Highly Able Learners and their Education:Guide

International policies and approaches to education for the highly able

Education policies for more able students vary considerably from country to country, with programmes and the protocols that underpin them being far from being universally embraced. In countries with strong national cultures of egalitarianism, education policies are often geared towards avoiding interventions that could be regarded as forms of intellectual elitism. Some systems, often cite compelling empirical evidence for their positions, and strongly reject any notions that students should be stratified by ability. In contrast, in cultures and systems that embrace differentiated education for their academically very able students, diversity of programmes is offered. Such programmes may differ some are structured as enrichment to the mainstream school curriculum while others are separate systems that operates in tandem to mainstream schooling. What is consistent is their policies and practices generally show a commitment to engaging learners from all ability levels with appropriately challenging curricula and instruction.

Perceptions of high ability are largely culturally determined, inseparable from values, and beliefs, as well as from the socio-historical and socio-political realities of a country or region (Davis, Rimm, & Siegle, 2010).  Some developed countries have well established programmes, and others are early on their journey to recognise and foster such educational provision. According to Touron and Freeman (2018), most European countries seem to be aware that very able children need special provision to reach their potential. Their concerns are evident in directives to schools where children with gifts and talents are valued, but not always obvious in terms of actual official legislation. Because there is no international consensus, there is a great variation in how high ability is conceptualised between and also within countries.  This impacts on how countries design and implement their education programmes: from identification to the types of programmes implemented, distribution of resources, and teachers’ professional development. What can be said with some certainty is that most education international systems recognise high ability as a distinctive educational area of focus and a source of valuable human capital.

Meanings attached to the education of students of high ability reflect a dominant Western European worldview and value system. This is because the field has been developed mainly in Western European and the United States. At the same time, it has been well argued that the strongest current advancement is presently outside of these Western contexts (Ibata-Arens, 2012). With a growing body of evidence from international policy and legislation, we are able to observe some consistencies and inconsistencies among perceptions, policies, and practices related to the education of high ability learners across nations.

Different nations’ policies on gifted education

China

In the last three decades China has achieved rapid modernisation. In 2011, China was the second largest economy in the world, with a population of 1.3 billion.  In 2022 the figure rose to 1.4 billion inhabitants. In this era of rapid growth in economic, social and educational development, talent was regarded a primary driver for China to be a successful nation in the international arena. Cultural conceptions and traditions had a profound influence upon who is identified as being highly able, and on how to nurture their talents in the education system. Beliefs and attitudes complement Chinese society well.  As the high performers and achievers of the society, they make a large contribution to the human capital of the nation. Though the scale of such education in China is small, in respect to the huge population base as well as compared to other countries it is a significant part of their culture and image on the world stage.

Hungary

In Hungarian education, two approaches are evident: the first favours separate provision for very able young people in education (and is subject to much criticism for being elitist). The second, aims to reform education and promote the inclusion education through a more personal and individual approach.  The Hungarian system of specialised schools for mathematically able is believed to be original and this model was adopted by Russia and also the United States. The first school started in Budapest in 1962 and there are now 11 schools around the country.  Schools and teachers are responsible for identifying and recognising individual differences and talents in their students. Enrichment is the preferred format of advancing this in schools. Acceleration, grade skipping and sharing classes with higher grades is uncommon. Highly able students can be offered a special curriculum, special classes, workshops and extra-curricular activities and there are special schools in different areas of talent, from intellectual, music, arts and sport.

Singapore

Singapore has a long history of provision for high ability students. Beliefs about ability and talent development are strongly influenced by the view that environmental factors are dominant in their development. Early identification is not stressed and working hard is emphasized at home and school. Like many other countries, Singapore has been broadening its conceptions of ability and diversifying its talent development efforts in recent years. The government recently announced its vision to achieve global recognition and leadership for outstanding accomplishment in the arts and sports. The main aim of Singapore policy is to develop intellectual depth and high-level thinking and to nurture creativity and innovation. The nation has seen considerable expansion and diversification of its programmes and provision for a range of gifts and talents in the last decade in particular. Talent in non-academic domains like dance, theatre studies, music, visual arts, and sport are now identified and enhanced through talent development programmes. All programmes for high ability young people offer a differentiated curriculum aimed at developing targeted cognitive and social-emotional abilities and character traits.

Austria

Education for the more able in Austria dates back to the mid-1960s.  More recently, the education of highly able children has received increased public awareness and social acceptance. The last 15 years can be declared as the “golden age” in Austria, where it established and implemented a variety of measures regarding talent promotion and gifted education. The provision of special programmes is closely linked to the general structure of the Austrian school system.

