ABSTRACT
Anyone interested in gifted and talented education is aware that it involves an elusive concept, or set of concepts. We really don't know precisely what ‘giftedness’ is. We construct checklists based on the National Curriculum subject guidelines, or on the work of authors in the field, such as David George, Deborah Eyre, Joan Freeman, Belle Wallace and Barry Hymer. We analyse the behaviour of pupils we know (or even just suspect) of harbouring unusual gifts, and test them in a variety of ways. We undertake research into the way the brain works, using sophisticated scientific techniques. And always with the proviso that we don't know for sure if we're right.
