Lifting the lid on student potential

‘When fleas are placed in a jar, they try to jump out and they do. Then a lid is placed on the jar. Once the lid is placed on the jar, the fleas stop attempting to escape – as they learn the boundaries of the new environment they are in. Even when the lid is removed, the fleas no longer try to jump out of the jar. Their thinking has created the ‘lid’ as the boundary, so has conditioned them to limit their jumping.‘

The fleas in a jar story, whether true or not, is a helpful analogy for how we might sometimes place limits on our achievements. We all can be a bit like those fleas – our thinking can create a ceiling or lid on our performance or successes. We can build imaginary boundaries that keep us stuck in a certain way of operating. Traditionally schools can also limit students’ learning and achievements, by, for example, labeling a minority of students as ‘Gifted and Talented’, and by implication the rest, and usually a large majority, as neither gifted nor talented.

The latest neurological and psychological research shows, however, that more children are capable of reaching the higher levels of performance previously associated only with the so-called ‘Gifted and Talented’. The same research also indicates that the brain is malleable and that ability, talent, IQ and potential aren’t fixed – they can be grown.

This growth mindset philosophy, and a belief in high expectations for all students, is what first attracted me 5 years ago to the work of Professor Deborah Eyre and High Performance Learning (HPL). Eyre developed HPL having studied gifted and talented learners for many years in a range of educational settings around the world. Eyre carefully reviewed the research for several decades and worked with a number of national programmes to fine tune her ideas. She concluded that if we systematically grow and nurture children in the ways of thinking and behavior of high performance learning, more students will achieve at the highest levels.

Eyre’s powerful HPL philosophy of high expectations for the many, not the few, makes a substantial difference to how we approach the education of each child at British School Muscat (BSM). Teachers at BSM, like in all HPL World Class Schools, of which there is a growing number year on year, believe that every child can achieve at the highest levels.

The term ‘Gifted & Talented’ can be a divisive term which can also promote a very fixed mindset. And it is so easy for a fixed mindset to develop in children. As soon as we decide that we are ‘not good at this’, whether it’s Maths, art or sport, it is remarkable how difficult it is to challenge this perception successfully. Therefore, instead of trying to identify a small number of ‘Gifted and Talented’ students and thinking how we might develop them more effectively, we aim to identify, challenge, support, nurture and draw out the gifts and talents of all our students.