Supporting children with special educational needs has a long tradition in the country. Integrated education was a part of Austrian compulsory education. Very able young people are recognized as learners with specific needs, interests, abilities and modes of thinking. Austrian legislation emphasises a general idea of individualized education, acceleration and enrichment within regular schools as well as within specific schools. School legislation specifies that able children can skip classes, can be released from compulsory education, attend classes at universities and attend universities from the age of 15. The more common education of highly able students is within mainstream classes, where they receive special attention through enrichment, workshops, allocation of individual mentors and various programmes of language, maths, science, music or sport.

United Arab Emirates

Although the UAE does not possess a long history and experience in general education, the country has recently embarked on educational reforms that emphasize the provision of quality education for all.  The nation has been paying attention to the education of its younger generation in order to guarantee equal opportunities for all students, and at the same time make sure that students with special needs and talented learners are provided with the right support and sufficiently challenged to reach their full potential.

The absence of a committed policy for gifted and more able education may disrupt existing efforts and slow down the steady progress that the country has already maintained.

India

Education provision for very able learners is yet to be part of a formal educational policy in the country. Research on giftedness lacks systematic and empirical grounding. The actual term “gifted” in the Indian context was used till very recently and most research has focused on creativity. Formal identification and nurture of ability is sporadic and mostly dependent upon whether the child has been selected for enrichment programmes.  Due to a lack of dedicated policies and without an overarching national framework for able children and their education, many talented children are left unrecognized.

Finland

Finland has been acclaimed around the world as an education success story with high-quality teacher education. In PISA studies, it has regularly scored among the top countries in mathematics, reading, and science. Giftedness has been long debated amongst different interest groups, for example, politicians, teachers, and researchers and a consensus has not yet been reached.  Opposing views have either advocated it or labelled it as elitist, unnecessary, and against egalitarian politics.  In the egalitarian Finnish school system, the educational principle has been to maintain equality by taking care of the weakest students, such as those with learning difficulties. Culturally, discussing high ability or calling oneself or someone else gifted may feel uncomfortable in a society reluctant to elevate one person over others. This may have led to a situation in which high ability is discussed in a way that conveys the idea that all students are gifted or that those who are extremely gifted can take care of themselves.

Most teachers report the use of some differentiation practices with able students. This result might indicate that Finnish elementary school teachers mostly see such students as a group needing differentiated teaching.  Many teachers believe that these students need more challenge, which they address with more sophisticated assignments. Amongst the teaching profession challenge is deemed to be important for gifted students as additional, unrewarded work and unplanned activities are deemed inappropriate challenges for these students.

The USA

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2002) reauthorized the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act and provided the federal definition of gifted and talented. There is, however, no federal mandate to identify or serve students of high ability in the United States. It is for individual states and local education agencies (LEAs) to determine and provide education services in public schools across the nation. This means there is substantial variation in the quantity and quality of services across and in the United States. Most frequently mentioned aspects of ability in state definitions include advanced intellectual ability, creativity or creative thinking, and academic ability/performance. Most states have a universal screening process for referral and/or identification is determined by LEAs. The majority of states have personnel assigned to education at the state education agency level. These personnel responsible for education typically provide technical assistance, responding to family questions, providing professional development, and developing state policies and/or guidelines. Some notable changes in 2022 were observed relating to a more nuanced understanding regarding issues of access and equity, as well as policies and initiatives underway across states to address issues of access and equity, and a new theme related to the Influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational policies and funding related to high ability education across all states.

Summary

Progress in advancing education for high ability learners appears to require the inclusion of shared definitions into education policies that are both educationally accurate and socially responsive to the various national contexts. Doing this also requires consistent alignments between the formation of education policies and the implementation of programmes that respond directly to the pedagogical needs of able learners.

For a more in-depth analysis on international policies on giftedness we recommend Global dimensions of gifted and talented education: The influence of national perceptions on policies and practices by Brian Heuser and colleagues. (See reference list below).

References

Davis, G. A., Rimm, S. B., & Siegle, D. (2010). Education of the gifted and talented (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Heuser, B. L., Wang, K, & Shahid, S. (2017). Global dimensions of gifted and talented education: The influence of national perceptions on policies and practices. Global Education Review, 4(1) pp. 4-21.

Ibata-Arens, K. (2012). Race to the future: Innovations in gifted and enrichment education in Asia, and implications for the United States. Administrative Sciences, 2(1), pp.1–25

Rutigliano, A. & Quarshie, N. (2021) Policy Approaches and Initiatives for the Inclusion of Gifted Students in OECD Countries. OECD Education Working Paper No. 262.

Tourón, J., & Freeman, J. (2018). Gifted education in Europe: Implications for policymakers and educators. In S. I. Pfeiffer, E. Shaunessy-Dedrick, & M. Foley-Nicpon (Eds.), APA handbook of giftedness and talent (pp. 55–70). American Psychological Association