3 Parent recommendation

The strangely stable ratio of two boys for every girl in identifying the highly able occurs internationally when parents (and usually teachers) recommend children as gifted without tests. This was the proportion in an American study by Johnson and Lewman (1990) of parents' selection of four to six year-olds as gifted. In China, in a 15-year follow-up study, in which parents made the judgement of giftedness first, which was then confirmed by the teachers, there were 69.5% boys and 30.5% girls (Zha, 1995b). Given the supposed differences in the Chinese attitudes, in which girls are seen as inferior, remarkably similar proportions appeared in Freeman's UK study (1991) where parents made the first recommendation ­ 64.3% boys and 35.7% girls. The reason appeared to be that the boys had more behaviour problems as well as being more demanding in general. This also fitted better with the stereotyped image parents had of the gifted child.

In the Freeman study, 82% of the parents who had sought help from the National Association for Gifted Children (UK) either reported emotional problems or were expecting them. Typically, the child showed over-activity, clumsiness, tantrums, excessive demands, poor sleep and had few friends of any age. However, the comparison children in the study - of identical high ability - who did not exhibit problem behaviour, were much less likely to be seen as stereotypically gifted (simply outstanding at what they did) and their parents did not join the association. This is yet more evidence that without outside comparisons the study of any voluntary association's membership is inevitably biased, which is equally true for a study of Mensa members.

Freeman also found that about 10% of the children presented (though untested) by parents as gifted were only of average ability on IQ tests, and had achieved accordingly at school. This perceived 'failure' was then sometimes blamed by parents on the school, or indeed as teacher discrimination against the child. However, most of the children presented as gifted were indeed so, as measured by IQ and specific tests of talent, even when the teachers were dismissive of the child's exceptional potential. But parents and teachers were in accord that these association children did have emotional problems, significantly much more (p< 0.1) than the non-association children of equal ability.

4 Peer nomination

In Montreal, Gagné (1995) asked 4,400 pupils, mostly in mixed-ability classes, to choose and rank the four classmates they thought were the best in a particular category - intellectual, creative, socio-affective and physical. Boys and girls were ranked very differently: boys were most frequently chosen for masculine attributes such as physical or mechanical-technical abilities or business, whereas girls were chosen for language, social strengths and art. The researcher's conclusion was that, despite the originally socially desired gender pressures that produced these achievements, these were the actual talents the children displayed, and so the peer judgements were correct. No comparisons were made of these results with any objective tests of abilities, nor of the children's self-estimates. The likelihood of classmates discovering hidden potential seems slight. Subhi (1997) found that in Jordan peers did not nominate any pupils differently to those identified by teachers.

Brakes on identification

Cultural values may inhibit the achievements of bright youngsters at school. These may be quite specific, such as directing girls into nursing rather than medicine. But they can be more subtle, such as the effect of expectations which vary considerably across cultures. If children do not fit those stereotypes they are less likely to be recognised as potentially highly able. Currently, the most common Western stereotype of a gifted child is of a weedy lad: he (for he is usually male) is bespectacled, lonely, and much given to solitary reading. He is, in fact, a juvenile 'egg-head', at times referred to by his schoolmates and maybe his teachers as 'the little professor'.

Very able children who do not speak the language of the test-makers or who think in different ways are also less likely to be recognised as having high potential. In an overview of 20 research-based international papers on the gifted disadvantaged across all five continents, Wallace and Adams (1993) concluded that it is not only culture which can cut such children out of recognition and special provision, but poverty. There is, they wrote starkly, "the equation, in reality, of wealth with giftedness, special educational provision and giftedness" (p.446).

