190 pages
226mm x 145mm
ISBN 1 85856 327 5
ISBN-13: 978 1 18586 327 5
July 2004

Able pupils surely have it all - intelligence, success, a shining future. How can it be fair to make extra provision for them when schools are already hard pressed to deliver the basics? Illustrated with case studies of highly able children currently in British schools, this book demonstrates the range of difficulties they can face, and how inadequate provision can lead to underachievement and disaffection.
Carrie Winstanley works within an inclusive definition of high ability that does not ignore the underachievers. She shows how unfair and unproductive it is to allow children to have their time wasted in school while they wait around for their classmates to catch up.

Discussions about provision for the gifted are obscured by charges of elitism, and teachers are understandably reluctant to favour the already favoured. But school provision should be fair to all pupils, including the able, who do need challenge beyond the statutory curriculum. The author examines the current climate of egalitarianism in schools and uses political philosophy to argue that provision is needed to ensure the personal well-being of highly able children as well as their potentially significant contribution to society.

The principle that needs to be applied is equality of quality of challenge. The author explores whether there is a singular method that will meet pupils' heterogeneous needs and evaluates whether thinking skills programmes are an attractive solution to fostering gifted children's learning.

Dr Carrie Winstanley is Senior Lecturer at Roehampton University.

'I really enjoyed reading this book and it is already on my reading lists in a variety of courses in the university and the course members have also enjoyed it. I see this as a text that will greatly aid my teaching of the topic.' - Journal of Education for Teaching