Gifted and Talented Educaton

Gifted and Talented Education recognises the asynchronous needs of gifted and talented students and endeavours to provide both enrichment and extension for these students within the context of the College’s philosophy of catering for the individual needs of all students.

Provisions for gifted students are integrated into the curriculum, as well as through withdrawal programs and co-curricular activities, just as specialist programs in other areas are provided to all students. The department is responsible for overseeing and developing gifted programs, recognising that gifted students have divergent needs that require specific intervention.

Programs for gifted students are designed to address the social, emotional and academic needs of these students. Emphasis is placed equally on the cognitive and affective domains reflecting the inter-relationship between ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’. Such a dialectic relationship is considered a fundamental concept if teachers are going to engage and extend gifted students as they move towards becoming auto telic learners.
Specialist counselling support is also considered a fundamental aspect in assisting some gifted students because of their heightened emotional sensitivities and overexcitabilites.
• Immanuel College supports the growth and enrichment of emotional intelligence within our students.

“Education is a means of discovering meaning in life, of developing human potential, and for liberating and empowering individuals to be responsible for their society and to contribute to the society in which they live.”

To provide appropriate curriculum that is qualitatively different not just quantitatively greater, the department aims to be proactive in making provision for gifted and talented students by:

• Promoting understanding in teachers, parents and students about the nature of giftedness • Developing programs that empower students to become self-directed and life-long learners • Ensuring that students have access to differentiated curriculum that has been carefully designed to meet their needs.

• Providing enrichment and extension programs incorporating critical and creative thinking, abstract concepts, higher level thinking, problem solving etc.

• Organising student participation in national and state wide programs i.e. Future Problem Solving, Science and Engineering Challenge, Tournament of Minds etc

• Facilitating student participation in Exchange Visits (Mindchange), specific industry visit days and excursions

• Negotiating individualised curriculum to include

where appropriate: Individual Education Plans, Acceleration, Mentoring and

Dual Enrolments with Universities.

Student Identification

The College utilises a multi faceted approach to identification which includes specific plans to seek out students with advanced abilities or advanced potential in order to provide appropriate educational experiences during the transition into adolescence. These identification tools include parent and teacher checklists, cognitive ability tests and reports, critical and creative thinking tests and psychologist reports. The identification process occurs early in the year so that the students can utilise programs that maximize their potential.

“Gifted for the purpose of this College, are those individuals who by way of learning characteristics such as superior memory, observational powers, curiosity, creativity, and the ability to learn school related subject matters rapidly and accurately with a minimum of drill and repetition, having a right to an education that is differentiated according to these characteristics. All children have a right to be educated according to their needs.”

(Adapted from Piirto, 1999:28)
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