Why the term 'gifted and talented' really didn't sit well with me off when I taught in schools.

One of the main reasons that I personally chose to go into teaching was because I wanted to provide ALL children with an amazing education and I knew that I had the capabilities to be able to do this. I didn’t go to the best schools myself as a child and I never felt that myself and my peers were treated equally. I always felt that other students were placed on a pedestal or taken more seriously than others. Obviously, I was a little girl and I didn’t understand it fully then but I do now.

And when I taught in schools, my focus was on the equal treatment of ALL of my students. In one of my first teaching jobs as a teacher in Year 1 in a top independent pre-prep, we had a meeting. In the meeting we were told that we had to identify 6 ‘gifted and talented’ children in our classes in art, music and maths. We were told to look for those children who demonstrated a ‘natural ability’ in these areas. So basically, the children who were better than the others at art, music and maths.

To be honest, I didn’t really think any one single child was ‘more gifted’ than another in art, music or maths but this one one of those compulsory paperwork activities that we had to do. So I I did it. I spent a week observing my students and seeing who showed some sort of ‘gift’ and ‘talent’ in art, music and maths. I really struggled with this. Not because my students were not gifted and talented but because I really didn’t agree with choosing one over the other.

By the end of the week myself and my colleagues submitted our paper work with the names of the 6 children. The head teacher then created a ‘Gifted and Talented’ club. This club took place during my students’ lunch breaks and they basically went to the club once a week to deepen their ‘gifts and talents'‘.

So what about my other students? Why weren’t they receiving the same treatment? And what would happen to those ‘gifted and talented’ students? They would just become even more ‘gifted and talented’ because 1:1 attention was being given to them.

It really did not sit well with me. I honestly thought many of my other students were ‘gifted and talented’ too but their skills weren’t being as focused on and refined as those in the ‘club’.

I personally don’t think that anyone is naturally born ‘gifted and talented’. I believe that we all have the innate ability to become ‘gifted and talented’ in anything that we put our minds to. In anything we put our focused and consistent effort into. And I think it’s damaging to other children to see this sort of treatment and to not feel valued in their own skills and talents.