Working Party On Gifted Children
15 May 2001
The Government has established a Working Party on Gifted Education.
The eight person working party will be chaired by Roger Moltzen, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Waikato, and former teacher.
Trevor Mallard made the announcement at the Auckland launch of the Gifted Kids Programme - an initiative designed to provide extra opportunities for gifted children outside their normal classroom. The Gifted Kids' Programme principal, Julie Mills, is one of the working party members.
"The establishment of a working party is an important step toward getting a framework to meet the needs of gifted children throughout New Zealand.
"I have asked the group to provide me with an initial report by the end of November suggesting a policy and funding framework for gifted education in New Zealand.
"It is a big ask, but we need to get progress on an issue that people have been gingerly stepping around for many years.
"Work has been going on in the area of gifted education including the publication of a handbook to help schools with programmes to meet the needs of gifted children and on-line materials and resources on gifted education on Te Kete Ipurangi, the online resource centre. Professional development programmes and individual support are also available to help teachers use the handbook and resources.
"But while progress is being made there is still a need for an overarching look at how we cater for the needs of gifted children. The working party has two key challenges. The first is to work out to what degree the needs of gifted students can be met in the regular classroom and how much of their education needs to be carried out in enrichment or acceleration settings. The second, is to work out a coherent policy and funding framework for gifted education in New Zealand," Trevor Mallard said.
Working Party on Gifted
Education
Roger Moltzen (chair)
Roger is a Senior
Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of
Waikato, and is a former teacher and principal. He has been
a member of the Ministry of Education Advisory Group on
Gifted Education, and was one of the writers of the 2000
Ministry of Education publication Gifted and Talented
Students: Meeting their Needs in New Zealand Schools.
Dr
Catherine Rawlinson
Catherine is a Senior Lecturer at the
Auckland College of Education. She has an interest in
programmes to support children with special abilities and in
1998 completed her PhD in this area, focusing particularly
on self-concept and giftedness in Pacific students.
Lyn
Atkinson
Lyn is Principal at Ilam School in Christchurch,
which has been a New Zealand leader in its provision for
gifted and talented students.
Lynne
Couling-Brown
Lynne is the teacher with responsibility
for special needs at Okaihau College in the Far North, and
has been undertaking action research in gifted and talented
education.
Rosemary Cathcart
Rosemary is the Director
of the George Parkyn Centre Charitable Trust for Gifted
Education. The Centre operates several one-day schools in
Auckland, and has contributed to teaching and research in
this area. Rosemary is also education adviser to the New
Zealand Associations for Gifted Children.
Julie Mills
Julie is Principal of the Gifted Kids programme, a one
day school for gifted students from the mainly low-decile
schools in the Tamaki area of Auckland.
Shirley
Taylor
Shirley is currently an adviser with
responsibility for gifted education in the broader
Wellington region and a psychologist with Special Education
Services. Shirley was the first adviser on children with
special abilities in New Zealand, establishing the Brentwood
Enrichment Centre for Education Boards to offer advice
primarily for teachers in the greater Wellington area, as
well as throughout New Zealand.
Nikki Fraser
Nikki is
currently a teacher at Dyer Street School in Lower Hutt, but
is representing the parent perspective on the working party.
She has served on the National Council of the New Zealand
Associations of Gifted Children, and contributed the section
on parenting to McAlpine and Moltzen (eds) Gifted and
Talented: New Zealand
Perspectives.