Happy World Teachers' Day!

It’s World Teachers' Day today, so a big THANK YOU to all teachers in Ireland and across the globe! I hope you continue to inspire and be inspired by your students every day.

As a parent I am grateful for the many inspiring teachers in whose classrooms my children have spent time. I am amazed at their patience, commitment and dedication to the children they teach. Many of them go way beyond the call of duty in providing support, extra-curricular activities, supervision hours and a determination to help students succeed. My son’s History teacher is a fine example. His enthusiasm for his subject is infectious, his story-telling legendary, his commitment to helping a classroom full of teenage boys see the value of history in their modern high-tech world is fantastic. One of those brave souls who volunteers to travel on school trips (and even appears to enjoy them!), his influence is such that my 2nd Year son has already decided to take History as a Leaving Cert subject as long as his teacher is Mr. Carey. This is one great teacher! And I am lucky that my children’s schools are full of teachers like this; able to reach their students in a myriad of different ways.

My children are also Exceptionally Able which can make for a different experience of our school system. There is, I think, a growing awareness that gifted children have quite distinct and different needs. Supporting those children in a meaningful way without compromising the needs of others and balancing scarce resources is the hard part. Being able to identify which children are gifted is the first step. As a parent of Exceptionally Able children there are a few things of which I wish more of our teachers were aware. Here are five things which might ease the way for these students for whom our educational system is not best suited;

• The Exceptionally Able are not always the high-achievers in the classroom, and the high-achievers are not always Exceptionally Able. Spotting EA students is not an easy task. It would be a great leap forward if schools and teachers could make it their mission to be able to recognize gifted pupils.
• We (their parents) often know a lot about our particular children and giftedness in general. We have often spent many hours researching giftedness from classroom strategies to friendship or social issues to help us raise these different children. Use us, we’d love to help.
• Work is not supposed to be too easy. If our children always get 100% please make it more difficult for them, otherwise they will fall apart when they finally face a challenge that doesn’t come easy. See our post on Vygotsky’s ZPD for more.
• Playing to my child’s strengths gives him or her confidence to tackle any weaknesses,  the other way around does not. You’ve probably all already seen this clip about how unique all our children are, but it really says it all.
• These students could often go far far beyond what the curriculum, the classroom or the teacher can offer. I understand the limits within which you have to operate, so do these students. By the simple act of letting them know you recognize their ability you can give a powerful message that they are understood and valued.

But most of all; Thank You, for giving my children and hundreds of others the gift of life-long learning. That is priceless.

Back to School. Back to Reality.

For many gifted children and their families, the school holidays are a time of great relief. As we brace ourselves to re-enter the fray, we would do well to remember a few of those issues which can make school particularly difficult for gifted children. They are perfectly normal kids, just different, and we need to understand and make allowances for those differences so that we don't end up causing more stress than is necessary: 

• Gifted children learn faster in some areas than their classmates and often have interests not shared by children of the same age or taken to the same depth. They may find it difficult to find true peers in school and may feel isolated or somehow "out of sync". For further reading, take a look at Social Skills of Gifted Children by Louise Porter.


• A gifted child may "suffer" from oversensitivities and may find stimuli which other children take in their stride, to be overwhelming. School is full of loud noises, bright lights, pungent smells, odd textures, not to mention emotional encounters which they often take very much to heart. Check out Dabrowski's Over-excitabilities. A Layman's Explanation by Stephanie Tolan.


• While 60% to 75% of the general population are extroverts, about 60% of the gifted population are introverts. An extrovert is energised by being around others but an introvert finds their energy drained by others. After a period of time in other people's company, they need some time alone to recharge. A very worthwhile read for teachers and parents of gifted children is Introversion: The Often Forgotten Factor Impacting the Gifted by Jill Burruss and Lisa Kaenzig.

Considering that at least one of the points above may apply, which of the following do you think your gifted child would most welcome at the end of a school day:

A. To be whisked off on a playdate with a couple of their classmates? 

B. To be greeted by you with a string of twenty questions about the details of their school day? (My own personal specialty!) 

