I'm not saying that I agree with this, but this is the way that G & T is defined within the state sector. I was a G & T coordinator, and this is the explanation from the LEA link advisor. I sit on the other side of the argument too, as DS1 and DS2 are both on the G & T register. As Dinosaure says of her children, with DS2 I know he is very bright but he is not what I would personally define as gifted, DS1 is gifted.
Using the government definitions, Gifted and Talented falls strictly into two camps, that together make up the 15%.
Gifted being academically able, the top 10% of the environment the child is in.
Talented being the 5% who excel in a non academic area.
So in an average class of 30, a teacher would be expected to identify 3 particularly academically able and 1-2 talented children. Parent, teacher and peer nomination are supposed to be equally valid in the identification of G & T children.
'Gifted' is the term used to describe children who are working 1-2 years above their peer group. The term used by our LEA advisor, but not within schools, for children who are working 4 or more years above their peer group (and these are the children who I would consider academically gifted) is 'savant'.
Schools also do not like the label G & T but it is something we have to work with and that we have pressure put upon us to show that we are doing.
We had an apalling G&T coordinator before christmas who insisted on labelling activities as G&T reading etc. They're now called workshops, so we've had PE and Art workshops so far this half term.
It's not just additional groups though, the G&T label actually forces some teachers to think slightly harder. G&T is not just a case of setting more challenging work or assuming that a child's needs are being met by an hour a week group. Teachers (and I am one) need to recognise that there are other factors to take into account. Unfortunately, there is still a sector of the profession that seem to believe that neat handwriting, good presentation and a page of sums are a pre-requisite before they will go further with a child. Whereas a bright child will have understood the concept before they've left the carpet and not actually need to do the reinforcement activity. Or teachers that do not realise that poor handwriting and a reluctance to write often go hand in hand with academic ability. I spent three months last year trying to explain to the guy who was teaching literacy to DS1 that the reason why he had not even bothered to write the date for 3 months was boredom. The school moved him to a different group, with a teacher with a different style and he flourished.
The school deal with my children in different ways, that work for them as individuals (it helps that I work there too now!). They both have IEPs, DS1's is for G&T and Eccentricity!! DS2 spends the morning in Year 1 and returns to Reception for the afternoon, which works for him. DS1 who is in Year 2 and is working at and beyond Year 6 level, in most areas, stays in year 2 for most things but has a fantastic teacher who is flexible and creative enough to keep him involved, interested and learning. He does come up to year 5 sometimes to do maths with my group, as he is not mature enough emotionally to cope with year 6, and having Mum there helps!! We are about to have talks with the local secondary school about support for him because within 2 years he'll have outstripped me mathematically and I'm the numeracy coordinator!!
As a classteacher, I feel that the G&T label, which some of my class have, makes no difference, because I don't give my class mundane activities. I differentiate for all the children whatever their needs. I don't need the label to say that x, y and z need to take the work on further, or work from the year above's syllabus, or solve a challenge. I very rarely have children tell me they are bored, and when they do we sort it out, we sit down and talk. I've attended a lot of G&T training, and it helps raise the level of learning for all the children in the class. As a teacher if you're really stretching and challenging the most able then it begins to have knock on effect on all the children.
So I think to sum up a long and rambly post, parents hate the label, schools hate the label, we have to work with it, but if you're a good teacher, (or your child has a good teacher), it should make no difference whether children are labelled or not because what you're asking children to do should be appropriate and challenging for them anyway.
I'm really sorry this is so long, but it's a subject close to my heart!!