Provision for Gifted Children in Primary Schools
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OUT-OF-SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL PROVISION FOR THE GIFTED AND TALENTED AROUND THE WORLD A report for the Department of Education and Skills London, 2002 PART ONE: THE RESEARCH PART TWO: THE CONCLUSIONS PROF JOAN FREEMAN PhD, MEd, BSc, Dip Ed Guidance, FBPsS CONTENTS PART ONE: THE RESEARCH PREFACE I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II OVERVIEW III CHAPTER 1 1 WHO ARE THE GIFTED AND TALENTED? 1 Finding the gifted and talented 3 CHAPTER 2 5 INTERNATIONAL PROVISION 5 Overlap between in-school and out-of-school activities 5 The development of programs in the USA 6 A Nation at Risk 7 A Warning 10 Criteria for gifted programs 11 The current picture in the USA 11 Comparison Between The USA And UK 12 Selection issues 13 UK and USA legislation 14 The Assisted Places Scheme 15 CHAPTER 3 17 THE AMERICAN TALENT SEARCH MODEL 17 Talent Search selection 19 On- and above-level testing 19 Residential programs 20 Aims of the Talent Searches 21 Johns Hopkins University - the CTY Model 23 Johns Hopkins University 23 Selection procedures 24 Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP) 26 TIP 26 TIP Summer Studies 27 Other TIP programs 28 University of Denver 30 Rocky Mountain Talent Search 30 University of Iowa 30 The Connie Belin International Centre for Talented and Gifted Education 30 Summer camps 31 The five hopes for summer programs 33 Clinical Services 33 Some other university-based Talent Searches in the USA 35 Some problems with Talent Searches 37 CHAPTER 4 39 TALENT SEARCHES OUTSIDE THE USA 39 The German Schülerakademien (Pupil Academies) 39 Structure of the Akaemien 39 Selection of participants and instructors 41 Evaluation 43 The Hamburg Model 44 The Australian Primary Talent Search (APTS) 46 Talent Search qualifying criteria 48 Results of testing 49 Practical application 50 Holiday enrichment programs 51 Non-standardised identification of talent 52 A Spanish Talent Search 53 CHAPTER 5 54 MAJOR NON TALENT SEARCH APPROACHES 54 The National Research Centre on the Gifted and Talented 54 The Enrichment Triad/Revolving Door Model 56 Independent programs 57 Competitions 58 German competitions 59 Russian competitions 61 Mentoring and modelling programmes 63 Mentoring Students and Teachers for High-Stakes Science Competitions 64 Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) 66 The Young Academy of Sciences 70 The Pinnacle Project model 70 Distance Learning 72 E-learning 73 Commercial Printed Material 75 Parental and voluntary involvement 75 Parent initiated activities 76 CHAPTER 6 79 PROVISION IN WESTERN EUROPE 79 Germany 80 Austria 83 Belgium 84 France 84 Switzerland 89 The Netherlands 90 Italy 91 Portugal 92 Spain 92 Scandinavia 94 Sweden 95 Denmark 96 Norway 96 Finland 96 Iceland 97 CHAPTER 7 100 PROVISION IN EASTERN EUROPE 100 Russia 101 Post Communist changes 103 Hungary 105 CHAPTER 8 107 PROVISION IN ASIA AND THE ANTIPODES 107 Confucianism 107 China 108 Schooling in China 110 Out-of-school education in China 113 Hong Kong 115 Japan 117 Extra-curricular activities 119 Post middle-school 119 After-school education 120 India 122 Taiwan 124 Malaysia 125 The Philippines 125 Korea 125 Indonesia 126 Thailand 126 The Antipodes 126 Australia 126 New Zealand 130 CHAPTER 9 137 PROVISION IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA 137 Israel 137 Out-of-school educational provision in Israel 139 Arab Countries 150 Africa 152 South Africa 152 CHAPTER 10 153 PROVISION IN CANADA AND SOUTH AMERICA 153 Canada 153 Canadian attitudes to gifted education 153 The Centre for Gifted Education at the University of Calgary 154 South America 158 Brazil 158 Center for Talent Development Lavras (CEDET) 158 Rio de Janeiro 162 Peru 162 CHAPTER 11 164 CONCLUSIONS 164 Concerns affecting international education of the gifted and talented 164 Comparison of out-of-school models for the promotion of gifts and talents 166 The Talent Search 166 Self selection by provision 167 Hard work 167 Competitions 168 Voluntary provision 169 Summary points 169 Evaluation of outcomes 170 Application of American ideas 171 The social aspects of special out-of-school education 173 A framework for the development of gifts and talent using out-of-school activities 174 Effective measures for out-of-school activities for the gifted and talented 175 Helping children to excellence 175 Freeman’s Sports Approach 176 The Sports Approach: identification by provision 177 REFERENCES 179 PREFACE The first part of this international survey on out-of-school provision for gifted and talented children reviews the style,organisation and effectiveness of the work of major centres, i.e. those which are most frequently seen as models to follow because of their size and reputations for excellence. The second part (due September 2002) is concerned with the finer details of administration and assessment However, this first part also includes information on less well-known centres which are trying out interesting schemes, not undertaken by the larger ones. They may, for example, be innovative