Developing a policy
A crucial component in establishing comprehensive and enduring provision for gifted and talented students is the development of a relevant school policy.
While a policy does not guarantee appropriate provision in every classroom, it does go a long way to ensuring that these students' needs remain on the school's agenda. A policy also provides something against which approaches can be reviewed and evaluated.
A policy for catering for the needs of gifted and talented students should be developed through consultation both inside and outside the school. Parents of gifted students should have an opportunity to be involved. Gifted and talented students themselves can make valuable contributions to specific aspects of policy development. Very often, a school may also require an outside 'expert' to guide them in this undertaking.
A school policy needs to answer the why? who? what? where? how? and when? questions.
Why?
A good starting place is to develop a defensible rationale for providing differentially for gifted and talented students. This statement should tie in with the overall philosophy of the school.
Who?
Defining who are the gifted and talented in a school population is not an easy task. However, to do this a school must first arrive at a definition, because this provides the basis for identification and programme planning procedures. Once the definition has been reached, issues of identification can be addressed.
A second question to ask here is who will co-ordinate the programme in the school. Programmes for the gifted and talented have more chance of developing and enduring when:
- there is a team approach to co-ordination, and
- the team includes a member of the school's senior management.
It is also essential that the programme is 'owned' by the school community. To this end, the team or committee responsible for developing and implementing it should consult widely to reflect the different interest groups in the school and the perspectives held by members of staff.
What?
The next stage is the setting of goals and objectives – what are we going to do? This part of the process is very important because it not only sets the direction of a school's efforts but also provides criteria against which these efforts can be evaluated.
Many schools have discovered the value of undertaking a 'gap' analysis as a starting point, to determine 'where we are at and where we are going'. This allows them to evaluate current provisions and practices, and to identify the strengths and interests of school staff and members of the local community.
The 'gap' analysis approach is also an excellent way of determining what should be included in a programme of professional development for staff.
Where?
The debate about where gifted and talented students are best provided for in the school often constitutes the starting point in the process of planning and development. However, questions about the appropriateness of a separate class, a withdrawal programme, ability grouping, cluster grouping, and so on can only be answered in an informed way after a school has addressed the why, who and what questions.
The needs of the gifted and talented must be at the forefront when this matter is being decided. Too often their needs become subsumed by concerns about charges of elitism, how other children in the school might feel, or the reactions of parents of children not selected for special programmes.
How and when?
Once the aims and objectives for the programme have been decided, a plan of action needs to be developed detailing how these will be met. This plan should include a time frame identifying when things will happen. These details are essential if a school is to develop a co-ordinated and consistent approach.
Sometimes new initiatives lose their impetus because the implementation plan is too ambitious. This can occur when the direction is provided by a staff member who is both experienced and enthusiastic but who fails to recognise that some of his or her colleagues may be much less knowledgeable and somewhat diffident.
Some new developments are short lived because the vision was short term. There needs to be a long-term as well as a short-term plan of action.
The question of how programmes will be evaluated should be answered as part of the initial planning process. Reid (1996) reports that few New Zealand schools systematically and rigorously assess the effectiveness of their endeavours in this area. He believes this is because programme descriptions are usually brief and provide sketchy information.
A school also needs to ask the question of how any new initiatives will be resourced.