ABSTRACT
As a member of staff in a junior school, Lee-Corbin, one of the authors, became increasingly aware that able children were not receiving the attention that they deserved. Furthermore, in many schools the needs of the able were not seen as a priority. As a special needs coordinator and as a class teacher, she was aware that special needs resources were allocated in the main to children who had learning difficulties but who were also at the lower end of the intelligence scale. This way of thinking was not peculiar to the school in which she was teaching. Colleagues from other schools, who also happened to be special needs coordinators, had reported similar attitudes and experiences. Because of their abilities, the able children were seen as capable of achieving, whatever their home/school circumstances. Therefore, in the opinion of many, they were not looked upon as meriting specialist teaching.
