Czech schools fail to identify gifted and talented children
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Loading... - Helle Jorgensen
- 17 Oct 2022
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According to the findings of the Czech School Inspectorate, schools have a problem finding and identifying gifted children. Teachers tend to focus more on pupils with special educational needs as they lack experience and training in identifying and educating gifted children – although gifted and talented children have their own set of special needs, which also require attention.
Central school inspector Tomáš Zatloukal explains what can happen to gifted children whose potential is not identified and properly nurtured early on:
“We’re talking about a group of kids with specific needs, but who are of fundamental importance to society in their later professional lives. And if we fail to identify them in the early stages of their education, their potential withers and they usually end up becoming pupils diagnosed with special educational needs, learning difficulties or behavioural disorders.”
Furthermore, schools tend to privilege – and most often spot – intellectual talents, while artistic, social, physical, and manual talents are comparatively neglected and fall by the wayside. As Tomáš Zatloukal points out, talent is not necessarily related to achievement at school.
“The kids who have good grades and actively contribute in class are not necessarily the gifted kids. And that’s exactly what we're failing at – we link these two things, which actually don’t have much to do with each other. So if schools tell us that there are some 42 000 gifted children in elementary schools, we have to take this number with a pinch of salt. The real number is actually much lower.” Read More...
