Why Take the Needs of Gifted and Talented Students Seriously?
A Ministry of Education View, September 2000
Each state and integrated school's charter must, by law, include the intention to abide by
the National Education Guidelines. These guidelines include the National Education Goals,
National Administration Guidelines and the National Curriculum Statements, and are
intended to direct schools in effective policy and practice.
The National Education Goals establish a common direction for state education in New
Zealand. Some of these incorporate a focus on gifted and talented students in their
emphasis on:

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a broad and balanced curriculum;
equal opportunities for all; and
consideration of those with special needs.
The National Administration Guidelines also have implications for the education of gifted
and talented students, as is demonstrated in the following excerpts:
NAG 1: Each Board, through the principal and staff is required to:
i.
develop and implement teaching and learning programmes:
a.
to provide all students in years 1–10 with opportunities to achieve for
success in all the essential learning and skill areas of the New Zealand
curriculum;
ii.
through a range of assessment practices, gather information that is sufficiently
comprehensive to enable the progress and achievement of students to be
evaluated;
giving priority first to:
a.
student achievement in literacy and numeracy, especially in years 1–4;
and then to:
b.
iii.
breadth and depth of learning related to the needs, abilities and interests
of students, the nature of the school's curriculum, and the scope of the
New Zealand curriculum (as expressed in the National Curriculum
Statements);
on the basis of good quality assessment information, identify students and groups
of students:
b. who are not achieving;
c. who are at risk of not achieving;
d. who have special needs
iv.
develop and implement teaching and learning strategies to address the needs of
students and aspects of the curriculum identified in iii. above.
NAG 2: Each Board of Trustees with the principal and teaching staff is required to:
iii.
report to students and their parents on the achievement of individual students,
and to the school's community on the achievement of students as a whole and of
groups (identified through 1 iii. above) including the achievement of Maori
students against the plans and targets referred to in 1 v. above.
The New Zealand Curriculum Framework states principles which give direction to the
curriculum in schools. The following principles take into account the needs of gifted and
talented students:

The New Zealand Curriculum fosters achievement and success for all students. At
each level, it clearly defines the achievement objectives against which students'
progress can be measured.
The school curriculum will provide learning opportunities which will enable all
students to achieve the learning objectives to the best of their ability. Schools will
provide professional and innovative teaching, supported by resources of the
highest possible quality.

The New Zealand Curriculum provides for flexibility, enabling schools and teachers
to design programmes which are appropriate to the learning needs of their
students.
The school curriculum will be sufficiently flexible to respond to each students'
learning needs, to new understanding of the different ways in which people learn

The New Zealand Curriculum provides all students with equal educational
opportunities.
The school curriculum will recognise, respect, and respond to the educational
needs, experiences, interests, and values of all students: both female and male
students; students of all ethnic groups; students with different abilities and
disabilities
The New Zealand Curriculum Framework also specifies eight groupings of essential skills
to be developed across the whole curriculum, and the description of these acknowledges
the different needs of gifted and talented students:

The curriculum will challenge all students to succeed to the best of their ability.
Individual students will develop the essential skills to different degrees and at
different rates.
Some of the skills also embody areas of probable strength for gifted and talented
students, and provide a basis for challenging enrichment programmes.
Problem-solving skills:
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students will think critically, creatively, reflectively and logically;
students will exercise imagination, initiative, and flexibility; and
students will try out innovative and original ideas.
Self-management and competitive skills:
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students will set, evaluate, and achieve realistic personal goals;
students will show initiative, commitment, perseverance, courage and enterprise;
students will develop constructive approaches to challenge and change, stress and
conflict, competition, and success and failure.
Work and study skills:
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students will work effectively, both independently and in groups
students will build on their own learning experiences, cultural backgrounds, and
preferred learning styles.
Most of the National Curriculum Statements also refer to the importance of a special
focus on gifted and talented students, within the parameters of the achievement
objectives:
The Arts
Programmes should extend and challenge students who are gifted or talented in the arts
disciplines. Students may, for example, work towards achievement objectives at higher
levels or take part in more complex and challenging learning experiences than their
peers.
Gifted and talented students may demonstrate exceptional abilities in a wide range of art
forms, many of which have not traditionally received recognition. Schools should seek to
identify such students as early as possible in their development, provide them with
supportive learning experiences and environments, and devise assessment
methodologies appropriate to their learning. The Ministry of Education publication Gifted
and Talented Students: Meeting their Needs in New Zealand Schools provides information
to assist in this process.
English
The aims and objectives described in this curriculum statement provide goals and
challenges for all, including gifted and talented students. Teachers should adapt learning
contexts to stimulate and extend these students.
Many of the learning and teaching examples suggest contexts for acceleration and
enrichment – for instance, the processes and knowledge needed for complex language
activity or research, and the emphasis on individual challenge, experiment, and
excellence. The curriculum's openness with regard to the choice of literary texts also
offers opportunity for challenge and extension to students with special language abilities.
Health and Physical Education
Students who have exceptional ability in health education and physical education …
require programmes that extend them, challenge them, and broaden their abilities.
These groups of students need programmes adapted and organised to provide access to
relevant opportunities, meet their individual needs, and contribute to the development of
their awareness of their personal identity and their sense of self-worth.
It is important that students with special needs and abilities:

are identified early;
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have their learning needs addressed from the beginning, through relevant and
consistent programmes;
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work at their own pace;
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work towards goals and challenges that encourage them to develop to their full
potential;

are valued by their peers, their teachers, the school, and the wider community;
and
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help to plan programmes to meet their particular learning needs.
Mathematics
…students with exceptional ability in mathematics must be extended and not simply
expected to repeat different permutations of work they have clearly mastered.
Some students develop faster in all aspects of mathematics than most of their peer
group. Other students reach a particular achievement level in one strand or topic sooner
or faster than most of their peer group without necessarily being equally competent in all
other strands at the same level. A levels structure may be thought to imply that faster
students should automatically be accelerated to the next level. This is not necessarily so,
nor is it the aim of this curriculum. Teachers should carefully appraise the experience and
needs of students before deciding to move them to the next level.
It is very important, however, that students do not have their mathematical development
inhibited by, for example, repeating work which they have sclearly mastered.
The intention of the development band is to encourage teachers to offer broader, richer,
and more challenging mathematical experiences to faster students. Work from the
development band should allow better students to investigate whole new topics which
would not otherwise be studied and to work at a higher conceptual level. Talented
students should have their interest in mathematical ideas further stimulated and their
understanding of the nature of mathematics deepened. Teaching approaches which may
build on the interest of students include: allowing students themselves to select the topic
or content they wish to pursue and to set their own goals; allowing the opportunity for
individual and independent study, perhaps using a contract plan; and encouraging access
to a broader range of higher level resources.
Science
School and classroom programmes in science need to identify and nurture students with
special abilities in science. When used flexibly, the curriculum offers talented students
both acceleration and enrichment. An inclusive curriculum in science provides
opportunities for students with special abilities to:
School and classroom programmes in science need to identify and nurture students with
special abilities in science. When used flexibly, the curriculum offers talented students
both acceleration and enrichment. An inclusive curriculum in science provides
opportunities for students with special abilities to:
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have their special ability in science valued by their peers, their teachers, their
families, and the wider community;
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develop their knowledge and skills at their own pace;
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engage in learning activities which encourage higher-order thinking skills, such as
analysis, evaluation, and synthesis;
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learn through open-ended activities which encourage imaginative and creative
thinking and lateral exploration of ideas;
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use co-operative and problem-solving approaches to learning;
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communicate their ideas with others of similar ability.