Myths, Stereotypes and+Reality

Gifted education is often a contentious issue,
Many teachers are unwilling to recognize some students as 'gifted' because they believe it implies these students have more worth than others. This common opinion arises from a basic misunderstanding about the purpose of gifted education.

As with developmentally challenged students, gifted students have signiﬁcantly different characteristics to the majority of their classmates and teachers have a //professional obligation// to meet the needs of these students. Helping gifted or challenged students is not a 'reward' and certainly has nothing to do with worth.

Not meeting the needs of gifted students can actually be detrimental, accordin gly the [|National Administration Guidelines] has since 2005 mandated that all schools be able to show how they are identifying and catering for the needs gifted and talented students.

Common Myths and Misconceptions
Gifted students are present in every school. Children are not homogenous! In any school regardless of gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic class there will be stand out students. Giftedness may vary from school to school and is not specific to one area of intelligence. Everyone has a personal strength, an area where they excel, but this is not the same as having a gift. Equally a personal weakness does not characterize a disability. Often a students gift may be specific to one area, for example talented runners are not necessarily good at rugby, just as talented poets don't necessarily have good handwriting. As explained above catering for the gifted is a matter of need not worth. Without support gifted students can fail due to a wide variety of factors including boredom.
 * We don’t have any gifted students at our school.
 * We believe that every child has special abilities
 * Gifted students should excel in everything they do
 * Special programs for gifted students are elitist
 * Gifted students will make it on their own without any extra help

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