Gifted students are entitled to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning opportunities drawn from the Australian curriculum and aligned with their individual learning needs, strengths, interests and goals. There is a need for teachers to use a flexible design of the curriculum to meet the individual learning needs of these students. Gifted students vary in terms of the nature and level of their abilities; there is no single homogeneous group of gifted students. Gifted students:
- Vary in abilities and aptitudes — they may demonstrate gifts and talents in a single area or across a variety of domains; they may also have a learning difficulty.
- Vary in their level of giftedness — this means that two students who have gifts in the same field will not necessarily have the same abilities in that field.
- Vary in achievement — while having gifts is often associated with high achievement, achievement can and does vary across high-potential students and over time, and some gifted students underachieve. Their scores may be Average if they are underachieving.
- Are not always visible and easy to identify, and their visibility can be impacted by cultural and linguistic background, gender, language and learning difficulties, and lack of engagement in curriculum that is not matched to their abilities
- Exhibit an almost unlimited range of personal characteristics in temperament, personality, motivation and behaviour — no standard pattern of talent exists among gifted individuals. Gifted students can be perfectionistic, and rather not try than make a mistake; some are un-motivated in the classroom.
Gifted students require process adjustments that involve higher-order thinking, problem solving, and a focus on critical and creative thinking. Adjustments to the learning environment for gifted students should comprise elements of the following:
- Faster pace (Acceleration)
- More depth (Enrichment)
- Acceleration is the practice of giving students material and assignments that are usually reserved for students who are older or in higher grades. For example, acceleration may involve assigning a Year 5 student the curriculum topics that are usually covered in a Year 6 maths class. Acceleration means adapting the curriculum to the student’s assessed level of mastery, rather than insisting that a single curriculum is appropriate for all students of the same age. Thoughtful and carefully planned acceleration has been shown to be the most successful way to meet both academic and social and emotional needs of gifted children and is effective in minimising underachievement and boredom at school.
Acceleration can be achieved in several different ways including:
- Ability grouping/Extension is where a classroom of students is divided into groups based on ability. Here the pace of the curriculum is matched to the pace of a small group of learners rather than to the whole class.
- Single subject acceleration involves offering the student an advanced curriculum in a single subject by attending a higher-grade classroom for that subject.
- Whole Grade / Multiple Grade Acceleration – where one or more full grade levels are omitted, for example a student may move from grade 3 directly into grade 5.
Acceleration research shows that gifted students benefit academically and may also benefit socially and emotionally. Acceleration allows students to progress in line with their natural or preferred rate of learning and provides them with the opportunity to be intellectually stimulated.
If the decision is made to grade-skip a student, the next important task is to discuss a transition plan. This might include establishing a trial period, having the student visit the new classroom and meet the teacher, and regular check-in meetings with a school counsellor or other adult who will monitor the student during this time. Including the receiving teacher in these discussions is critical, because of this teacher’s important role in making the grade skip work well. It is also important to keep the lines of communication open between the receiving teacher and the family, so both are alerted to issues or concerns early.
- Enrichment, refers to the greater depth of study of a particular topic – it is in-depth learning. Enrichment might involve staying with a theme or subject and developing it in depth, introducing students to other fields or activities, such as robotics, coding, art, chess, drama, art and music. Enrichment is sometimes seen in terms of the development of certain qualities of mind such as critical thinking, creative thinking, initiative and self-direction, discovery and exploring personal interests. Unfortunately, in reality, enrichment can mean ‘educational’ games and puzzles, and additional ‘worksheets’ (i.e. more of the same). This is something to discuss with the special needs educator at school to ensure that any enrichment work is meaningful and appropriately challenging. Good examples of enrichment include:
- Independent project-based learning gives a student the opportunity to explore their interests somewhat independently of normal classroom constraints. Project based learning is structured to encourage meaningful learning experiences by identifying a question of interest to the child. This option is recommended as a supplement to the regular curriculum, but it is not meant to be a substitute for accelerated learning.
- A pull-out program or enrichment group where a small number of students are removed from the regular classroom to work together with a specialist teacher. The purpose here is to extend the work being undertaken in the regular classroom so that the level of complexity and critical thinking is increased. Examples include designing experiments, researching and interviewing people, data management.
Taken from www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/student-diversity/gifted-and-talented-students