Warren Zammit
Maltese teachers are willing to help the gifted and talented in their classrooms but are requesting more support from the Education Department. This was the outcome of a questionnaire that examined the perceptions of Maltese teachers when it came to educating gifted students.
Educating gifted students is a highly debatable area in the field of education. One major reason for this is that there is no definition of the word ‘gifted’ that is accepted universally, which creates a problem when it comes to identifying ‘the gifted’. In fact, what one particular culture values as being gifted might not be considered as such in a different culture.
In the light of this, 62 educators were asked what they think about giftedness and gifted students. The participating educators were presented with 41 statements on which they had to give their opinion.
The first notable concept that emerged from this study is that educators believe that they did not receive enough training and resources in order to be able to cater for the needs of the gifted. In fact, teachers are not provided with any direct study units on giftedness during their training. In addition to this, there are very few opportunities for them to attend courses aimed at enabling educators to help gifted and talented students.
Furthermore, the huge demands which are put on teachers’ shoulders are frustrating them and it is impossible for them to meet the needs of gifted students in the general classroom. Many educators think that differentiation alone is not enough to satisfy the needs of the gifted and they are willing to go back to the old system of streaming as they believe this is the only way they can cater for the needs of students with various levels of ability in schools.
It is due to the lack of training and resources that many educators have misconceptions with regard to gifted students. For example, they believe that the gifted are a homogenous group.
Although grouped under the umbrella of giftedness, research indicates that gifted students vary from each other not just in their academic preferences, but also in their unique socio-emotional characteristics.
The majority of educators believe that gifted students should be all-rounders, ie good at everything. However, giftedness can exist in one domain and as educators we have to do our utmost to nurture all talents of our students. If we start thinking that students should be all-rounders in order to access services, we will be creating winners and losers in the identification process.
This takes us back to the argument of identification. How are we going to decide who is gifted and who is not? When presented with this question, a number of misconceptions emerged from educators; they mentioned IQ tests, high academic ability, excellent behaviour and examinations. These can be considered as misconceptions because giftedness goes beyond these traits. As pointed out in the study, the needs of the gifted are met if their education is built around their strengths.
Following identification, students need to be assessed. Ten of the participant educators think that students should be done by means of exams and IQ tests. One particular educator said that there is no need to make alterations in assessments of these students. This means that there are educators who have yet to recognise and understand the various needs of these students.
Many educators think that, unless the education department provides them with resources, they cannot do anything to target the needs of the gifted. The result of such an approach means that we will have talented students who will not reach their potential and end up being lost in the education system.
Another worrying misconception is that nearly half of the educators believe that by giving resources to the gifted, we can make this population of students an elitist one. It is due to this fear that many educators are refraining from making special provisions for the gifted as they may think that they are giving special privileges to the already advantaged.
If this happens, however, the gifted students coming from low socio-economic environments will suffer most because these are the students whose parents do not have the necessary means to provide them with resources themselves. It is especially these students who need teachers capable of seeing their potential and have the knowledge and experience to provide the necessary support.
There have, however, been a number of positive findings. First and foremost, educators acknowledge their lack of training and are interested in receiving training in the field of giftedness. In fact, educators are already providing opportunities to all their students in order that they can demonstrate their talents.
Furthermore, the majority of educators are not happy if only students of high ability pass their exams: as a matter of fact, they acknowledge that gifted education goes beyond exams. This is an indication that the efforts of the Education Department to move away from an exam-oriented approach is beginning to bear fruit.
At last, teachers are aware of twice-exceptional students: those who possess a disability together with giftedness. They are also conscious about gifted students from low socio-economic environments, believing that they also have a chance to succeed. In the light of this, we should do our best to maximise the learning opportunities of these students.
This is also one of the reasons why educators correctly indicated that a healthy school environment is important for all students in order for them to succeed. They also acknowledge that gifted and talented students have unique socio-emotional needs that put more responsibility on education authorities to provide more trained guidance teachers.
In a nutshell, educators in Malta do have a number of misconceptions with regard to the needs of gifted and talented students. However, they also show the will to learn in order to help these students in the best possible way. In this context, I will be putting forward two recommendations to the Ministry of Education.
The first one is to invest more in educators. Educators showed that they did not receive any training and are interested in learning more about how to cater for the needs of the gifted. After doing this, the Ministry can begin working on a policy as well as programmes that will have benefitting gifted students at their core. If this is done, we will be paving the way for a new concept in our education system by beginning to provide for the gifted and talented as well.
This article is a summary of the findings that emerged from a questionnaire that Warren Zammit distributed amongst a sample of 62 educators as part of his final product in the Radboud International Training for High Ability (RITHA) (www.ritha.world). If you are interested in the more extended article, contact Warren Zammit on [email protected]