Recommendation Six

That Gifted Education Advisors (as part of School Support Services) provide the primary professional support to schools, and that the number of these advisors be increased to ensure equitable access and to better address existing and predicted demand for support.

Although this group of advisors has been in place for less than twelve months, it is clear they are fulfilling a valuable role in supporting schools and teachers to meet the needs of their gifted and talented students. However, their ability to service current demand is extremely limited, due to the small number of positions across the country. It is anticipated that the implementation of all or some of the recommendations in this report will see a significant increase in demand for advisory support. It is therefore recommended that the number of gifted education advisors be increased to a minimum of 12 full-time positions in the long term, although there will be a need for a short-term increase beyond this number (see Recommendation Seven). This should ensure that those with specific primary and secondary expertise respectively can be appointed.

It is also recommended that a national co-ordinator be appointed to oversee the gifted advisory service. The role of this person would be to facilitate communication and collaboration between advisory staff, monitor services, and ensure national consistency. The co-ordinator would also provide support and professional development, especially in ensuring that all advisory staff have the necessary understandings of giftedness from Mäori and multi-cultural perspectives.

There are some significant advantages to Gifted Education Advisors being part of School Support Services. One of these is the ability to be accommodated within existing systems and structures. An important pedagogical and practical advantage is the facility to interact and work with other advisory staff, especially those working in curriculum areas.

Recommendation Seven

That the Ministry of Education support a three-year period of professional development in gifted education, accessible to all New Zealand schools and delivered by Gifted Education Advisors.

The education of gifted and talented children has been a much-neglected area of pre-service teacher education and in-service professional development. In the last few years there has been a significant increase in the awareness of schools and teachers of the need to provide more effectively for their gifted and talented students. The adoption of the recommendations associated with this report, especially Recommendation One, will see an increase in this awareness and an associated increase in demand for professional development to support this group of learners.

It is the recommendation of the Working Party that the Gifted Education Advisors deliver this professional development. However, it is recognised that even an increase in this service from the existing four to 12 full-time positions (see previous recommendation) is insufficient staffing to meet the requirements of the recommended professional development programme. For the period of the professional development programme the staffing level would need to be increased to 18 full-time positions. The people filling these positions may need to be employed or seconded on a short-term contract basis. The additional six positions should be dedicated entirely to the professional development programme. The responsibilities of the 12 'base' staff could be divided between the three-year professional development programme and other support to schools on a 60:40 ratio.

Professional development should be based upon the core principles identified in this report and on the guidelines in the current handbook. Ideally this programme of professional development should also employ a school-wide approach and be based an analysis each school's needs. However, opportunities should be provided where possible for collegial interaction between schools, to ensure wider co-ordination and support.

It is recommended that this programme be delivered to schools during the three-year period 2003-2005.

Recommendation Eight

That the Ministry of Education recommend to the providers of professional development for other relevant educational groups that a gifted education component be included within their existing courses.

There are numerous other professionals whose roles involve significant contact with gifted and talented children and/or who have responsibility for guiding or monitoring the practice of those who work with them. Currently most of this group receive information relating to the nature and needs of gifted and talented children by default rather than by design. It is essential that these people receive relevant and ongoing professional development aimed at increasing their effectiveness working directly or indirectly with gifted and talented children.

This group includes, but is not necessarily confined to:

• Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RT:LBs)
• School counsellors
• Resource Teachers of Maori
• Resource Teachers of Literacy
• Specialist Education Services (SES) staff
• Education Review Office (ERO) staff
• Ministry of Education local office staff
• Boards of Trustees

It would be valuable for each group to also gain an understanding about the roles and responsibilities of others working in this field.

Of this list, the Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour are arguably the group with the greatest potential to positively influence provision in this area. Given the number of teachers in this group and the nature and scope of their role, it would seem that a knowledge of gifted and talented education could add considerable value to the services they currently provide, especially for gifted children who also have learning and/or behaviour difficulties. It is thus strongly recommended that the education and support of gifted and talented children comprise a compulsory component of their training programme.

Recommendation Nine

That personnel within Group Special Education of the Ministry of Education (as of February 2002) have a mandate to respond to referrals from schools, early childhood centres and families in regard to psychological assessment and support for individual gifted children.

This is necessary because there is no avenue in the education system for parents or teachers to get comprehensive assistance in regard to an individual gifted child. School Support Services advisors are not able to respond to requests about individual children, and gifted and talented children are often not a priority target group for RT:LBs. Even in the private market, services for these children are often limited to one-off assessments.

It seems that the integration of Specialist Education Services (SES) within the Ministry of Education provides a timely opportunity for consideration of an extension of their role. It is recommended that discussions take place between the Working Party and the appropriate new manager when appointed.

Recommendation Ten

That in each regional and local office of the Ministry of Education, one or more staff members be given a designated responsibility for liaison in gifted education.

It is recommended that a clear procedure setting out how to manage queries from the public and the education sector about gifted and talented children be developed by all regional and local offices of the Ministry of Education. Each Regional Manager of Student Support should ensure that, at each of the local offices, one or more of the Student Support team has an understanding of policies, procedures and resources available for gifted and talented education in New Zealand. This would include an understanding of the support structure, eg. gifted and talented advisors and the Ministry's 'handbook', and any other publications developed by the Ministry that set out the direction of gifted and talented education in New Zealand. These staff should also initiate contact with other agencies who may receive frequent queries on this topic, and ensure that they have the information needed to refer callers appropriately. Such agencies might include the Office of the Commissioner for Children, and Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS).

