Thank you Rodney Hide, Chris Carter, Keith Locke, Dale Jones, Wayne Mapp and Judy Turner for fronting up.
It was good to hear from you all, actually no matter your opinions, policy, or current lack of policy in this area!
Thank you especially Rodney and Dale for sharing with us your recent learning about working with the Gifted. Even though I am an ex-teacher, I too have only relatively recently come to see some of the unique challenges that Giftedness poses to parents, teachers of the Gifted and of course the Gifted themselves.
It is absolutely clear to me that while mainstreaming as a policy may have benefits, that this simply DOES NOT WORK FOR ALL Gifted students. Minister, I think you really need to listen to these people. They are not just a “lobby group” as you called them. Like you, they may be proud of certain things that the state school system achieves, but if they have Gifted children with special needs that your department is clearly not meeting, then you must surely at least listen to them in order to have any credibility as a leader.
To all of you, I encourage you to dig deeper in this subject. As there are long-term implications of working with the Gifted, I think that you can all make a real difference for better or worse in the community.
Specifically, I say to you . . .
Rodney, apart from you, only the Minister provided me with something to read and take away. Your policies are strong and clear and it is always good to see someone bring some humour into their politicking. You do it well. Your brochure is easy to read, and speaking to us at a personal level about your recent learning of Giftedness and teaching the Gifted, gave me encouragement that perhaps a politician can hear and understand the people! Thank you.
Keith, I’m sorry. I tried to follow you but you really lost me. I don’t know if I was dreaming or in a daze, but I scratched my head after you’d spoken and said to myself, “What did he actually say?” If you have any notes, I’d be interested in having another go at understanding what you had to say, but . . .
Chris, as Minister of a portfolio that appears to have a strongly disenfranchised sector within it, you were in a no-win situation, but I think you misread the night and handled it all the wrong way. You certainly have things in your portfolio that you can be proud of, but Gifted Education in New Zealand is definitely not one of them! I understand that New Zealand was one of the last countries in the world to recognise the unique challenges of teaching the Gifted and even now there I hear strong sounds that this sector is not being adequately addressed.
I started working in the educational field 30 years ago and nothing has ever been any different – everybody always wants more money, but as I mentioned above there appears to be serious problems in this sector. People just want to be heard. Of course they will be disappointed if their slice of the pie is small but really, I think that you really need make positive steps to explore the issues of Gifted teaching and listen to the people who know.
Dale, I was really impressed that you visited a one day school classroom on Friday. That was cool! Your question at the meeting along the lines of “What do you people actually want?” is refreshing. It’s not really the sort of question that you’d expect from a politician, but it is the key to the whole thing, as I’ve explained on my blog. I think the Gifted Teaching community needs to give you and your colleagues a clear message in reply.
Wayne, it was good that you could step in for your absent colleague. Please take the message back to her that there were over 100 people at the meeting with some fairly strong views about the current government and MOE policies. If you inherit the benches of power later this year, it would be sad if she continued to marginalise this sector.
Judy, your empathy based on your personal experiences was refreshing. Please continue to push through and speak with these teachers and advocates. As I see it, dealing with educating the Gifted is a challenge, but its important and rewarding.
Thank you also, to the Gifted Education Centre for hosting the meeting.
Dennis A. Smith
Auckland,
21 June 2008
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