To be young, gifted and held back

Efforts are under way to improve the chances of the EU’s most talented youngsters, writes Ian Mundell.

A campaign to get European Union education policy to recognise the needs of gifted and talented children is taking shape. Researchers and other professionals in the field agreed a set of goals at the end of November and are now working on an action plan that they hope the Slovenian government will take up during its presidency of the Council of Ministers next year.

In particular, the campaign wants to link the development of gifted children with the Lisbon Agenda, highlighting the benefits for the EU’s knowledge economy if young talent is properly nurtured. German Green MEP Hiltrud Breyer, one of the campaign’s initiators, acknowledges that the EU now has a sizeable budget for research programmes but asks: "What does it mean if you are not really getting the people to fulfil it?"

Christian Fischer, director of the International Centre for the Study of Giftedness at the University of Münster, says: "It’s very important to create special programmes for these children. It’s a need for the children, but also for European society."

Researchers think that around 10% of school-children can be considered gifted or talented in some way, while around 2% are highly gifted, with an IQ higher than 130. Yet not all go on to have brilliant academic careers. "Some are identified and yet never meet their potential, others are never identified," says Johanna Raffan, of the UK’s National Association for Able Children in Education.

Much depends on the teachers. They need to be able to recognise talent and accommodate it in their classes, rather than assuming that able pupils will succeed without help. "Before we tackle anything else we have to tackle teacher training," says Raffan.

This is reflected in the aims of the campaign. It calls for a European Gifted and Talented Working Group to be established, to help people in the field communicate and to build a co-operative network, initially based on organisations such as the European Council for High Ability (ECHA’s members are heavily involved in the campaign).

The working group would support the development of teacher training, in particular through projects at the EU level. One proposal, from Münster, is for a European masters course in gifted education. This would train teachers (and teacher trainers) in how to diagnose giftedness and then meet the needs of gifted pupils, for instance by introducing methods of self-regulated learning.

Another idea is for virtual schools to be established, providing distance learning for gifted children in schools without specialist teachers. Such projects are currently being developed in Germany and Austria.

Beyond teacher training, the campaign wants to see greater exchange of information about responses to giftedness in Europe’s schools. One of the commonest approaches is to allow gifted pupils to move to classes in advance of their age, either in specific subjects such as mathematics or by jumping whole years.

Some schools also offer enrichment classes, which teach subjects outside the common curriculum. These may also provide skills that gifted pupils may have not picked up from conventional classes because they are not challenging enough, for instance learning strategies or how to deal with failure. Experience also needs to be shared about special schemes, such as summer camps for the gifted or programmes that allow them to carry out research with university academics.

The biggest challenge for the campaign is that education policy is largely the responsibility of national or regional governments. The EU has very little competence in the area and education for the gifted and talented is not a priority in EU research, education or youth programmes. With competition for funds so fierce, it will be hard to make a case for something that can be perceived as elitist.

Fischer argues that classes that adapt to accommodate gifted pupils can see a rise in quality across the board. "Programmes for the gifted are of use to all students," he says. Raffan agrees: "We’re not looking for provision for gifted children; we’re looking for gifted provision for all children."

• Ian Mundell is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.

Efforts are under way to improve the chances of the EU’s most talented youngsters, writes Ian Mundell.