Catering for 'gifted and talented' technology students

Abstract

In Term One of 2005 it became mandatory for all New Zealand state and state-integrated schools “to show how they are meeting the needs of their gifted and talented learners” (Ministry of Education, 2004, p.6). There is evidence that New Zealand schools are catering for their gifted and talented students in curriculum areas such as mathematics, languages, science and the arts. Are New Zealand schools, however, catering for gifted and talented students in technology, and if so, how is this being achieved? This article investigates and explores how twenty diverse primary schools from the Auckland region, are catering for their gifted and talented students within the technology curriculum. The definition of the term ‘gifted and talented’, the criteria of identification, the purpose of the identification, and also the aims and expectations for those identified and discussed. Comparisons are established between the schools in order to understand the nature of gifted and talented technology programmes in New Zealand schools.