Shore and his colleagues (1991) reanalysed international research on the gifted disadvantaged and listed research-based indications of ways to overcome such handicaps to fulfilment as learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia) and physical disabilities. These guidelines also apply to children with emotional problems, who have lost self-confidence and who prefer to hide their gifts rather than stand out from the crowd. Passow (1993) pointed out that disadvantaged groups are often handicapped by the test situation itself owing to lack of experience with tests, which produces inhibiting test anxiety, along with low motivation and poor expectations of success. Child-initiated learning, including high-quality peer interaction, has been found to encourage a sense of self-efficacy or empowerment, especially in deprived bright children, compared with teacher-initiated learning, which aims more specifically at a 'product', usually in high examination marks (Ari & Rich, 1992). The list below is a composite:

 

Identifying disadvantaged highly able children Use tests which are less dependent on words (e.g. the Raven's Matrices). Use a variety of identification procedures, tuned where possible to specific cultural rather than national norms. Look for a broad range and wide variety of high-ability children, and do not label one group as the gifted. Recognise that discovering and nurturing talent are not the same thing. Use the best results from multiple criteria, and provide multiple opportunities for discovery, not multiple hurdles. Recognise performance outside the school environment. Recognise multilingual capacity. Recognise the ability to be competent in situations which have different expectations of the children. Include peer, self and parent nomination for high potential. Encourage children to initiate their own projects and learning. Take the children's facilities for learning into account.

THE BEST WAY TO IDENTIFY THE VERY ABLE

Identification by provision

Identification by provision implies offering a challenging education for the highly able. Like any other pupils they need this consistently. Researchers are in agreement that the very able cannot make progress without the means to learn. Consequently, a notable educational move is taking place, away from the relatively static labelling of specific children as gifted towards a more flexible developmental approach which recognises the learning context. This new outlook is nicely summed up by the Americans Treffinger & Feldhusen (1996), who, after very many years of school-based research in this area, now describe the blanket term gifted as "indefensible".

This movement away from static towards dynamic assessments of giftedness was partly initiated in the 1920s by the work of Vygotsky (in Wertsch, 1990) on the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), this being distinct from the Actual Developmental Level (ADL) (also promoted by Reuven Feuerstein in Israel: see Feuerstein & Tannenbaum, 1993). The idea is that with specific provision (scaffolding) and mediation (adult guidance, especially through language) children can learn at a far greater speed than otherwise. For young children, Vygotsky pointed to guided play as a rich context for the development of the ZPD in exploring new knowledge and ideas. Kanevsky (1994), investigated the ZPD of 89 4-8 year- olds, asking each child to learn, transfer and generalise a specific problem. She found that "The benefits of high IQ were not as consistent as of chronological age" (p.163). Some high-IQ children made up their own challenges when they were bored, but their learning could deteriorate when they were offered the same curriculum as their age-peers.

The Dynamic Theory Of Giftedness (DTG) is based on Vygotsky's developmental concepts of "plus- and minus-giftedness" (Vygotsky, 1983). This uses the dynamic paradigm that either giftedness or defectiveness are possible outcomes when a child is faced with barriers to development. There are many examples of successful overcoming, as when Alicia Markova, the prima ballerina, took up ballet because of physical problems. Failure to overcome such barriers, though, can lead to a child hiding behind the weakness, which then becomes reinforced.

In an important six-year experimental study in Moscow, Babaeva (1996, and 1998 in press) investigated how to overcome such barriers in 31 children aged 6-7, identified as non-gifted by teachers and conventional tests. She compared their progress on a specially devised system of education with two control groups, identified gifted children in 'normal' gifted education and non-gifted children in regular education. The main goal was to help children develop effective means of overcoming psychological barriers to promote their desire for self- development. By the end of the first year, the average IQ in the class had increased by 10 points, especially verbal IQ, as had creativity, and there were fewer emotional problems. After six years, according to the report, measures of the experimental group's abilities were equal to those of the identified gifted children, and considerably surpassed those of the non-gifted control children.

