Book Nook: From Able to Remarkable

What do remarkable students look like?

High attaining academically, these model students may also be excellent at drama, music or sport. They will certainly be admirably adept time managers, able to juggle a raft of commitments and extra responsibilities, maybe on a school council or as prefects, all without seemingly missing a beat.

But what has made them what they are? Were they born this way, or did their abundant capabilities emerge at primary school before they came to you? What has your school or college really done to help generate excellence in learning among these students? Such questions may make you feel uneasy, prompting you to reflect on what is often labelled as ‘gifted and talented provision’ in your school.

Robert Massey, speaker, teacher and author, has directly addressed such questions in his new book, From Able to Remarkable: “We need to change the way we think about producing remarkable students in our schools. When we do, the outcomes will be impressive in their own right and we will have irresistible impacts on every child, and not just the high-attaining ones. By making room at the top available to everyone, we make access to the top possible for all.”

From Able to Remarkable is not a book about the education of an elite; rather, it signposts a route to the top for every learner on their individual learning journey.

“By getting this approach right much else will fall into place. Wholesale changes to what you already do are not needed, and spending on expensive new software ‘solutions’ is certainly not needed.”

Instead, Robert offers five big ideas regarding provision for high-attaining pupils:

1. All students can and should become expert learners. There is no separate category labelled gifted and talented provision.
2. Teachers make a difference to the learning of high-attaining pupils: adults teach, students learn, students lead.
3. Teaching to the top (and learning to the top) will make a difference because it will help to unlock the latent potential of every child in our classrooms.
4. The learning journey for all our students is lifelong and is undertaken for its own sake – for the love of learning, not the passing of exams.
5. Our expert learners will become remarkable students.

Learn more in this interview.

Why did you write this book?I wrote this book because it was essential. There was not so much a gap in the market as a yawning chasm. There are lots of books available to help teachers learn how to teach, and to become better teachers; some of them are very good. But my approach is to start with the high-attaining student and to ask the simple question: how can we help these students to become what I’m terming Expert Learners?

Why is it important for schools to recognize and challenge higher-level learners?In the USA I’ve noticed a tendency to cling on to terms such as ‘gifted and talented’. Let’s start 2020 with a resolution to get rid of this language. I explain why in more detail in my new book, From Able to Remarkable. They smack of genetic advantage, and fixed abilities – and sometimes they are used in association with terms such as genius. Many parents and teachers might instead agree with me that what we really see when we look more closely at ‘genius’ or a ‘gifted’ child is expertise in learning, a skill to be admired and shared, rather than a genetic headstart which predetermines total success in life. Research into excellence, discussed in my book, should be of top interest to every parent and teacher. This is because excellence can be built by purposeful practice, a mental representation of success and plenty of retrieval practice and self-testing. These are classroom techniques which every teacher can use in an approach known as ‘teach to the top.’ Don’t aim for the middle: set the bar as high as possible and provide scaffolding and support as needed for all learners. This way, every learner in a class benefits, not just the ones wrongly labelled ‘gifted and talented.’ There is no cap on any child’s potential. Ever.

How can high-attaining students utilize effective self-assessment?Self-assessment is essential, I agree. A technical term you may know is ‘metacognition’. Students become aware of their own learning, and what they need to do to improve. Effective feedback methods need to be practised and repeated in the classroom so that every learner knows just what they need to do to get better – starting from what they did well on the previous task. Time spent on self-reflection is never time wasted, in my view. Self-aware, self-actualised learners are in prime position to become, you guessed it, Expert Learners. They may not be the best in their class at Math but they have learned with teacher help to review, to improve and to move forward, always questioning and sharing views with those around them. In my book the reader can follow 5 students called Tom, Yolanda, Asif, Maya and Anna as they undertake their learning journeys.

How can classrooms support the emotional well-being of high-attaining students?
Again, there is very little written on the wellbeing and mental health of high-attaining students – or of their teachers. I dedicate a whole chapter to this. High-attaining students need just as much pastoral care as any other students. Not more, but certainly not less. They can feel huge pressures to succeed. Research we did at my school told me that students did not need any more pressure from home because they feel enough already for school and their peers. All they need from home, like that old Beatles song, is love. Peer pressure can be huge and competition can be frightening. Expert Learners can learn to recognise the pressures they feel and there are practical steps they can take to help themselves – and each other. Teachers can feel overwhelmed and undermined by high-attaining students who can seemingly do more, do it more quickly and more accurately and seemingly with little effort. My approach is not to pretend this cannot happen but to embrace it and to use student expertise for everyone’s benefit.


With over two decades’ experience as a history teacher, Robert Massey has for the past six years led the Scholars Programme at Bristol Grammar School. He has a particular interest in supporting his colleagues in the provision of stretch and challenge opportunities for more able students. He regularly speaks at education conferences.