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Massey University, Palmerston North
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Tracy Riley
New Zealand is at the risk of wasting creative and innovative talent due to a lack of government funding for educational support for gifted students.
New Zealand and the world right now face a number of urgent issues, ranging from environmental threats to security, child poverty and housing.
We need to ensure the best minds of the next generation are being nurtured to be able to come up with intelligent solutions.
Urban myth
There is an urban myth that gifted learners will make it on their own and don’t need special attention or support.
But this attitude is incorrect as gifted learners can become disengaged and disillusioned with learning without the right kind of encouragement and guidance.
Many people do not realise that gifted learners cut across all socio-economic, geographic and ethnic backgrounds.
The focus on lifting the achievement of priority learners is important.
It is also essential to dedicate the appropriate resources to potential high achievers through pre- and in-service teacher professional learning and support.
I believe some potentially gifted learners may be among those in the tail of underachievement, but will go unrecognised because of low teacher expectations, which result in lack of challenge for students and low ceilings for learning.
Government responsibility
The Ministry of Education requires schools to identify and provide for gifted learners, with some doing so through accelerated learning classes or specialist programmes. Schools are able to determine what concept of ‘gifted’ means to fit the culture and context of their school based on core principles.
A broader concept includes students gifted in cultural qualities, artistic creativity, sport, and leadership, and an estimated 15% to 20% of the population could be defined as gifted in this broader sense.
Dr Tracy Riley teaches in Massey’s postgraduate diploma in Specialist Teaching (with an endorsement in gifted education), and supervises both Master’s and Doctoral students investigating the subject.
She recently received ‘Te Manu Kotuku,’ a prestigious award given by the ‘Professional Association for Gifted Education’ to recognise exceptional involvement in the gifted and talented education field of Aotearoa New Zealand.
“The award is significant for her as it recognises the entirety of her work in the field, spanning teaching, research and service to the wider community through collaboration and leadership,” Dr Riley said.
She said that she was baffled that the Ministry of Education has cut its $1 million in funding for gifted education support to zero for 2017.
She plans to highlight the issue in her acceptance speech for the award at the ‘Gifted NZ Road Show’ to be University of Auckland and at Massey’s Wellington campus in April 2017.
