Hi

I am  researching to improve my practice through creating my living theory of inclusive and inclusional gifted and talented educational practices and theories which reflect a concept of ‘gifts and talents’ as educational attributes, skills, understandings and life stories, which are co-created by all children, as they grow into the adult they feel proud to be, contributing to a humane world. What a mouthful but says what I am about and I will work on saying it elegantly.

Me and filing dont have a good relationship and this site helps me a lot to find things. If you have thoughts, references, questions, odd observations, challenges, videos,...  anything that might help  I would really love to hear from you.

I have most lately updated the references section and the MA unit material section.

On this site I will share some of my learning journey by putting links to some of the work which is inspiring me, challenging me, amusing me and some I have come across and might want to refer back to. I will make accessible some of my work in progress with the hope it might contribute to your thinking and you might wish to contribute to mine.

This is an opportunity to have conversations to create new inclusive and inclusional educational theory and practice. All are welcome to join the e-conversation or  see the archive by clicking here. link not working - copy and past this into your address bar http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=inclusivegandt Not a lot going on yet but hopefully there will be.

I will reorganise this site as even I can't find what I am looking for but I am busy working on stuff so in the meantime will have to use the search tool or have a guess. There is new stuff in various places.

This page is getting longer by the minute - I will try and reorganise which will help me revisit and rethink. In the meantime you will have to stroll round the site if you want to find something as it isnt well ordered and bits are strewn here and there. I sometimes have a tidy up so you might have to search a bit to find things.

I wrote to a friend :


Watching that video by Randy Pausch of the last lecture has made me think quite a bit - not just about what he said but about 'gifts' as a 'dynamic inclusion'. I need to go back to what Jack has put recently.

I'm wondering if the expressions of integrity, respect, love and care that I experience in reading Jane Spiro's short story and her thesis are the kind of value- laden talents that form explanatory principles in explanations of my/ your educational influences in learning?

We really dont have the language for the concepts I think we are all trying to birth. Opened the web this morning and yahoo had this from ABC News about complements I am not a fan of 'brain based' stuff for a number of reasons but I know many people are. I wondered whether this might appeal as a provocation and invitation to a conversation around what we are meaning by 'inclusive and inclusional understandings of gifts and talents'. It is brief and superficial - well it is a clip of American news broadcasting - but I wondered whether it might provoke some discussion and it is in that we might come to make an inch of progress with those who we (I accept it could be just I) have yet to find a way of communicating with building with what you offered Alan.

Barry Hymer's doctoral thesis How do I understand and communicate my values and beliefs in my work as an educator in the field of giftedness? gets much closer to what I am trying to get to.

I am focussing on the DCSF guidance re Gifted and Talented Education with the intention of responding, not with a negation to prevailing wisdoms of ability, but to invite others to consider with me, what it would be to create understandings of gifts and talents that do not define children but contribute to the development of an inclusive and inclusional educational context which supports the creation, offering and valuing of gifts and the development of talents.

The work of John White has given me a better understanding that the prevailing wisdoms are powerful expressions of the values and beliefs of English men living in a 19th century world of 'empire', 'class' and a concepts of a 'natural order' and predetermined destinies. What I can see is that as an educator I share the values of an egalitarian, humane and global society now overtly expressed in many national education policies and strategies. Those 21st century values now need new theories and practices which enable us to live our values more fully through our practice as professional educators. Jack Whitehead's work offer's a methodology and concepts needed to research and contribute new theories and practices to such an educational knowledge base.

If ever I loose heart I will reread Alan Rayner's paper 'My Achilles Heal: A Testimony of a Gifted Child' and remember why I am doing what I am doing. We often think about the damage that comes from those labelled 'not gifted', Alan's story is a powerful reminder of the damage that comes from labelling people as 'gifted' which defines them and their futures.

But I dont want to leave this home page without introducing you to at least a few of the many educators, children and young people who give me hope and encouragement to do what I do; these are just a few the voices you will find on this site.

Joy Mounter's video of her pupils creating their own theory to account for their own learning transformed my understanding of pupil voice. Her account, 'Can children carry out action research about learning, creating their own learning theory?  is a transformational multimedia account of learning with the 3 video-clips in Appendix 2.

You can get a taste of Ros Hurford's work by reading her account, ‘How does the Writing of a new Gifted and Talented Policy enable me to reflect upon and evaluate my Personal values about Gifts and Talents? In what ways am I living my values in this area?’ This shows me the transforming possibilities of the creation of a living theory account.

Louise Cripps who you can see in this video clip with her pupils as another living example of what I understand by, and which I am trying to explain, as inclusive and inclusion gifted and talented educational theory and practice.

and for those with the patience to scroll down this far...

I should warn you I have a somewhat irreverant, and non-PC sense of humour but I think humour and laughter is really important and somehow figures strongly when I have the most amazing, transformatory conversations with incredible, life changing people. I really enjoy some of the picture and animated giffs on How Strange - In the absence of a good chat this sort of thing keeps me sane through those long and lonely moments and when I feel a rising anger at the damage that a few damaged people deliberately try to cause and the pain they try to visit on those who really are just trying to make the world a better place to be.

These video clips.

Alien Song - I will survive

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

I Believe in Miracles - by a Hot Chocolate Mouse! Comes from this site but plays better in the YouTube versions

Sneezing big 

Working out

Staying alive

Ostrich and penguin race

 Cadbury Gorila