C. To be left alone to escape into a world of their own for a while to process and "re-centre" themselves?

This doesn't apply to all gifted children, of course; some arrive home raring to go. But it's worth bearing in mind that many are exhausted, drained, frustrated, have had just about enough, thank you very much, and simply want some time alone. It's nothing personal!

Parenting the Gifted in the Land of Saints and Scholars!

It is an honour to be a part of the SENG National Parenting Gifted Children Week blogtour. Little did we think when we tentatively launched our blog last year, that we would be celebrating our first birthday in such prestigious company! We hope our contribution will offer a different perspective and give some food for thought among our international friends.

To celebrate NPGC week, SENG has published a free e-book The Joy and the Challenge: Parenting Gifted Children.

For a nation which makes national sports of both put-downs and self-deprecation, being the parent of gifted children in Ireland can be like negotiating a minefield. Unless you tread very carefully, something is bound to blow up on you! First port of call after the suggestion of exceptional ability is usually the internet where most of the references are to programmes and research far away from our shores. It can be difficult to relate to discussion of GATE programmes, GT school coordinators and specialist teachers, AP programmes, G&T registers, One-day schools, acceleration or cluster-grouping when we have no such options available to us. Provision for gifted learners in Irish schools is largely a function of what individual schools and teachers can do within the confines of their classroom, their time and the school budget. As there is almost no teacher-training in giftedness, there is little real understanding of the issues involved in providing for these children. In addition, our Education Act of 1998 ensures that schools cannot enrol on the basis of a child’s ability, which leads to an emphasis on mixed-ability in all classrooms. This was underpinned by research from our Economic and Social Research Institute which found that streamed classrooms “do not boost the performance of the top group”.* We would love to know if any parents of gifted learners were consulted for that little bit of research!

What is universal however, is the experience of parenting gifted children. There we find we have much in common with our friends throughout the globe as we stumble through our parenting years as best we can. If there is no roadmap handed out in the delivery suite to any parents, it seems as if someone has actually tampered with the sat-nav of parents of gifted offspring. We are sent off on side-roads, dead-ends, even to the edge of cliffs at times before we start to find our way. Granted, it is a fascinating journey, but it can also be draining and exhausting. That’s where sharing our experiences with others can be a huge help. The thing is, there is no destination here, no neat platform to tell you you’ve arrived. So sharing with other parents is a way of making sure that you really are moving forward even when it feels as though you’re standing still, or heaven forbid, hurtling backwards!

So what’s different about doing this job in Ireland? Well, we admit to being somewhat envious when we read of parents “looking for a good school fit” in their district. Here, we have no school provision of programmes for exceptionally able children, so school choice on that basis is non-existent. Early enrolment in kindergarten or university is impossible in Ireland as children must be four years old to enrol in school and sixteen to enter third level education. In fact many parents hold off sending their little ones to school until they are at least five, sometimes very close to six because there is such an emphasis on the perceived advantage of being among the oldest in the class. This has a similar effect at the other end of the system where it is very unusual for sixteen year olds to go to university.

While trying to cope with all the usual issues of parenting a gifted child, in Ireland we must do this against a background where the education system barely recognises that our children have needs somewhat different to those of other children. It can be a heavy burden to bear and we find engagement with our global gifted friends through social networking provides us with support, inspiration and motivation to keep going. We hope that by encouraging other Irish parents and educators to join this community, we will eventually bring about positive change for our children.

*One of the ESRI researchers answers questions on Mixed Ability vs Streaming: What the Research Says, How Can Schools Make a Difference (02.29)

Our 2011 Election Promise for Gifted Advocacy

Although minds have been concentrated nationally on renegotiation of the IMF/EU bailout, job creation and our failed health service, we have recently seen some more success in raising awareness of the educational needs of Exceptionally Able learners. Yes, we know it's a side-issue in terms of the big picture of Ireland's current woes, but we and other advocates throughout Ireland have been working hard to reach those who will be part of our new government. We have been in touch with the political parties to raise awareness of the needs of gifted students over the last few months.

