Gifted and Talented Discussion with Parents at Holland Park State School

Our visit to Holland Park State School gave an unexpected insight into the lives and feelings of the parents with students placed among the ‘gifted and talented’ category. The abundance of knowledge, advice and wisdom given from the parents provided an opportunity to understand the deeper issues that students and parents can face through this particular label. I was not aware of the myriad of issues that parents and students alike face due to the stereotyping and misconception that the label ‘gifted and talented’ gives. The parents discussed how they felt they were being judged if they mentioned that their child was gifted and talented and that they were held back from being able to celebrate and discuss their child’s achievements with other parents or members of the community. As a strong believer in inclusive education and practice for all, I believe all individual students’ achievements should be celebrated, regardless of whether they are gifted and talented or achieving at a lower level.

The parents offered advice for us as upcoming teachers in the hope that we would take what we have learned and put it into practice. The main thing I took away from the open discussion was to build a strong relationship with the parents of a child who is gifted and talented in order to best understand and suit their needs and attributes. In order to best provide, support and cater for a student who is gifted and/or talented, I will need to remember they are the same as every other child and shouldn't be viewed differently because of their gift or talent. I learned that students with a gift or talent need to be challenged, and as a teacher, I need to provide learning opportunities that allow that student to work to the best of their ability. Lastly, this discussion allowed me to begin thinking how I could cater for students with a gift and/or talent through collaboration with the parents, other teachers and staff and was a very worthwhile and rewarding opportunity.

The visit to Holland Park SS also allowed us the opportunity to view and judge the winners who entered the Science Excellence Expo. We were provided with a wonderful opportunity to examine students' work closely and using comparison and evaluation skills, determine a winner and special mention to students in each grade who entered. Although tough to decide upon an overall winner, as all the entries were great and showed extensive effort and knowledge, the criteria given assisted in selecting an overall winner - basing our decisions on 'quality over quantity'. This experience allowed me to view the several variations of work students can complete at different year and knowledge levels.