriately developed, might lead to high achievement.

Something of the same pattern was evident in relation to dance and music, where pupils with strong previous experience evident at transfer to secondary school were more likely to be identified as talented than others. This highlighted the importance of access to previous provision and the crucial factor of parental support, including the ability to pay, for example, for instrumental music tuition and transport. Some schools were alert to this issue and screened pupils for voice and instrumental aptitude in an effort to identify those who had had no previous opportunity. In other schools pupils were invited to volunteer for selection but this, of course, depended on the confidence and motivation of the individual pupils.'

The following can help subject teams, departments and faculties develop their practice in identification:

the 'Identifying gifted pupils' sections in the subject-specific guidance on this site;

the Advanced Extension Awards (AEA) agreed assessment criteria;

the 'Developing a subject policy' section;

the identifying the gifted and talented cohort - EiC; gifted and talented strand guidance.

Where provision allows, teachers can become aware of gifts and talents in learners as a result of:

• how they approach routine work in class and activities outside the classroom (some learners behave quite differently in the two situations);
• observing them systematically in a range of learning contexts, to identify those who demonstrate social or leadership skills, an aptitude for problem solving or acute listening skills;
• their responses to their work and talking with them about what they like, dislike, and what enables them to learn best;
• inviting them to reflect on and talk about their own strengths, interests and aspirations, perhaps in the context of personal target-setting;
• their initiative in tackling tasks or adapting conditions to suit circumstances;
• the progress they make and judging whether they achieve beyond the level of attainment expected for their age;
• their performance in national curriculum and other standardised tests, for example non-verbal reasoning tests and cognitive ability tests (CATs), or national tests and qualifications.
  

Teachers can also find it helpful to talk to:

• parents, carers and peers;
• tutors or mentors who see young people in a range of contexts and know about their circumstances.

The gifts and talents of those for whom English is an additional language are often best recognised by people who can speak to them in the language they speak at home.

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Avoiding stereotyping

It is important to make sure that the full range of the school or college population is considered when identifying the gifted and talented. Coordinators, managers and teachers need to guard against stereotypes in their perceptions of gifted and talented young people.

In undertaking any audit of exisiting provision, schools and colleges should check that the learners identified as gifted and talented are broadly representative of the population of the institution as a whole; any significant disparity might suggest that some have been overlooked. Procedures for identifying the gifted and talented should be carefully scrutinised as a matter of course.

Ofsted has reported a tendency for some schools to identify a disproportionate number of gifted and talented pupils in economically-favoured groups. Provision for very able pupils: an Ofsted report, 1997.

A study by David Gillborn suggests that some teachers assume black pupils will have talents in PE and overlook gifts and talents in other areas. Educational inequality: mapping race, class and gender provides research summaries.

Evaluating educational inclusion (Ofsted) offers valuable advice about self-evaluation of school performance in relation to minority groups.

For a good examples of identification, underachievement and inclusion, see Case study 1: Identifying and motivating underachieving students and Reasons why gifted children sometimes underachieve.

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