Trends in Nurturing Gifted / Talented Students in Comprehensive School System (International Best Practices)
Abstract
The article aims at making an insight into identifying and teaching gifted/talented (G/T) children within comprehensive schools in the English-speaking countries to determine the peculiarities and provide a typology of the international best practices in the field. To achieve the solution of the research problems the authors apply various theoretical methods including system-oriented analysis of research and practice literature on the issue; generalization and classification of innovative experience in identification and education of G/T students, etc. Though retrospective research the authors prove the peculiarity of the approach, implying the maximum inclusion of various groups of students, including the gifted ones, into the comprehensive classroom. The novelty of the research is determined by careful interpretation of general challenges and available international best practices to present a range of opportunities for improving G/T programs on national and local levels, with the prospect of developing the G/T education in comprehensive schools. The article provides a typology of G/T comprehensive school practices including training within a comprehensive regular class, school and outside school, illustrating each of them with organization form examples from a particular English-speaking country. Finally, the authors summarize on the enhanced role of the educator in nurturing G/T students in comprehensive school system, thus achieving all the goals of the current research. The findings might be of interest to teachers of special education and researchers into most humanities and social sciences.