Education policy will be under scrutiny in the next government, from the dual perspectives of resources and of standards. The PISA results are a national concern and have been mentioned by most of the political parties in the run-up to polling day. With literacy and numeracy issues on the agenda, as well as overhaul of the Junior Certificate and parts of the Leaving Certificate, we are well placed to make our voices heard on behalf of highly able students. This is a crucial crossroads for Ireland, in many different ways. The importance of education cannot be understated, and among the nation's children exists a group who have been at the margins of education provision for many years. Our highly able students, contrary to the beliefs of many parents, educators and policy makers, will not achieve academic success on their own. They need the support of teachers and parents to find and reach their true potential. This need not use valuable monetary resources, but it does need training and planning by those who educate these learners.

We were pleased to see that Fine Gael's manifesto addresses the issue of gifted learners and that in government they intend to examine the supports in place for this group of students. It is to be hoped that they will take the views of parents, advocates and those who have expertise in teaching gifted learners on board as policy is re-examined. We will be pleased to be part of the consultation process on this issue alongside our colleagues as we endeavour to work together to move gifted awareness forward.

We have at last a chance to speak on behalf of highly able children. We need to do so cohesively, cooperatively and with due recognition of each other's work over many years of advocacy. Some have been working behind the scenes for years, others are newly arrived, some have teaching expertise, others are experienced in twice-exceptional matters, but all are valuable. Ireland is too small a country to have advocates not working together. So let us too make an election promise, let us all pledge to keep the focus on our common goal; raising awareness of highly able learners within the Irish education system.

Gifted Learners and Lev Vygotsky's ZPD

Lev Vygotsky was a pioneering Russian psychologist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries whose interest in the fields of developmental psychology, education and culture led to his being known as “the father of cultural-historical psychology”. A prolific author who researched relationships between thought, language, speech and play, Vygotsky studied the development of cognitive skills in children and developed a concept known as the “zone of proximal development” (ZPD). He described it as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers” .

Arguing against the use of tests to examine a child’s progress, Vygotsky said that what should be measured is a child’s ability to problem-solve independently, rather than with assistance. Real learning takes place in the ZPD, according to Vygotsky and the later psychologists who developed his idea further. This ZPD is the area of growth which is just beyond the current ability of the learner but not so far as to be impossible or demoralising. If the level is set so low that the child has already mastered the task, or so high that the student cannot achieve it without considerable assistance, effective learning will not take place. The ZPD is the zone where the student, aided by a teacher or expert, can stretch to the point just beyond their current capabilities. This is where learning is internalised and previous skills can be built upon, according to Vygotsky.

Later psychologists and educationalists elaborated on Vygotsky’s idea of the ZPD by introducing the concept of scaffolding. Scaffolding is the provision of sufficient support to learners that they are able to reach their ZPD. The support offered is only enough to allow the student to build on prior knowledge and skills and is gradually reduced and removed as the learner enters his or her ZPD. Examples of instructional scaffolding are resource materials, visual aids, templates, guidelines and verbal or written demonstration.

The concepts of ZPD and instructional scaffolding are now applied wider than Vygotsky’s original context of problem-solving to a range of educational domains such as reading, reciprocal teaching and problem-based learning. Many researchers now believe that young children learn their native language while in their zone of proximal development, with scaffolding provided by their parents as the child’s skills develop.

The ZPD has particular resonance for highly able learners. In many classrooms the material regularly presented to them would be within their current ability level and therefore would not bring them into their zone of promixal development. All students need to be required to work in their ZPD on a regular basis, including gifted learners. Where most students experience this level of challenge daily, highly able children for whom the regular curriculum holds less challenge may not. In order to internalize the learning process, to experience the stretching of their capability beyond what is easily achievable we must find a way to ensure that gifted pupils enter their ZPD. Effective differentiation can go some way to this goal.

