Gifted Awareness Week - Data Missing for 40,000+ students

14 June 2017

This week families, schools and organisations nationwide celebrate Gifted Awareness Week in the hope that raising understanding around this 40,000 plus cohort will help to improve the engagement and progress of gifted and talented children in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education (NZCGE), giftEDnz: the Professional Association for Gifted Education and the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children (NZAGC) released a Position Statement this week requesting that the Ministry of Education gather more data on gifted and talented children, their progress and their achievement. Deb Walker, CEO of NZCGE, states, “We believe that for the Ministry of Education to ensure educators are fully prepared to effectively support gifted and talented learners, data must be collected on these children, as it is with other learners. We strongly advocate that the category ‘Well Above’ must be added to the current spectrum of ‘Well Below’ to ‘Above’ standards in the data the Ministry collects from schools. This addition would alert educators not only to the ability of these children but also enable a true measurement of progress.”

These three largest charities in New Zealand focused on gifted and talented education believe this has been a blatant omission ever since data on National Standards was first collected, particularly as the collection of data is firmly in line with all current Ministry of Education policy and Education Review Office strategy. The Ministry itself states that data is foundational in meeting the Ministry’s intermediate objectives and long-term outcomes.

NZCGE, giftEDnz and NZAGC are concerned about the lack of recognition, resourcing and support related to catering for gifted and talented children. Brooke Trenwith, NZAGC President, calls for the public to remember that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not effective, particularly in regards to the education of our gifted and talented students. Currently, the only specific funding for gifted education relates to the redevelopment of a website for educators and the moderating of a listserv.

“We need to think carefully about the understanding of fairness and equity and acknowledge that equity in education means doing the right thing for each individual – one size does not fit all. Our gifted children learn and feel differently and need appropriate opportunities to achieve the ‘presence, participation and achievement’ indicators aimed at for all children by the Ministry,” Trenwith maintains.

The New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education, giftEDnz and The New Zealand Association for Gifted Children see only positive developments resulting from a purposeful gathering of data on gifted and talented students’ progress and achievement. “More targeted and relevant data gathering will lead to a greater understanding of the diverse needs of our gifted and talented children and young people, and thereby ensure educators are better equipped to meet these diverse needs,” states Dr Louise Tapper, giftEDnz Chair.

The New Zealand Association for Gifted Children, giftEDnz: the Professional Association for Gifted Education and the New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education have released a Position Statement on “Indicators of Progress and Achievement for Gifted and Talented Learners”. This paper can be downloaded on each of their websites.

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