Aims to present the empirical results from a study of vocational research on the highly gifted pupils.
Based on data from a Swiss longitudinal study on the effects of acquiring pre‐school knowledge of reading and mathematics, intellectually above‐average (gifted) pupils, who are now 16‐year‐olds, are filtered out and analysed with respect to their educational background and plans for the future.
The most striking findings of the analysis are that: those with well above‐average ability are to be found in all educational examination standards; their educational careers may be characterised by notable breaks, yet still be highly successful; and a significant number of pupils decide against completing a high‐school certificate (A‐level equivalent) in favour of vocational training.
A limitation on the authority of the results arises in two respects: with regard to the small size of the sample group and in terms of the fact that the link between performance development, cognitive ability and the actual performance demonstrated cannot be ascertained from the available data.
Consequently, vocational training must also increasingly recognise the possibility of having to train a potentially significant number of apprentices with above‐average abilities in the most varied of domains.
This is an area that, to date, has not been the subject of much empirical investigation.
