Young, Gifted and Talented Programme

The Young, Gifted & Talented Programme (YG&T) is a United Kingdom government scheme that aims to enhance the educational development of students between the ages of 4 and 19. The scheme was established in 2002.

Inclusion policy

Within the scheme, a young and gifted individual is defined as: "...children and young people with one or more abilities developed to a level significantly ahead of their year group (or with the potential to develop those abilities)”. [cite web|url=http://ygt.dcsf.gov.uk/DynamicPage.aspx?pageId=8|title=The Young Gifted & Talented programme |work=ygt.dcsf.gov.uk|accessdate=2008-07-15]

Entrance to the scheme is via a validation process performed by the student's school or college and is based on criteria including:

* For students aged between 4-11, there is no set percentage and they are identified by their performance and ability relative to their cohort.

* For students aged between 11-19, that they fall within the top 5% of students as identified by the national eligibility criteria provided by the The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Alternatively they can be selected by the use of local sectional that identifies them as above average in their cohort within their school age group.

While the onus is on schools to determine the size of their gifted and talented population, clear justification for the size of the group and the benefit to all members must be clearly identified. The DCSF uses 10% of any given school population as the assumption of size during the planning process.

Operations

The operations of the programme are outsourced to the CfBT Educational Trust who took over the National Programme for Gifted and Talented Education in September 2007 and renamed it to the Young, Gifted & Talented. [cite web|url=http://www.cfbt.com/teach/giftedtalentededucation.aspx|title=Young, Gifted & Talented Programme|publisher=CfBT Educational Trust|accessdate=2008-07-15]

The program also supports the activities of private organisations in providing training activities and materials to the identified student groups. [cite news|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/the-city-highflyer-who-went-back-to-school-856432.html|title=The City high-flyer who went back to school|last=Baker|first=Martin|date=2008-06-29|publisher=The Independent|language=English|accessdate=2008-07-15]

Funding

Criticism

The website and supposedly superior online library are difficult to navigate and use. The registration system is also time consuming and excessive.

References

External Links

* [http://ygt.dcsf.gov.uk/HomePage.aspx?stakeholder=14 Official site of the young Gifted & Talented Programme]