This recommendation is in keeping with the recent restructuring of regional and local offices to explicitly support government goals. It is the particular function of the Student Support group to ensure that students who are at risk have access to an appropriate education that meets their needs.

Recommendation Eleven

That the Ministry of Education produce a booklet to provide information to the parents of gifted and talented children.

While there have been some significant developments recently in supporting teachers and schools to better understand the gifted and talented, provisions for parents have been somewhat lacking. The booklet would be a starting point for parents to empower them to support their gifted and talented children generally but also more specifically within the education setting. It would give such details as basic characteristics and frequently asked questions, recommended readings, websites and support agencies. An emphasis would be put on equipping parents with information and direction on how best to develop successful ongoing relationships with educational providers for them and their gifted and talented children. This publication would be available from early childhood centres, schools, RT:LBs, the Special Education Service, specialist providers, the New Zealand Associations for Gifted Children, Plunket, counsellors, psychologists etc.

Development and publication of this booklet should be completed within the first six months of the 2002/2003 financial year.

Recommendation Twelve

That the Ministry of Education recommend that current and future ICT initiatives be used as a vehicle to enhance and promote learning opportunities and programmes for gifted and talented children.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have significant potential for enhancing the learning of gifted and talented children. However, more work is required to optimise the benefits of these tools.

Good ICT programmes allow children to work at their own pace, and to exercise creativity and self-directed learning strategies. There are particular benefits also for children in rural areas, who may otherwise be limited by the breadth of courses available to them, and the geographical difficulties associated with acceleration (full or partial) between stages of schooling. Through the Farnet, Virtual Private Network systems or generic distance on-line learning programmes, however, children in rural areas can have greater accessibility to guided curriculum resources and programmes, both in Maori and English and at a suitable level.

The introduction of the Four Digital Opportunities Initiatives has provided a creative platform for the development of resource and learning packages for gifted and talented children. ICT professional development contracts provide the opportunity for teachers to develop their own skills and introduce programmes in a classroom-based ICT environment. New Zealand is also working with Australia on the Learning Federation Project (SOCCI) to develop digital learning objects. The ability to customise and individualise these objects into learning sequences appropriate to the needs of the individual learner is a fundamental principle behind this.

TKI has already provided a resource for teachers and children, and it is recommended that this site also continue to grow and develop with particular emphasis on curriculum-area specific resources for gifted and talented children.

Phase 2 Recommendations

The following areas emerged as areas where specific support and direction would be beneficial. However, it is considered that appropriate recommendations can only be made when more information is available, from increased consultation and/or from the information obtained from the review/needs analysis.

• Issues specific to ECE, including advisory support and information about providing for gifted children to support statements in the DOPs
• Support for gifted and talented Mäori children
• Support for gifted and talented children from diverse cultures
• Parent support, including for home-schoolers
• The particular needs of rural schools
• The particular needs of low decile schools
• The particular needs of secondary schools (although recommendations in Phase 1 do cover the secondary sector)
• Further uses of ICT to support the learning of gifted and talented children

The Working Party feels privileged to have had the opportunity to develop this report and is confident that the recommendations contained within in it have the potential to significantly improve the educational environment for our gifted and talented children. In fact, it has the potential to impact beyond schools and early childhood centres as, when the education system changes in attitude and response to gifted and talented children, society at large must become more inclined to celebrate, rather than undermine, the achievements of its most able.

This report includes a set of core principles that we believe offer a sound basis to guide decision-making for our gifted and talented children now, and in the future. The principles are the outcome of consultation nationally and internationally, the combined expertise of the Working Party and the Advisory Group, and reflect the values contained in many of the submissions made to the Working Party.

The recommendations of this report seek to translate these principles into policy and practice, and in a manner appropriate to this country at the beginning of the 21st century. The Working Party examined policy and practice documents from numerous overseas countries but recognised that there are many factors unique to New Zealand that need to be built into how we respond to the needs of our gifted and talented children.

In some ways, previous neglect of this area at a system level freed us from the constraints that may have existed if policy or structures had already been in place. However, what is in place in this country is a highly skilled and competent teaching profession - and many teachers who are currently providing high quality programmes for their gifted and talented children. Our recommendations are based on the belief that New Zealand teachers, with appropriate professional development and support, can ably provide for this group. We acknowledge that specialist teachers and providers will have an important role to play, but the classroom teacher will always remain the first and foremost provider for all children. The recommendations should be seen as 'a work in progress' and, as has been noted previously in this report, the Working Party would value the opportunity to be involved in the second phase of the recommendation process. We also believe we have a guiding role to play in the implementation of Phase 1 recommendations.

Finally, the contents of this report are not entirely new and a number of individuals and committees have furnished reports in the past reviewing education of the gifted and talented in New Zealand and recommending directions for the future. The most recent, and arguably one of the most comprehensive of these, is contained in the Report of the Conference on 'The Education of Children with Special Abilities' (Department of Education, 1985). The recommendations in this report are very similar to the recommendations made by the current Working Party. However, what is disappointing is that, in the intervening period of 16 years, the majority of recommendations made by this conference were never acted on. What is even more disturbing is that the core elements of this 1985 report can be identified in even earlier reviews. It is rather sobering to consider the human cost associated with deferring such decisions. Beyond the personal cost, the cost to us as a nation must have been immense. The Working Party strongly urges the Minister to take steps to avoid this situation occurring again.