Such an interactive approach, considering aptitude and provision together, places less emphasis on school marks, and seeks instead to find and provide for potential strengths and talents of all kinds. A clear indication of the need for this was shown in the British Sports Council's research on the Training of Young Athletes (Rowley, 1995). A three-year longitudinal study involving 453 athletes aged 8-16 years examined ways in which the children began participating in sport ­ who had identified the potential, and why the youngsters started intensive training. It was apparent that the identification of high-level sporting talent was heavily dependent on provision for both tuition and practice, which often depended on parents, as well as on the motivation of the children themselves. Thus, sports clubs and coaches could only play a secondary role in identifying talent, as they could only select already high achievers who had been encouraged and provided for by their parents.

To accommodate this new, flexible approach in finding the potentially very able, special educational techniques are needed, which are different from the conventional route (at least in the USA) of an IQ test followed by a gifted programme which is often simply more school-type teaching. Treffinger and Feldhusen (1996) suggest that there should be considerable involvement by the pupils in identifying themselves as they come to understand their own potential and decide their own goals. Nor does this mean a one-off self-selection; it should be continuous over the school years, resulting in a flexible open-ended talent profile which is regularly added to by all those involved, especially the pupil.

All the evidence indicates that specific provision within subject areas is by far the most effective in promoting excellence, rather than general enrichment without identified goals. This might be, for example, a journalism class for sharp writers or photography for the visually talented. It is helpful to observe children in rich and varied educational settings; perhaps a dancer in a serious dance class, or future programmers with access to good-quality computers. Without high-level learning opportunities it is hardly possible for highest-level potential to flower. The focus is particularly important because unevenness in gifts is more likely than being superb at everything. Consequently, it makes more sense to look out for specific talent in addition to an IQ test.

Able youngsters' leisure activities have been found to be a reliable predictor of future high achievement in that area (e.g. Feuerstein & Tannenbaum, 1993; Renzulli, 1995; Hany, 1996). Although such choice is largely self-directed, showing task commitment, intellectual abilities, persistence and other personal attributes, it also depends on provision. Eighteen years after secondary school, 48 of the original 159 subjects of a high school in Tel Aviv, Israel, were surveyed for their occupational accomplishments and outstanding career achievements, and with few exceptions were seen to have focused on a single domain of endeavour (Milgram & Hong, 1993). A third of the sample had continued to work seriously in their childhood leisure areas with relatively much higher attainment than their school-fellows whose careers were unrelated to their interests. It was concluded that serious adolescent leisure activities were highly indicative of future successful careers and that this form of self-identification should be encouraged and provided for.

Identification by provision in practice

Recent work is beginning to reflect the outcomes from this wider and more child-directed approach. At the Szold Institute in Jerusalem, Zorman (1997) is working on experimental education, termed Eureka, which takes special education for the highly able away from the medical model of 'diagnose and treat', and uses instead a dynamic approach looking at the outcomes of exposing children to opportunity in the visual arts and sciences. It is based on a seven-year follow-up of 60 talented pupils. The model is now implemented in 56 schools and includes all the country's religions. The assessment process uses teacher ratings of pupils' behaviour, professional evaluation of portfolios and task performance. The research also uses self-report questionnaires both inside and outside school, including the children's social behaviour. Voluntary out-of-school enrichment activities are available, from which children's talents are also assessed. Hence the assessment net is flung widely. Although the pupils are generally above average, it has been found that the most important predictor of their success is their high motivation within the chosen subject area. There are also indications that pupils' reading comprehension has been improved, and that their interests have been extended beyond the visual arts and sciences.

