Queensland Association for Gifted & Talented
Children inc. home page"This inquiry follows up a 1988 report on the education of gifted and talented children by a Senate select committee. The aim of our Committee was to ascertain what progress had been made in implementing recommendations of the select committee. It became clear to the Committee that very little progress has been made, and that the problems identified in the earlier report remain to be addressed.
It is clear that the needs of many, if not most, gifted children are not being met. The result is that many students underachieve, and that many suffer from boredom and frustration. There is clear evidence that the failure to meet the needs of gifted children leads in many cases to severe behavioural problems and other, less obvious signs of psychological distress.
Parents writing to the Committee have been frank about the problems their gifted children face. Giftedness is not always a blessing, especially when it results in the problems at school that I have just mentioned. The failure of schools to meet the educational challenge posed by gifted children often results in stress for a whole family. Parents made the point that catering for the special needs of gifted children is as important to their growth and well-being as special education provisions that exist for children who are suffer from any form of disability.
Parents made the point that provision for gifted children was a responsibility for government schools. Many parents had sought more favourable learning environments for their gifted children in non-government schools, but were usually disappointed in finding little improvement in gifted education provisions there.
The Committee did not find a great deal of evidence provided by school systems which pointed to a sympathetic understanding of the needs of gifted children. Most state education departments claimed that their policies included strategies for assisting these children, but these appeared to be largely unimplemented at the school level.
The Committee became aware of individual schools making strenuous efforts to address the problem, several with conspicuous success, but this depended on the dedication of a very few properly trained teachers, and school principals with a sense of awareness of the problem.
The Committee found that many teachers lack confidence and expertise in dealing with gifted children. Very few have ever received any training in giftedness teaching. There are only two of three universities whose education faculties retain specialists in the area. The Committee was surprised to find university academics in education who were sceptical about giftedness training, and who even appeared hostile to it. Many submissions from parents also reported a distinct lack of sympathy from school principals and teachers about the needs of the gifted.
The Committee has pointed out that negative community attitudes are based on misconceptions, and recommends that much consciousness raising is necessary as part of a national strategy for the education of the gifted.
Commonwealth parliamentary committee recommendations on school education policies must take account of the fact that these are matters for states and territories. Our recommendations go to Minister Kemp with the view that they be taken up with states through MCEETYA. It is clear to the Committee, however, on this and other education inquiries, that whatever jurisdictional and administrative arrangements exist for the running of schools, the public assumes a dominant role for the Commonwealth in most things, and a highly influential role in the rest.
Parents of gifted children who wrote to us from all over the country certainly assumed that the Commonwealth Parliament, and the Commonwealth Government had an overriding responsibility to address issues like the problems of gifted children. The Committee's recommendations on direct Commonwealth support for teacher professional development in gifted education is a response to this reasonable expectation.
I am pleased to be able to report to the President of the Senate today on the Committee's findings."
Queensland Association for Gifted & Talented
Children inc. home page