in their efforts to find ‘hidden’ gifted children who have not yet exercised their high-level potential, whereas the prominent centres almost always aim to enhance already-demonstrated gifts and talents. Both parts of this survey are in line with its defined research goals - to increase knowledge and understanding of the subject by taking account of ideas and experiences from around the world. My intention is not only to present information of practical value, but to encourage international collaboration towards achieving the best possible provision for gifted children. This is not a one-way process. As traditional barriers between natural and social sciences diminish, so the opportunities for inter-disciplinary cooperation are multiplying (UNESCO, 1999). As well as learning from elsewhere, I hope that the outcome of this survey will include exchanging British ideas with other countries. One worthwhile goal could be the establishment of a network of centres of excellence around the world. Presentation To ease the process of reading and avoid interminable inverted commas and references in brackets - yet to give credit where that is due - there are places in the text where I have simply told the reader where my information came from. Although it was tempting to simplify the question of English-English or American-English to one usage, words such as program/programme, pupil/student, school principal/head teacher, etc. have not been presented uniformly, but chosen to fit their context. London, June, 2002 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Surveying demands favours of many people. In response to the scores of requests I sent to colleagues all over the world, many dug generously and without hesitation into their coffers of knowledge to contribute to this survey. With great kindness, some even checked and amended what I had written about their area. I am truly grateful for help with this report from my colleagues and friends - Dr Roland Persson of Jonkoping, Sweden; Dr Harald Wagner of Bonn, Germany; Prof Dr Pieter Span of Utrecht, The Netherlands; Prof Miraca Gross of Sydney, Australia; Dr Ulrike Stedtnitz of Zurich, Switzerland; Dr Karen B Rogers of Minnesota, USA; Prof Jiannong Shi of Beijing, China; Madame Sophie Côte of Paris, France; Mevrouw Marianne van Iterson, of Bunnik, The Netherlands; Prof Javier Tuerón of Pamplona, Spain; Prof Larry Coleman of Toledo, USA; Dr Netta Maoz of Rehovot, Israel; Dr Uri Marchaim of Kiryat Shmona, Israel; Dr Zenita Guenther of Lavras, Brazil; Dr Sheyla Blumen-Pardo of Lima, Peru; Dr Paula Olszewski-Kubilius of Chicago, USA; Dr Rena Subotnik of Washington, USA and Dr Raphael Wilkins. And to Tim Dracup at the Department for Education and Science, thank you for initiating this report and for being patient. OVERVIEW No educational provision for the gifted and talented works in a cultural vacuum. This survey provides a unique view of the ways in which out-of-school education can be affected by both cultural assumptions and standards of basic education. The overall picture is complex. There is evidence that excellence can come from widely differing special provision, or even from no extra provision at all. Although there are no programmes for the gifted and talented across Scandinavia and in Japan, for example, bright children’s achievements there are often superior to those of the countries which do have such programmes. China, a relatively poor country, provides widespread non-selective enrichment via its Children’s Palaces, and the results appear to be excellent. In both New Zealand and Israel, the governments provide generously, often using self-selection. Germany has inspiring competitions with desirable prizes, funded partly Federally and partly privately. Brazilian help goes to finding seriously deprived potentially talented children. The vast American Talent Searches usually select youngsters for summer-schools, not only by their already demonstrated high- level achievements, but also by their parents’ ability to pay the sometimes very high fees. Some of the largest and most influential American institutions were founded on the psychological understanding of human abilities that was current in the 1920s. These early influences still affect practice, in the sense that abilities are seen as sufficiently measurable to use precise cut-off points for selection. To show the context in which these facilities carry out their work today, their development within national legislation is described. Yet whatever the size and influence of centres anywhere, there is always overlap between in-school and out-of-school activities. For all styles of provision, cooperation with school is a vital aspect of success. This is as true for what is based in the classroom and spreads to out-of-school, as what is started outside and finds its way into the school. Familes too are part of a successful partnership. The major cultural dichotomy affecting educational provision for the gifted and talented is between the largely Eastern perception - ‘all children have gifted potential’ - and the largely Western one - ‘only some children have gifted potential’.