highly able learners

Inclusion is about addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners and a conviction that it is the responsibility of any mainstream system to educate every child. UNESCO views inclusion as “a dynamic approach of responding positively to pupil diversity and of seeing individual differences not as problems, but as opportunities for enriching learning.” Therefore, inclusion is not merely a technical or organisational change but a movement with a clear philosophy.

This MESHGuide provides an overview of key issues in understanding young people deemed to have high academic abilities and presents research into the educational provision for such highly able learners from across the globe.  It also signposts resources and materials to complement the Guide. The intended audience for this Guide is classroom teachers, teachers leading on provision for more and highly able learners, headteachers and curriculum leaders.

Why a focus on the early years? The years from birth to 5 are crucial for young children’s development. Typically, huge strides in all aspects of development are made during this period. Development, however, is not a linear process, with children developing quickly in one aspect and less quickly in another. What is to be protected is the value of each ‘stage’ on the developmental journey and to recognise and support each development phase (Langston & Doherty, 2012).

Those learners deemed to have exceptional abilities and talents deserve attention and consideration of their particular needs and how to meet them in school. Exceptionally able learners– whether younger or older – may be at risk of being neglected as they are such a diverse group.  So called exceptionality may go unrecognised, perhaps because too difficult to deal with, perhaps because schools have many other priorities or feel that the needs of the exceptionally able cannot be provided in a normal school setting.

(Edited version of NACE article (NACE, 2022) and our thanks to Christabel Shepherd, NACE Challenge and Curriculum Development Director).

Why focus on definitions and terminology?

If schools are going to ensure consistency of understanding, approach and provision in respect of highly able learners defining what is meant and which learners are referred to is essential. These definitions must be clear, subject to discussion and shared with staff and stakeholders.

Each of the jurisdictions that make up the United Kingdom differ in their policies for the more able.

Wales

Education policies for more able students vary considerably from country to country, with programmes and the protocols that underpin them being far from being universally embraced. In countries with strong national cultures of egalitarianism, education policies are often geared towards avoiding interventions that could be regarded as forms of intellectual elitism. Some systems, often cite compelling empirical evidence for their positions, and strongly reject any notions that students should be stratified by ability.

In order to have a better understanding of how education for more able learners has arrived at its present state, we as authors feel it is important to look at the field through a historical lens. For over a century, scholars have sought to understand and measure the idea. Theories and empirical investigations developed, complementing and sometimes contesting the nature of giftedness and talent development.