Case study：Identifying and motivating underachieving students

        This case study shows how a school identifies gifted and talented students who are not fulfilling their potential. It also looks at how the school motivates them and meets their needs.

1.        Background mixed comprehensive (11 to 16) in London, with 630 students on roll

2.        Implementation setting up procedures for identifying underachieving gifted and talented students; running a programme to develop underachieving students' skills and confidence; ensuring that schemes of work meet the needs of able students

3.        Impact a gifted and talented cohort that includes underachieving students as well as high attainers; students with greater skills and self-confidence; lessons that motivate and challenge gifted andtalented students.

1. Background

The school is a mixed comprehensive for 11- to 16-year-olds, with 630 students on roll. It is in a densely-populated area of London.

Students are very mixed ethnically and culturally -- Asian Pakistani, African Caribbean, West African, white, Somali and Turkish Kurdish, along with smaller numbers from other communities. Just over half of the students are Muslim. Most speak a language other than English at home and over half are eligible for free school meals.

The school has introduced a gifted and talented policy which aims to ensure that it identifies gifted and talented students with unfulfilled potential (in particular, underachieving groups), as well as high attainers. The work is managed by members of the school's Special Abilities Working Party (one representative/member per department) and by the special abilities coordinator. The working party monitors the process.

2. Implementation

Identifying gifted and talented

The school's procedures for identifying gifted and talented students involve using a mixture of quantitative and subjective data, including recommendations from teachers, other adults, parents and students themselves. If anyone thinks that a student should be on the register based on observation of qualities not easily measured, they can submit a case.

All departments submit their own lists of gifted and talented students. They are required to include underachievers and to look for evidence in non-quantitative ways (for example conceptual or oral skills). As a result, the gifted and talented cohort includes a number of students whose academic attainment is quite low and who come from traditionally underachieving groups, but who show exceptional abilities in other ways.

The register is regularly monitored by ethnicity, gender and eligibility for free school meals to see whether the students identified are representative of the overall school population. Where there is a mismatch, staff investigate possible reasons for the discrepancy and draw up an action plan.

Dennis is a good example of a student who has benefited from the school's gifted and talented policy. He arrived in year 9 after fostering, adoption, difficulties at school, and emotional and behavioural difficulties. At first he attended part time, based in an emotional and behavioural difficulty off-site unit. Here teachers recognised and reported on his outstanding social skills and conceptual abilities in class discussions. Dennis showed the traits of an exceptionally gifted child (easy empathy with contrasting viewpoints, strong sense of values, enthusiastic absorption of current events and ideas, the ability to refine and develop thinking off the cuff). However, he seldom wrote a word and never did homework. He scored low marks in tests, examinations and assessments, including national curriculum tests, and showed no interest in whether he did 'well' or not.

Dennis is on the school's gifted and talented register thanks to evidence submitted by a few observant teachers. As a result, he has been a voracious consumer of enrichment opportunities and was selected by the youth service to be a borough representative on a youth parliament. The opportunities offered by inclusion on the register undoubtedly kept him in school and enthusiastic. He had many learning experiences that he loved and left school in year 11 optimistic about himself.

The Junior Fellowship programme

The special abilities coordinator and heads of years 9 to 11 are working with the Windsor Fellowship Scheme to raise the self-esteem of gifted and talented students from ethnic minorities, including underachievers.

The head of year and tutors for year 9 identified 15 students from ethnic minorities who were above-average ability but were under-performing, lacked self-confidence and had emotional or behavioural difficulties. They gave priority to students whose needs hadn't been focused on in the past.

These students became part of a Junior Fellowship programme, run by a Windsor Fellowship tutor. The students attended 13 one-hour sessions in school time, focusing on social skills, self-esteem, planning and organisation, revision skills, using accelerated learning techniques, problem solving and discussion.

The programme was then customised for years 10 and 11, with 25 students selected by application form and interview (only those who attained level 5 or above in key stage 3 national curriculum tests were eligible to apply). Successful 'fellows' were invited to attend:

• ten five-hour Saturday sessions at school in year 10 -- focusing on self-esteem, group identity and motivation for learning;
• ten sessions in year 11 -- focusing on academic support (in English, maths, science and French), study and revision skills, and career goals.

In both programmes, the students looked at race and gender issues, and met and exchanged experiences with black professional adults.

The year 10 fellows were invited to make a presentation to the borough's gifted and talented coordinators' conference. One of the students involved, Khurram, had always lacked self-confidence and avoided public speaking. However, he told the conference delegates about the gifted and talented programme with clarity and passion. Afterwards, excited by his newly discovered love of speaking and listening, he decided he wanted to become a teacher.

The Windsor Fellowship carried out its own internal evaluation of the programme and found that the students were highly enthusiastic about their tutors' teaching skills.

Schemes of work

To ensure that activities in the departmental schemes of work meet the needs of the most able learners, the humanities department piloted a tick-box scheme. As a result, all schemes of work include tick-box sections where departments can show:

□ which of the seven intelligences or learning styles each unit or group of lessons covers;

□ whether there are opportunities to use higher-order thinking skills.

The tick boxes help ensure the full range of learning styles and thinking skills are covered within a unit of work.

3. Impact

As a result of the school's procedures for identifying gifted and talented students, staff have a subtler understanding of the meaning of gifted and talented and are able to identify students' qualities increasingly accurately. The school's gifted and talented cohort now includes a number of students whose academic attainment is low, but who show exceptional abilities in other ways. Many of these students are from traditionally underachieving groups.

The year 10 Junior Fellowship has been very successful, with high student attendance. The fact that students have voluntarily spent so much weekend time in school (up to 100 hours for some) has changed their feeling about the place and increased their sense of belonging. The group has a strong sense of unity and loyalty without being a clique. The programme has had a marked impact on the students' self-confidence, self-esteem, presentation and social skills. It has also developed their leadership qualities -- they spontaneously organised the whole school in a collaborative playground game at lunchtime and specifically said that the programme had given them the idea and the confidence.

The schemes of work initiative has helped teachers to focus more closely on the needs of gifted and talented students and to think about how to make sure that each lesson challenges thinking and motivates students.