Embedding the promotion of talent and giftedness in a school action plan
The promotion of talent and the support of the gifted are two sides of the same goal: a broadly understood strategy in modern education to enable all pupils to develop their personal talents. Both society and education policy are in support of such a development-oriented approach in schools. (See LemaS Research Network in Germany 2020, Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany, Germany 2019).
On the one hand, schools should identify and promote the potential of all pupils as part of a broadly understood strategy. They should also compensate for possible disadvantages due to factors such as migration, social class or gender. At the same time, in the spirit of inclusion, they should address in a targeted and personalized way the development of those children whose potential deviates from the norm, e.g. due to giftedness, or whose successful academic development is at risk due to a combination of strengths and weaknesses. In practice, this is referred to as broad-based talent promotion and individualized gifted education.
How can these two goals be anchored in everyday school life? How can a realistic support concept be developed in a school in which all support modules are meaningfully anchored? What communication processes and structures are needed in the school to manage the tasks associated with these goals?
In order to answer these questions and to support schools in practice, an orientation system was developed in Hamburg and has been tested for several years. This system helps schools to analyze their current situation and to develop their goals for the promotion of all talents. It divides the overarching aims of gifted education in schools into 'five fields of action': identification, support, guidance, needs assessment and school development. This structure reduces the complexity of school development by first defining basic 'minimum standards' for each area of action, followed by further 'development opportunities'. In this way, schools are given a clear orientation in terms of standards and can plan a gradual development over time. The principle of evolution applies: the aim is for every school to go one step further!
The presentation begins by outlining the tasks of school development. Using the "Five Fields of Action" orientation system, possibilities are described that a school can work through step by step in order to arrive at a comprehensive support concept. Afterwards, possible applications and experiences of school counsellors with this tool will be presented.
Jan Kwietniewski is a qualified psychologist and psychological psychotherapist. Since September 2008, he has headed the state-wide "Beratungsstelle besondere Begabungen - BbB" at the State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development in Hamburg, Germany. As state coordinator, he is responsible for the operational implementation of the federal and state initiative "Leistung macht Schule - LemaS" in the state of Hamburg.
His work focuses on the areas of diagnostics of learning and performance development, partial performance weaknesses, giftedness and psychological counselling in the school context (individual case counselling, school development), teacher training and quality criteria in the promotion of giftedness at school.