Another Israeli example of self-selection through provision is at The Technological Centre for the Galilee, dedicated to the study of ecology (Brumbaugh et al, 1994)). The centre works in concert with the local comprehensive school, from which teenage boys and girls have been invited over the past 18 years to work on their own projects under supervision. They are not selected in any way. The centre has the specific aim of developing scientific thinking, using projects such as the effects of magnesium on plants, or cultivating wild mushrooms, or the effects of hormones on fish reproduction. At the laboratory, youngsters design and conduct work on original problems for which there are no existing answers nor (often) methods, then continue to work with the data back at school. The teenager has to prepare and write a research proposal, which is discussed with the laboratory supervisor, submitted to the Ministry of Education for approval, then he or she can begin, either alone or in a group. Each youngster has to be able to work on a computer, and eventually to provide a bound dissertation. The Centre displays the youngsters' work, which is sometimes of Master's degree standard. The cost is low and largely supported by the state.

The Children's Palaces in China practise a very different and highly successful means of identification by provision with primary school children, which again relies on the children's own motivation and interest for its success. (Academic reference exists in Chinese.) Each 'palace' is simply a large house with rooms crammed with activities. Whole schools of mixed- ability children come at one time and are let loose. Some run right through into the playground while others head for the calligraphy, puppet theatre, stationary bicycles, science labs, music rooms etc. The children are not tested for aptitude, but many are stimulated by the novelty of what they discover there to want to learn more. The rules are simple. Those who want to take their chosen subject further must make a contract to come for a specified number of lessons. If they do not attend them all (without good reason) they cannot continue. Some come for years and reach breathtaking standards in their chosen field. Normal teachers are paid extra for this work, which they say they greatly enjoy.

Freeman's Sports Approach

Excellence in some abilities is more acceptable than in others in all cultures. In Britain, for example, local education authorities normally encourage keen, talented footballers to benefit from extra tuition outside school hours, provide them with equipment, arrange transport for them to meet and engage with others at roughly the same level as themselves and pay for it all. Although there is some provision around for other subjects, notably music, and there are mathematics contests and extra-curricular activities, such as art classes in museums, the idea of opening up the school labs for a Saturday morning practice in chemistry is rare, if it exists at all. It is not difficult or expensive to find out what interests and motivates pupils, via questionnaires, interest tests or simply by asking them. Furthermore, the facilities are already largely in place to provide excellent support for abilities other than football.

Freeman (1995) has proposed that, given the opportunity, and with some guidance, the talented (and motivated) should be able to select themselves to work at any subject at a more advanced and broader level. She terms this the 'Sports Approach'. In the same way as those who are talented and motivated can select themselves for extra tuition and practice in sports, they could opt for extra foreign languages or physics. This would mean, of course, that such facilities must be available to all, as sport is, rather than only to those pre-selected by tests, experts, family provision or money to pay for extras. This is neither an expensive route, nor does it risk emotional distress to the children by removing them from the company of their friends. It makes use of research-based understanding of the very able, notably the benefit of focusing on a defined area of the pupil's interest, as well as providing each one with the facilities they need to learn with and make progress.

But to practice identification by provision, the evidence is that teachers will need specific training in differentiated teaching methods, in addition to a variety of techniques for bringing out high-level potential. For example, there would have to be some training in collecting information for a portfolio, or at least some unification of approaches within a school or authority, as well as some form of recognition of what provision the pupils had access to. This could be done by a simple rating scale so that children who were excelling within their context would be seen to be doing so and not penalised because they had fewer opportunities than others. It is a very difficult concept to put into practice, though, as American positive action has shown. The answer lies in allowing wider and easier access to all education, particularly higher education, perhaps as in European universities which accept all applicants with basic qualifications. Suggestions as to how this might be practised are offered here:

 

The Sports Approach: identification by provision Identification should be process-based and continuous. Identification should be by multiple criteria, including provision for learning and outcome. Indicators should be validated for each course of action and provision. The pupil's abilities should be presented as a profile rather than a single figure. Increasingly sharper criteria should be employed at subsequent learning stages. Recognition should be given to attitudes possibly affected by outside influences such as culture and gender. The pupils must be involved in educational decision-making, notably in areas of their own interest.

