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Roles and responsibilities: Headteachers, principals and senior managers
If school or college policies are to be effective, headteachers and managers as well as subject and pastoral teachers must be committed to their success.
In particular, their responsibilities must complement those of the gifted and talented coordinator and ideally include line-management of the person charged with coordination. They should take responsibility for ensuring that the policies:
show commitment to, and support for, gifted and talented learners;
provide a clear framework for subject policies or guidelines.
Points to consider
Headteachers, principals and senior managers need to consider the following types of questions.
1. Commitment to policies2. Knowledge management and continuing professional development
3. Expectations and quality assurance
Is provision for the gifted and talented a prominent feature of the institution's development plan and any institutional targets set?
How regularly do curriculum managers and teaching staff refer to the policy for gifted and talented learners?
Where there is a gifted and talented coordinator, how is he or she supported by managers? How are the gifted and talented coordinator and/or middle and senior managers accountable to the headteacher/principal and the governing body when it comes to gifted and talented matters?
How do managers and curriculum leaders ensure that all teachers plan to meet the needs of all learners? (For guidance on this, see From targets to action)
How are the needs of the gifted and talented recognised in staffing, resourcing, room allocation and timetabling? To what effect?
The following case studies provide relevant examples.
Offering extra GCSEs from year 9
A grammar school offered its many gifted and talented students the opportunity to take an extra GCSE qualification in ICT. Instead of taking exams early, it spread the extra subject lessons thinly across years 9 to 11. Timetabling considerations, staffing and staff development needs (for example, for coursework moderation) are all being addressed.
For more on this, see Case study 13: Offering extra GCSEs from year 9.
Stretching gifted linguists
A school with a mixed-ability intake allowed its gifted linguists to take an early GCSE in a modern foreign language. It set up a community language college, including a link with the local university, and developed ICT links with French schools. The electronic exchange included video conferencing facilities, which enabled students to coach each other on-line.
For more on this, see Case study 20: Stretching gifted linguists.
2. Knowledge management and continuing professional development
How are staff, including support staff, enabled to share information about the progression of gifted and talented learners?
How effectively is existing expertise deployed to enhance the provision for the gifted and talented?
How does the institution encourage a learning culture (eg by supporting staff and students in experimenting and taking risks)?
How are staff supported in seeking and using professional development opportunities to build their confidence in working with gifted and talented learners? To what effect?
How regularly, and with what impact, does responding to the needs of the gifted and talented learners feature in teachers' continuing professional development?
How are staff supported in becoming aware of their preferred teaching style and learners' preferred learning styles? How are they supported in understanding how their own learning style may affect their teaching, and that this may limit those who learn differently? (See Levels of challenge and differentiation)
For more on this, See Case study 5: Involving every department.
3. Expectations and quality assurance
How is the provision for gifted and talented learners included as part of ongoing monitoring processes (eg in classroom observations and performance management reviews)?
How is discussion about gifted and talented provision built into performance management reviews?
How are subject, department or faculty managers supported in providing advice, support and professional development to help their teams identify, teach and support gifted and talented learners? (See Developing a subject policy.)
How do institutions ensure effective liaison with partner schools and colleges, courses, higher education and employers in the transfer and transition of gifted and talented learners and to collaborate in comprehensive provision? (See Transfer and transition)
How does the school or college work with the local education authority, Learning and Skills Councils or other agencies on gifted and talented matters?
For examples of institutions and agencies working together, see Case study 1: Identifying and motivating underachieving students, Case study 9: Linking with a university and Case study 10: Easing the transition to university.