The Extent, Nature and Effectiveness of Planned Approaches in ...

primary school which had a partner school, working with only one school as opposed to a largercluster of schools has meant that decisions can be made reasonably quickly because there is lessconsultation involved.The other thing I like about the cooperation that we have with the other school is that it isvery quick to get set up and do. There’s no talk, there’s no in-depth waiting around anddelay! It’s simply, we will run a workshop on such and such, targeting this particulargroup of kids and we can make it happen by next week or the week after.Conversely, a third school relished the idea of working together with a group of schools. Using acluster approach, these teachers networked with other interested educators to develop and share theresponsibility of providing a variety of gifted programmes in their region.One of the secondary schools builds networks with their contributing schools by inviting local primaryand intermediate schools to participate in competitions and quizzes. For example, the mathematics andscience departments sponsor competitions. The school believes this service assists in the identificationof incoming students. It was believed that many of the students who participate in the science quiz arethe ones most likely to be identified for the Gifted and Talented class the following year.Teacher Support Services and RTLBs were appreciated for the support, advice and guidance providedto schools (only if they had professional credibility in this specific field; for example, it was apparentthat not all RTLBs have undertaken study in gifted education).Some teachers simply valued the support and expertise of their teacher friends and colleagues:I bounce ideas off a friend who teaches at XXX who has a real strength in literature…andsometimes we’ll spend a couple of days together planning things that she will use with hermiddle syndicate and then I’ll come back and use it with the gifted programme.Parental and community support. Six schools described parental support as an enabler, and thisincluded both secondary schools. To facilitate parent support these schools endeavoured to provideongoing information about their gifted programmes. Parents provided support to these schools in bothidentification and provisions; however, it was the assistance with provisions which seemed mostvalued. The schools discussed parents who facilitated programmes with students and providedtransportation and resources.In one of the secondary schools, parents are informed and involved in the identification, provisions,and monitoring process. This begins at parent evenings where there is an opportunity for them todiscuss gifted education with the coordinator. An information booklet is available and at curriculumevenings the coordinator speaks about the programmes. In a similar way the coordinator of the secondhigh school facilitates partnerships with the parents of the identified students through newsletters,regular parent meetings, and special meetings that are set up to introduce new programmes. Whenconcerns are raised about specific students, parents are invited to a meeting to share in the problemsolving/solution finding process. In this school, liaison between Kaumätua and school, or families inthe school community from other cultures, are handled by the Mäori and Pacific Liaison workers fromStudent Support Services.The primary schools also reported effective facilitation of home and school partnerships. For example,when a writing programme is due to begin in one primary school, information about the programme iswritten in the school newsletter. Parents are invited to contact the coordinator if they think their childis capable of doing the programme, and then it is discussed with the teacher.The full-primary, Catholic school is a multicultural school with very good parent support in terms offinances. Parents are extremely supportive of all the gifted education initiatives. Also, there is strongparental involvement during Electives Week as well as in the ‘extension’ programme, for example,teaching foreign languages. The school is always open on Fridays so that parents can visit the various254