Education and Counseling of the Gifted and Talented in Germany

One of the principle reasons responsible for the fact that nurturing the gifted and talented in Germany has (once again) advanced to a pedagogic concern in the 1990’s lies in the dichotomy of equality and excellence. Are these two pedagogic goals actually incompatible, as often maintained in open discussions? After a long period of oscillation between these two poles, in the age of information a new emphasis has increasingly been placed on excellence. “It becomes more and more important for bright students to be using their abilities to stimulate this new era with economic and political productivity. But this will not happen if the current ‘laissez faire’ approach to gifted students continues into the next decade”(Gallagher, 2000, p. 691). Following a short definition of giftedness and related conceptions, arguments for gifted education stemming from the areas of learning psychology and instructional psychology will be discussed. The central problems concerning identification and programming will then be addressed in greater detail. Hypotheses will be developed, on the basis of the ATI model that gifted students need creative, stimulating learning environments. Various approaches will be presented here and discussed in the context of TIMSS and PISA. The second part of the article will deal with guidance and counseling issues with respect to the special needs of gifted children and adolescents and their social contact persons (peers, parents, teachers). In conclusion, German program evaluation, studies in the fields of gifted education, counseling and nurturing giftedness and talent will be presented. The outcomes of these studies and their consequences for improvements for the quality of gifted and talented education and counseling in Germany will be discussed. Excellence is one of the most important educational-psychological challenges of the new century.     

发展超常教育需要解决的三个问题

大多数的文化都重视人的才智,然而,很少有国家能够形成持久的文化氛围让这种才智自由发展。缺乏通用定义,过分强调超常学生的学习成就以及缺乏相关的学术研究和评价机制是造成这种困境的原因。要营造超常教育文化氛围,需要找到天赋、天才以及创造力等概念的通用定义;同时,必须承认天才是一个多层面的复杂概念而非仅仅是学习成就上的或者认知性的。另外,必须有效地做好成果的评估工作以及超常儿童的扎实培育和后天开发工作。     

Is being gifted always an advantage? Peer relations and self-concept of gifted students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between identified gifted adolescents and adolescents not identified as gifted in terms of social acceptance and self-concept (peer relations, academic, and general). In addition, we aimed to investigate the differences between two groups of students identified according to different identification criteria (i.e. intelligence test and teacher assessment), and whether the relationship between students’ giftedness and the indicators of their social adjustment was moderated by gender. A total of 404 Slovenian elementary school students (191 males; 47%, 213 females; 53%) participated in the study; among them 85 (21%) were identified as gifted. No significant differences were found between gifted and non-gifted students in positive sociometric nominations and social preference; gifted students received less negative nominations and had lower social impact, but were assessed as more socially accepted by their teachers. Gifted students reported higher academic and general but not peer relations self-concept. No differences in social acceptance and self-concept were found between the groups of gifted students identified with regard to different identification criteria. In addition, we found significant interaction effects between gender and giftedness for peer relations self-concept. The results indicate the importance of investigating individual differences among gifted students in future studies.     

Exceptionality and gifted education: a re-examination of its hard core

The commentaries to our target article Towards a systemic theory of gifted education differed in their assessments of the various arguments we put forward. Of the more than 40 responses to our target article, 27 responses were chosen as being representative of all commentaries. We grouped the responses according to the main points in our target article, including our claims that current approaches to gifted education are ineffective, current models of giftedness are generally flawed, and systemic models of giftedness represent an advancement in the way that giftedness can be understood. Next, we outlined a systems approach to gifted education, based on the actiotope model of giftedness as its theoretical foundation. Finally, we argued that the systemic theory of gifted education represents a paradigm shift in the way we view the development of exceptionality.     

Establishing Criteria for High Ability versus Selective Admission to Gifted Programs: Implications for Policy and Practice

Admission to gifted programs involves identification, which entails theories of intelligence. Unfortunately, limited resources and space availability often take precedence over theory and educational philosophy in the admission process. Three selective gifted programs are used as examples of how theories of intelligence, driven by individual program philosophies, can be used as bases of admission within the practical limitations of each. The Cisco A. Carter Gifted Early Education Program identifies inner-city preschoolers for both general intelligence and specific skills. The Julliard Pre-College Program selects participants based on a specific skill. Hunter College Elementary School screens for general intellectual giftedness. Issues such as age of identification, underrepresented populations, and gifted children with diverse abilities and needs also are addressed.     

教育的“平等”与“卓越”——基于美、英教育政策的分析

教育\"平等\"与\"卓越\"之辩证关系的认识,将深刻地影响一个国家的宏观决策和教育战略,进而影响到一个国家对用多长时间或在何种程度上实现这一愿景的基本估计。本文基于对美、英教育政策思想和政策实践的回顾,从平等概念的发展及平等实现的困难、\"平等\"与\"卓越\"的不可割裂性以及要实现有个性的\"平等\"和有选择的\"卓越\"等角度,讨论、分析了教育\"平等\"与\"卓越\"的关系,并提炼出对我国义务教育均衡化的三条启示。     

教育考试制度与教育平等

教育平等是社会政治平等和经济平等在教育领域的扩展 ,是学校和社会政策的目标。教育考试制度是社会和学校系统为社会选拔制定的一个规则 ,即让所有的角逐者完全平等地进行竞争 ,通过个人的努力获得成功。然而 ,教育考试制度和教育平等在本质上是不相容的     

大学招生的卓越性与公平性——美国加州大学的理念及实践

美国加州大学本科招生综合评审制度体现了加州大学致力于实现＂公平合理招收成绩卓越且具有多元智力、经历和背景的学生＂的理念。这一制度要求各分校全面评价学生的学习成绩、个人成就以及为大学作出贡献的潜能,并要求评价时要考虑学生的基础教育机会及其曾经面临的艰难挑战等因素可能对他们的学习成绩和个人发展所造成的影响。这对思考现行中国高校招生中的公平问题具有重要的借鉴意义。     

试析教育公平与教育资源分配制度改进

教育公平是处于变革中的中国所出现的比较强烈的社会诉求之一,也是教育理论研究的热点问题。文章试图分析教育公平理念及我国教育公平水平现状,据此提出实现教育均衡发展的根本路径和我国教育分配制度改革的方向,以期为提高我国教育公平发展水平尽微薄之力。     

Family Processes and Psychosocial Problems of the Young Korean Gifted

It is widely known that Korean parents have a high aspiration for providing opportunities of higher education and high expectations for their children’s academic achievement. Young Korean gifted children with ages from four to ten years did not show many psychosocial problems. However, some showed such problems as distractibility and inattentiveness, aggressiveness, helplessness, or psychiatric symptoms, when parents exert pressure, fathers are not involved in education, or parents do not discipline children’s behavior. Korean young gifted children showed high motivation for learning, when parents provide support, help, and supervision on TV watching. Based on the results, it was suggested that parents provide support for learning, rather than pressure on learning, and discipline their children’s behavior when they are young. In addition, fathers need to be more involved in their children’s learning in order to prevent psychosocial problems of the young gifted.     

试论教育腐败

教育腐败一般不属于教育公平理论研究的范畴 ,但在当前中国的现实中 ,它严重地侵犯教育公平 ,是教育不公平现象的一个极端 ,可以成为一个特殊的观察视角。本文讨论了教育腐败的概念和定义 ,探讨了导致教育行为异化、变质的原因 ,提出了重视制度建设的意见