Why is identifying gifted learners important in schools?
Imagine a child working on their passion project. They are fascinated by elephants, and they have just learnt that the rock hyrax (also known as rock rabbit) is the closest living relative of the elephant on land. It’s time to pack up now and move to the next lesson that this child’s teacher has planned. Our imaginary child can’t reasonably be expected to move to another lesson, can they? Afterall, the child has just wondered, “on land, why did it say on land….. does that mean there is a close relative of the elephant in the sea? In outer space? An enquiring mind wants to know.
What does the teacher do when they notice that this child hasn’t packed up their chrome book and isn’t moving to the mat for the next lesson?
Does this child’s teacher know from reading a blog entitled “Bright child vs Gifted child” by Christopher Taibbi that because this child is gifted they ask lots of questions and enjoy self-directed learning. This could mean that the best way to meet the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) key competency for this child of ‘thinking’ and living the value of ‘inclusion’ will mean the teacher allows the child to finish their investigation and join the class when they are ready.
Or perhaps the teacher has been reading about overexcitabilities in giftedness so sensitively supports the child in meeting key competencies from the NZC of ‘managing self’ and ‘relating to others’ by having that child make a quick note to investigate further later on, pack up their things now and join in with the next learning activity with the rest of the class.
The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) has inclusion as one of its principles, the intent being that all children are recognised for who they are and their learning needs are catered for.
In 2017 Dr Louise Tapper from giftEDnz raised her concerns in her article “Where are the gifted learners in inclusive education” regarding gifted learners not being included in the inclusive education model.
NZ Teaching standards as set by the teaching council of NZ state that teachers have a commitment to learners, working in their best interests by “promoting inclusive practices to support the needs and abilities or all learners”. So, the teaching standards would indicate that teachers would need to be able to address the needs of all the learners in their class.
How can teachers address these needs if they haven’t learnt the characteristics of gifted students?
In 2019 the government announced that $1.2million was being allocated for gifted children. This money was to be spread over increased funding for one day school MindPlus, enhancements of TKI community resource and awards for gifted children to extend their own learning by participating in out of school activities.
Should gifted learners needs be addressed by exclusion options such as MindPlus one day school and separate awards, or is it the responsibility of all teachers to address the needs of all learners in their class?
Dr Tracy Riley , in her blog post “Gifted Learners: The heart of the matter” shares her view that funding and focus for gifted learners over the last 23 years has been sporadic, and illustrates why the recent initiatives are valuable. Riley also raises the issues that the resources that are being made available (or more available) are still limited to those that know about them. This requires teaching staff, parents or students themselves to be aware of these resources. There are further limitations to access of these initiatives such as being able to access classes that might only be available in main centres (although increases in funding will help with making options more available to more students). Another limiting factor can be financial, for example there is usually a cost to guardians for the MindPlus one day school.
Gifted children are in schools and in NZ classrooms. Teaching standards require teachers to support the needs of all learners in their class. The principles of NZC include high expectations for students to achieve at the best level regardless of their individual circumstances.
This means that in order for all gifted learners in NZ to be able to experience learning that is meaningful for them, an inclusive approach is needed in NZ schools. So how can teachers ensure their pedagogical approach is equitable?
While Dr Riley focuses on gifted learners, Justine Hughes from giftEDnz focusses in her blog Teacher professional development for gifted education: A celebration, a model and a caution how educators can meet the needs of gifted learners. There are resources now made available for educators, including guides so teachers can be empowered so start assessment for themselves of children they suspect may be gifted learners. A commitment to te tiriti o Waitangi as well as to inclusion of Pasifika in NZ are demonstrated by having criteria that allow for suspected gifted learners to be evaluated based on their own culture.
Justine Hughes suggests that educators need to model taking responsibility for their own learning, and work with others in blended (online and in person) communities of practice.
Hughes cautions readers that the PLD has to be sustainable and that gifted identification is very broad.
There are resources now available for teachers, and PLD that has become more available since Dr Louise Tapper from giftEDnz raised her concerns in 2017 in her article “Where are the gifted learners in inclusive education” regarding gifted learners not being included in the inclusive education model.
There are a number of reasons why identifying gifted learners so important in schools, but here are my top two:
Giftedness has its own characteristics that teachers need to understand for gifted learners to be having meaningful learning experiences in the classroom.
Now that there are more resources available for gifted learners, there is more incentive to identify these learners so they are able to access the resources such as MindPlus and awards.