A profile by the Sydney Morning Herald on an 11-year-old school boy who is sitting HSC subjects this year is evidence of a gifted student whose educational needs have been recognised and developed by his school. Jonah Soewandito is a student at a non-government boys school in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. According to the article, 'Jonah, who should be in year six, will sit two unit maths and chemistry and will finish his remaining HSC subjects, including three and four unit maths, physics and English, next year'.
This is a remarkable story for a student whose talent was first identified when he was four, leading him to skip kindergarten and start year 1. After this initial acceleration, Jonah has continued to rapidly advance beyond the education level expected of his age group, to the point where he is sitting exams with year 12 students.
Schools, like Jonah's, have a responsibility, and the challenge, of recognising and supporting gifted students so that their talents can develop as they progress through the school system. If schools don't adequately respond to particular children's learning needs, those children can be at risk of being bored and frustrated and these emotions may manifest themselves into more serious conditions such as behaviour problems and psychological conditions.
The dangers of neglecting gifted children in the education system was addressed by the Victorian Government which in 2011 requested that the Education and Training Committee conduct an inquiry into the education of gifted and talented students in Victoria (Inquiry). The Committee's report, released in 2012, provided a detailed examination of how all school sectors in Victoria, including non-government schools, dealt with the challenge of educating gifted students. Some of the general findings from the report were that:
Victoria's education department, like departments in other States and Territories, has adopted definitions of 'giftedness' and 'talent' from the model of Professor Francoys Gagné. Under this model giftedness refers to natural ability in one or more areas, while talent refers to outstanding performance in an area or areas. Ability transforms into talent through a complex developmental process. The various State and Territory education departments have issued policies for government schools in relation to teaching gifted students e.g. South Australia's the 'Gifted and Talented Children and Students Policy' and New South Wales' 'Gifted and Talented Policy'.
Unlike government schools, non-government schools are not mandated to adopt the education department policies. However, if these schools fail to properly recognise and address the learning needs of their gifted students, they might expose themselves to the risk of breaching the duty of care owed to those students if they develop behavioural or other conditions as a result of boredom and disengagement.
Non-government schools should consider implementing policies and programmes to cater to the education needs of gifted students. For example, as cited in the Victorian Report, independent girls school Methodist Ladies' College informed the Committee that to cater for gifted students, it has:
The capacity for each school to develop programmes tailored to particular learning needs will obviously be subject to certain factors such as funding, however overall, every school should be providing support for its gifted students - and the teachers who teach them.
Does your school have a gifted student policy?