Help! We’ve got a Problem: Working with Gifted Children to Address Local Issues through Research-Based Initiatives

Chair: Margaret Sutherland, University of Glasgow

Niamh Stack and Margaret Sutherland
University of Glasgow
Scotland

We have worked with staff in a number of schools and countries helping them to develop practice for gifted and talented pupils. In our experience, staff have been keen to ensure that the activities and planning they engage in are integrated into their existing practices rather than creating a completely separate and new initiative. We have worked with schools and helped them to develop a systematic approach to independent research-based projects. Independent projects can provide useful autonomy and open-ended opportunities that are good for all learners but in particular for the gifted and talented.

This session will consider how we can develop practical ideas and activities in ways that avoid unnecessary replication of work for learners and teachers. Building on work carried out in a primary school that identified health and well-being as an issue, we look at how schools can audit their existing practice using an audit tool that we have developed. We will then move on to consider how we can create a whole school themed event that would raise aspirations and provide opportunities for challenge across age and stage. Using examples from practice, we will explore how we can support children to conduct valid research projects having identified issues within their own communities.