In a paper entitled “Different Differentiation” Paul and Sharon Ginnis outline eight different strategies which teachers can use to ensure that every pupil works in their ZPD. They recommend setting the parameters by planning the task between the outcome projected for their most able and their least able learners. The ZPD of the class is within this. The two factors of the challenge of the task and the skill of the individual learner will determine the outcome. If the gap between these two factors is either too big or too small, outcomes will be less successful. Interestingly, they point out that in both cases (too little challenge or too much) the likely result is the same, that of disengagement and underachievement.

The strategies they describe cover a range of teaching approaches, from a higher level of teacher control to a more student-controlled task. From setting a task above and below the core task expected of the majority of the class, through peer-coaching and ability grouping, all the way to what they label “self-service” there is a menu of styles. Each of them have at their centre the goal of having each student work in their ZPD. For exceptionally able children, opportunities to work in the types of learning environments described would allow them to learn how to synthesize their learning and how it feels to be challenged to reach a goal. These are not usual outcomes for highly able children in Irish classrooms who often find themselves with little or no challenge for long periods of time. We need fresh approaches and an increased awareness that opportunity of challenge is essential for all learners and that gifted pupils need this as much as any other. It is not exclusive or elitist or selfish, it is only fair.

Link to the paper on “Different Differentiation” is here

More on Lev Vygotsky can be found here

A Vision for a New Irish Junior Cycle

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) has nearly completed  a consultation process on ideas for a revised Junior Cycle for our secondary schools. Our GAS group discussed this process at our recent meetings and after many pots of tea and cups of coffee, decided that we would make a submission on behalf of our group of gifted learners in Ireland. Many of our members have young children in the early years of  primary school and for them the Junior Certificate seems a long way off. As we know however, change takes a while to happen, so it may very well be those children who see the benefit of comprehensive educational reform.

Our idea is that the Junior Cycle would move away from the traditional but narrow examination format to a flexible programme which would give our young people responsibility for their learning and its outcomes. We have called it the Junior Cycle Portfolio. In short, it would consist of a personal learning portfolio prepared and produced by each student in the early secondary years . In addition to exam results from school, it would include multiple ways that students could show mastery, achievement and interest in the curriculum. Participation, accomplishment and effort would all combine to demonstrate the skills learned by each student. Using this approach, every pupil would reach the end of the Junior Cycle with a foundation in the key skills needed for 21st Century learning.

We feel that this approach may be of particular benefit to both Exceptionally Able and Twice Exceptional students in Ireland. Our gifted learners are not well served by the current exam-based system, either in its pace or content. When they want to move deeper and faster with the material there is often no opportunity to do so. For Twice Exceptional students it is sometimes also a challenge to demonstrate ability in ways rewarded by our educational system. If our gifted pupils could work with a portfolio system they would be able to add breadth, depth and pace to their learning. Using their personal learning strengths, they would be able to achieve at a level commensurate with their ability. Many of Ireland’s exceptionally able learners go unidentified by their schools and unnoticed by their teachers because they have no opportunity to demonstrate what they could learn, as opposed to what is on the curriculum. The Junior Cycle Portfolio would give them the chance to take ownership of their learning and bring their areas of strength into sharper relief.

You can read our Submission below:

Bright, gifted or creative...does it matter?

Image from bertiekingore.com

I was thinking recently about how fast the summer holidays have disappeared and half-dreading half-welcoming the back-to-school rush which is upon us already. That got me thinking, as usual, on whether I should ask to meet my children's teachers right away in September to explain their learning differences. One (more!) challenge for teachers is identifying gifted learners and distinguishing them from bright high achievers. So how can teachers figure out who is bright and motivated, and who is gifted? And more pertinently, why does it matter?

