Schools and colleges need to review how they develop skills across the curriculum to make sure that appropriate challenges for the gifted and talented are fully integrated and that gifts and talents are recognised and developed. The skills discussed here are key skills and thinking skills, which include learning skills.

The national curriculum website allows teachers to search across all subjects of the curriculum for opportunities to cover specific elements of key skills and thinking skills. Specifications for GCSE, GNVQ and A level courses also signpost opportunities. QCA has produced guidance on developing independent learning skills, Managing Curriculum 2000 for 16-19 students.

Key skills

In the words of an employer: 'Key skills get people jobs. Qualifications only get you the interview'.

Key skills are intended for everyone; from students in schools to chief executives in large companies. Key skills are the skills most commonly needed for success in a range of activities at work, in education and training, and for life in general. They focus students' attention on where and how they are using skills and on improving the quality of their learning, work and performance.

The key skills are:

• communication;
• application of number;
• information technology;
• working with others;
• improving own learning and performance;
• problem solving. (World class tests are designed for pupils aged 9 to 13. The tests provide problem solving assessment opportunities.)

Key skills specifications are available for all six at levels 1 to 4 and qualifications are available in the first three. Progression in the development of skills is clearly set out. All the key skills specifications can be used with students of any age and the key skills qualifications are approved for pre-16 and post-16 use.

The key skills are appropriate for gifted and talented students as they encourage students to reflect on and articulate their learning. Adding a 'key skill dimension' to work within a curriculum area is a useful form of extension.

When planning how to help gifted and talented students develop their key skills, schools and colleges should consider:

• that key skills, including good communication and teamwork, are partly learned by example -- a culture that values these skills will benefit all students;
• many subjects and areas of the curriculum require teamwork and dialogue to maximise success;
• key skills support the acquisition of independent learning skills;
• key skills benefit students across the range of learning styles;
• many work-related and enterprise activities provide opportunities to develop key skills;
• problem-solving activities can be appropriately challenging for gifted and talented students.

The key skills of information technology and application of number help students to research topics, produce good recording systems, estimate, and track the financial aspects of project work. Developing these skills and providing a structure for their development provides a good platform for progression and for working life.

Opportunities to develop, use and demonstrate key skills can be built into schemes of work. The QCA/DfES schemes of work and associated key stage 3 strategy documentation provide guidance on the integration of key skills and thinking skills across the curriculum. Suggestions on Language across the curriculum included in the schemes of work for key stage 3 can help teachers to plan and monitor approaches to verbal communication.

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Key skills in 14 to 19 programmes

Students can gather portfolio evidence to submit for accreditation from any area of their life, including study, employment and leisure activities. Evidence does not have to come only from their education and training programmes. If students have gaps in their key skills portfolio, they could look for further opportunities in part-time work or extra-curricular and recreational activities. Enrichment programmes can be planned to create opportunities for students to develop their key skills.

Students see key skills as most relevant where they are developed and applied in the context of their main programme. Care needs to be taken to ensure that this context is not too narrow, as this can limit students' ability to recognise the value of key skills and to transfer them to new contexts. Key skills assignments that broaden the context of work will provide extension work for gifted and talented students.

There is a clear need to match students' level of work on key skills to their prior experience and capabilities. Students should not automatically be required to work on key skills at the same level as their main programme. The choice of levels means that students' individual strengths can be matched with an appropriate level for each key skill. It is important to conduct initial/diagnostic assessments of key skills capabilities to ensure that students are motivated by taking key skills at the right level.

Student induction programmes should include some work on key skills and their relationship to other learning. Students need to see the relationship between key skills and personal progression to further or higher education or training, or into employment. Most are very receptive to the idea that key skills are an essential component of managing their own learning.

Thinking skills

'Thinking skills can be integrated effectively into a teaching and learning programme, although in the context of subject study rather than as a topic in their own right.'

(Revised guidance, gifted and talented strand, Excellence in Cities, DfEE, 1999)

Pre-16, the national curriculum offers good potential for teaching thinking skills and the introduction of citizenship provides extra opportunities. Debate, discussion and organising evidence to address moral, social, political and environmental issues are ideal contexts for pursuing enquiry, processing information, reasoning, thinking creatively and evaluating. The QCA/DfES schemes of work make clear links between curricular requirements, thinking skills and assessment for learning.

Well-planned learning experiences across the curriculum help gifted and talented learners to draw on a wide range of comparative and contextual knowledge and understanding when making sense of new learning. For example, in art and design or history, students could explore how conventions and symbols in 16th century art relate to social and political values of the time. Learning experiences like these give students the opportunity to take on roles and to discover skills that they might not otherwise experience, such as group management, debate, leadership and presentation.

The World Class Tests, particularly in problem solving, offer challenging and stimulating opportunities for pupils with strengths in this area, as do specifications for AS and AEA in critical thinking.

Schools and colleges can use the checklist below to evaluate how well they integrate thinking skills into the curriculum.

• What skills are currently encountered by, and taught to, gifted and talented learners as part of their programmes?
• What evaluation do we carry out into improvement in learning and achievement?
• Which skills are not being taught as part of each learner's programme?
• How can these skills be integrated into each learner's programme?
• How can we evaluate the success of this aspect of our curriculum?
• How do we encourage students to examine and discuss how, and not just what, they learn?
• How are we planning and providing for the professional development of staff in practical approaches to enhancing thinking skills?

Easing the transition to university

A school has set up a partnership with the Open University in a sophisticated and thoroughly evaluated approach to broadening the curriculum of able students and supporting transition to higher education. The scheme is now being extended to other schools.

For more on this, see Case study 10: Easing the transition to university.

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