Educating The Gifted Child

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32053, 30 July 1969, Page 18

Educating The Gifted Child

A national policy on the education of gifted children in New Zealand is urged in a report by Professor D. W. Russell, director of graduate studies at the School of Education at the University of North Carolina.

Professor Russell was visiting Fulbright professor at the University of Canterbury last year. His findings have been published by the university. The key premise behind his recommendations. Professor Russell says, is that it is mandatory in New Zealand to expand efforts in this aspect of education if the nation truly means what it says about providing the best possible education for every child up to the limit of his ability. The Education Department should have a national policy on educating gifted cMldren. This should be as objective and forceful as the nation’s present approach to the intellectually handicapped cMld. Further, says Professor Russell, “clarification should be made whether giftedness is to be classed as an area of exceptionality under the heading of special education, or as an individual difference to be dealt with singly.”

It is not sufficient simply to encourage enrichment of educational opportunities for bright cMldren, or to issue platitudes relative to dividends that can be realised through a national investment

in great young minds, he says. “Moreover, a more cosmopolitan outlook on New Zealand’s social pMlosophy should be evident in order to combat traditional fears of 'intellectual snobbery” and to broaden the term ‘equality’ to its full meaning."

Professor Russell defines the gifted child as one “who is found to possess a markedly Mgh amount and quality of mental ability.” By “found” he says he means discovered by a group of experienced educators and psychologists endowed with professional integrity, training and common sense. To implement a national policy on education of gifted cMldren, a national adviser to gifted cMldren should be appointed. An adviser would disseminate guides for programmes for gifted children; consult local inspectors, advisers, psychological service personnel and teachers of gifted cMldren; motivate further study and research on gifted children in teachers* college and university teacher education; and encourage and assist in national and local in-service courses and workshops on giftedness. Professor Russell also recommends that there be a district adviser to gifted cMldren in each district to coordinate programmes and maintain liaison. “The selection of teachers for top-stream classes and special-study units, or courses for gifted cMldren, should be systematically organised with

effective protocol practised among inspectors, advisers and headmasters, using rather firmly established criteria," Professor Russell says. He envisages the psychological service playing an important role in in-service education, testing, evaluation and analysis, and possible treatment of those specially referred.

Haste Deprecated Any community or district that plans to initiate or reactivate a programme for gifted children should take a year for determining policy, planning, training and curricular study, according to Professor Russell.

“There have been too many programmes for gifted cMldren initiated in New Zealand on a ‘crash’ or hurry-up basis, or because it was the vogue,” he says. “Some of these are now non-existent because of numerous mistakes. Education must precede identification.”

The psychological service should function as the agency for orientation of teachers and school administrators,

and thug assist in the planning of an effective programme.

Professor Russell urges collective thinking in planning and a group approach to the identification of gifted children.

"This is imperative in order to prohibit the convenient labelling of a child by one person as a result of simply a high score on a group intelligence test, or some other criterion,” he says. “If enrichment is to be a meaningful guiding term for programming for gifted children, programme planning must go beyond the convenient scheduling of top streams and ‘extended studies’ classes.

“This necessitates curriculum construction, particularly at the local level, which is geared in challenging fashion to the high mental capacities of gifted cMldren.

"This should not be left to the Innovation and creativity of individual teachers, but should be a team approach, just as recommended in the process of identification.”