Teachers and Twice-exceptional Students in New Zealand: The Search for a Teacher Who “Gets It”

Abstract

Students who are gifted while also having a learning disability are a vulnerable population whose schooling experiences are often negative, with a risk of underachievement. These twice-exceptional students are a challenge to teachers and to our educational systems because of the apparent contradiction their exceptionalities present. Teachers and schools have a responsibility to provide for these students appropriately, but there has been a lack of training for teachers in identifying and providing for these students. This mixed-methods study examined teacher attitudes and knowledge about twice-exceptional students, and explored teachers’ experiences with these under-served students. The results suggest that teachers who have responsibility for gifted students and those who have responsibility for learning disabled students display attitudes and understandings that indicate they likely make appropriate provisions for twice-exceptional students in their classrooms. These teachers were also more likely than other teachers in the study to consider that an underachieving or learning disabled student could be gifted. This suggests that teachers with responsibility for gifted students or for learning disabled students may be a source of knowledge about twice-exceptional students that school communities can benefit from. Given the potential these students represent, any efforts to educate teachers in meeting their needs should be prioritised.