This useful checklist will help determine bright from gifted learners, but doesn’t help tell us why schools should make the distinction. In fact, in our current educational system, where rote-learning is rewarded with high marks in State Exams, there may be no way to distinguish gifted students from bright students. And where there are likely to be a good cohort of bright children in every school, the same cannot be said of gifted learners who form a much smaller number of the population.

So, who are the bright, high achievers? They are the ones whose school reports read: “a pleasure to teach”. They are motivated, conscientious and hard-working. They fit in well in the school system, present good work, are motivated and committed to getting good results. They do well in exams and leave school with awards and prizes under their belts. They may be sports captains, head boys, head girls or prefects and are often among the most popular members of the student body. They are seen as having much to contribute to their communities. These children still need adults, parents and teachers to support them in continuing to add to their achievements, but as they are adept at working within the system they usually have little difficulty maintaining their high standards. In short, these children are the ones teachers and parents don’t really have to worry about.

What of the gifted learners then? The common myth is that these are the children who “have it all”, the easy path to academic success. Surely if the bright, high achievers have little to trouble them, the same would be true of the gifted learners? Not always so, unfortunately. Of course, it must be said that there are many gifted learners who are consistent and high achievers, who fit happily in the system and thrive as much as do bright hard-working students. Others, however, look at learning from a very different perspective, one that can cause huge conflict and difficulty between student, school and parent. They question, notice inconsistencies and injustices, they go off on tangents, they challenge, they often irritate! At primary school, some may correct the teacher...loudly. By secondary they may have learned not to do that any more, or may have learned to at least keep it quiet! Some may under-perform in State Exams to the frustration of their parents, teachers and even themselves. They may start to question their abilities when they don’t fit into the exam success box. They may follow their passions which may not “count” in the future points race. They might even question the “point” of the points race before they get to the Leaving Cert! Along the way they may show flashes of brilliance and excellence in certain subjects or areas. They can demonstrate erratic performance in school, from complete mastery to average or mediocre levels, depending on their interest, their teacher or their passions. The creative among them often sing from a completely different hymn-sheet, some may not even see the point of school at all in the pursuit of their dreams. They may have a different vision of their future than the one mapped out by their parents or teachers. They may be right, but the adults in their lives may think they should have a Plan B in the form of formal educational qualifications!

So, why does it matter? Two groups of learners, one for whom the system is a good fit, the other, well, they’ll come into their own at third level. Or will they? Without going down the road of heralding the potential of gifted learners as if they are mere fodder in the pursuit of economic growth and a return to the Celtic Tiger (God forbid!) these young people, as much as any other, do have the potential to make real and significant contributions to our future society. I’m not one who likes to describe gifted children as the future cancer-cure scientists or business and political leaders because I’m uncomfortable with the implication that only gifted children hold this potential. We all know the reality is that children across the intellectual bell-curve can grow into adults just as accomplished as those with the highest IQs. However, these exceptionally able children, for whom the educational system is an uncomfortable fit, are at risk of having their potential snuffed out by it. Whether their chosen path is at the top of academia, as a carer, a teacher or an accountant, they have a right to fulfill their personal potential. In this, gifted learners are poorly served by the Irish educational system in its current form. The inflexibility of rote-learning, the volume of prescribed material to be covered and the lack of opportunity for creativity, problem-solving or innovation in our exam system greatly reduces the chances that these young people will reach that potential. The risk is that they will be switched off learning by the time they have spent 13 or 14 years within a system that does not accommodate their needs.  The result will be that their career and life-choices may be reduced. And that is why it is important that teachers are able to accurately assess who among their pupils may be gifted as opposed to bright. From there, educators may be able to support the differences in their learning needs.

So, back to whether I should have that chat with my children’s teachers? Truth is, we’re into the first week of school now and I still haven’t decided. I don’t want to be labeled as a pushy parent in the first week of term and I don’t want unreasonable expectations placed on my kids either. On the other hand, nor do I want to short-change them by ignoring the fact that they are seldom challenged by classroom work. Maybe by the time they are heading to college I’ll have an answer to my dilemma. I’ll let you know!