SPECIFIC PROBLEMS OF RESEARCHING THE VERY ABLE

Educators who might act on the conclusions from research into high ability should be aware of the particular problems in this field, and from what stance this report has been written. Scientific research described here is considered to be the objective assembly of data using a recognised methodology, followed by statistical analysis, interpretation and conclusions. The collection and reporting of statistics is not scientific research per se; rather it is part of the provision of material for the research. Nor are personal impressions scientific research, however frequently experienced, well recorded or intensely felt. For example, a summer school for highly able children may give them a great deal of pleasure and companionship as well as increase their knowledge, which the organisers perceive as highly satisfactory; but only comparative experimental research could tell us whether a particular kind of provision is more appropriate for the very able than another, or whether all children might well benefit from those activities.

Researchers' attitudes to the very able vary widely. Some favour the case-study approach because they say a gifted child is unique and so cannot be compared, whereas to others the gifted are normal children with exceptional aptitudes. The case-study approach can be vividly illustrative, but in order to be most effective and rigorous it has to be set in a wider social context to justify generalisations. For instance, if one high-IQ child refuses to go to school, is this really typical of a frustrated future Einstein in a mixed-ability class, or could it be because of subtle messages from home that the child is 'too clever' (and by implication too sensitive) to fit in?

How typical is the sample group?

A variety of methods are used to select highly able children for studies. Some samples are made up of children who are already highly achieving, and because of that have been selected for vacation courses or special 'gifted' education. How much of their subsequent improvement can then be said to be due to the special treatment, and how much to the fact that the best predictor of future success is present success? There should be some comparison of the selected group with children of different abilities and educational experiences.

This lack of comparison was notable in a study by Benjamin Bloom (1985) of 120 young Americans who had reached "world-class levels" of accomplishment. He concluded that certain family influences were vital in the promotion of talents, particularly encouragement combined with discipline and good teaching. This seems reasonable, but we do not know the effect of similar parenting behaviour on other children, even on the siblings in those families, because no such comparisons were made. Nor was any reference made to possibly inherited aptitudes; all the credit for talented achievement was presented as entirely environmental. The study was also retrospective, relying on memories of early years, and as most of the interviews were done by telephone, there was no independent assessment of the children's social or physical environments. We do know that many parents work extremely hard at training their children for great accomplishments - without success - while others, such as Leonard Bernstein's father who sold the piano because his son practised too much, actually discourage their talented children.

Many often-referenced studies use tiny and so perhaps unrepresentative samples, such as that of six American boy "prodigies" who were followed up for 10 years (Feldman with Goldsmith, 1986). They did not continue their advantage into exceptional adult achievement, a feature of 'hot-housed' children. Nevertheless, a complex theory of giftedness emerged from that study, including the idea of "trace elements" ­ a combination of unrecognised chance events which are essential for gifted performance ­ some might call it luck. In Australia, Gross (1993) used the contentious IQ of 200 to select just three "profoundly gifted" young children. They were described as exhibiting the 'typical' symptoms of emotional disturbance, such as school-refusal, and were without any friends because to them being with normal children was akin to interacting "solely with children who are profoundly intellectually handicapped" (p.475).

Looking back at the lives of eminent adults (e.g. Goertzel et al, 1978; Radford, 1990; Albert, 1992) also presents problems of interpretation, such as unreliability of memory, the perception of early experiences in terms of later achievements, and the different outlooks of those times which brought those people to eminence. In truth, although we can never identify and measure the full context of anyone's life, even in the present, there are certain basic scientific research concerns which should be in place before expensive and life-changing action is taken, based on the conclusions from findings.

 

Improvements needed in researching the very able Clearly defined theoretical bases and statements of goals for extra provision. Comparisons of outcomes from different forms of provision e.g. enrichment or acceleration. Generally acceptable scientific standard of methodology and case-study reports. Cross-cultural and cross-social comparisons to test concepts of universality. Comparisons of experimental interventions in and out of places of education. Investigation into high-level learning and thinking. The effects of labelling children as very able.