Gifted Secondary Pupils in England

The Fourth World Conference on Gifted and Talented Children was held in Montreal in 1981. The large gathering of over 1000 participants brought together the representatives of more than 40 countries. They included psychologists, teachers, politicians, administrators and parents. In this climate of increasing concern throughout the world regarding the educational needs of, and provision for, the most able children in schools, it is of interest to inquire into the situation of gifted pupils in particular countries. The research described below investigated first the extent to which teachers recognized pupils who possessed exceptional ability, and second the nature of some of the characteristics of gifted children. As many as possible of the gifted pupils in six secondary schools were identified: their test scores and the replies to questionnaires were used to obtain information about them. All the pupils on the rolls of the six establishments were screened. Altogether, they numbered well over 5000 pupils.