Identifying Gifted and Talented Indigenous Students

Project Title Identifying Gifted and Talented Indigenous Students: Preliminary Visit to Groote Eylandt and Bikerton Island
Project Team Dr Peter Merrotsy (SiMERR NSW)
Period April 07
Funding Agency SiMERR
Organisational Base SiMERR NSW

 

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Description

Groote Island and Bikerton Island are certainly among the most isolated educational contexts in Australia. Three of the schools are community schools for three Indigenous language groups. This project combined the delivery of professional learning with speculative research.

Professional training and development in gifted education was delivered to teachers of Alyangula Area School, Angurugu Community Education Centre, Umbakumba School on Groote Eylandt, and Milyakburra School on Bikerton Island. Community workshops were also provided for parents in each of the four communities.

Research was conducted into the education of gifted and talented students and Indigenous conceptions of giftedness and appropriate educational responses. This involved observation of children in classroom activities, discussions with teachers, school executive teachers, and Aboriginal Education Assistants, and sighting of school documentation and teaching programs.

Dr Merrotsy spent a full day at each of the smaller community schools, and two days at the larger area school where he worked with teachers in the classroom, looking at various forms of curriculum differentiation. At three schools he spend some time with individual students to assess their cognitive potential and to suggest areas of curriculum development to meet their needs.

Each day after school and on two evenings, Dr Merrotsy led professional development workshops on gifted education for teachers and teachers’ aides. Community meetings for parents also discussed the needs of gifted children.

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Participants

All teachers (20) in the four Groote Eylandt schools took part in after school professional development. Parents (15) in three of the communities attended afternoon and evening workshops.

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Findings

There were three main findings from this study:

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Outcomes

Journal articles

Conference presentations

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Impact

 

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Related documents

Click here to download this infosheet.

 

 

 

 

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