An investigation into what specialists in gifted and talented education can provide to early childhood educators in professional learning and support and ECE teacher preferences and needs.
FULL REFERENCE: White, V. & Riley, T. (2017). Advancing early childhood educators’ access to professional learning in gifted and talented education. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, Special Issue: Early Childhood Teachers and their Work, 20(2), 34-49.
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ABSTRACT: The inquiry reported in this article sought to identify how specialists in gifted and talented education in New Zealand could provide professional learning and development support of value to early childhood educators. Embedded in a pragmatic epistemological framework, the perspectives of six early childhood educators were gleaned through semi-structured interviews, with contextual information being gathered through a brief online survey. Through a process of thematic analysis using an inductive approach, four themes emerged: incongruence between Ministry of Education documentation and practitioner support; gaps in knowledge and process; equitable opportunities and access to professional learning and support; and professional learning for modified and sustained practice. Early childhood educators expressed preferences for both direct professional learning support, as well as a facilitated process to develop sustainable networks within their local communities.
Key words: Gifted; talented; professional learning; support.
INTRODUCTION
The New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki: he whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1996; hereafter to be known as Te Whāriki), “is designed to be inclusive and appropriate for all children and anticipates that special needs will be met” (p. 11). Inclusion, right from the early stages of education, is imperative (Gordon-Burns, Gunn, Purdue and Surtees, 2012) and expected (Ministry of Education, n.d.a). Successful support for children with special needs, including gifted and talented learners (Education Review Office, 2013; Ministry of Education, n.d.b), requires collaboration between “teachers, aides, families and whānau, and specialists, as well as the student” (Ministry of Education, 2012a, p. 3). Kirk, Gallagher and Coleman (cited in Coleman & Shah-Coltrane, 2015) call for team approaches partnering professionals with parents, and enabling each stakeholder the opportunity to share their unique set of skills, knowledge, and understanding. These parent-professional partnerships provide scope to assimilate information from all perspectives, and, of particular interest for this research, from both the early childhood and gifted education fields (Cukierkorn, Karnes, Manning, Houston, & Besnoy, 2007).
