The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

egulated and possible with almost no
limitations, depending on the canton/ state
(Holling et al., 2005; Mönks & Pflüger, 2005).
Parental requests, teacher recommendations,
high grades, and, sometimes, an expert’s
opinion are the most commonly used criteria in
order to allow early enrolment and grade
skipping. There usually is a period of probation
before making a final decision. In order to share
classes with higher grades, the criteria that need
to be met are similar. Sharing classes with
higher grades may also serve as a way to
decide whether skipping a grade would be
possible.
Many universities in Austria, Germany,
and Switzerland have opened their doors to
students who are interested in part-time early
attendance. In order to be admitted to such a
program, both the student’s school and the
university need to give their consent. They
usually base their decision on the student’s
academic performance and apparent motivation
(Löwer, 2005). The minimum age oscillates
between 14 and 16 (ÖZBF, 2010). In
Switzerland, a special project at the Hofwil-
Gymnasium, a boarding school in the canton of
Bern, provides gifted students in art, music, or
sports, the opportunity to pursue a university
degree while still in school. In order to give them
enough time to do this, their regular curriculum
is stretched by one year. The last three years of
secondary school are stretched to four years,
enabling the students to accumulate two years’
worth of credit at institutions of higher education
for art, music, or sports in Bern at the same time
(Grimm & Maurer, 2005).
In Austria, an early exit to attend
university full time is possible starting at age 15,
but interested students need to successfully
pass a special examination as evidence for the
necessary abilities. In Switzerland, the
permission to leave school early is given only in
very special cases (Mönks & Pflüger, 2005), but
this is not an option in Germany.
Ability grouping, practiced in all three
countries, includes variety of enrichment and
segregation programs. In Austria, many schools
offer workshops and pull-out programs for
gifted students. An example is the so-called
"Plus-Kurse”, special courses for gifted
students, which are offered in the state of
Salzburg. Plus-Kurse, offered during the regular
school year, are two-hour to four-hour weekly
classes during which gifted students have the
opportunity to increase their knowledge in a
particular topic, e.g. astronomy or web design.
They are not designed to substitute regular
instruction, but to complement it. Students who
The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children
show high performances in the regular lessons
are nominated by their teachers to attend these
special courses. (Furlan & Patry, 2001; Patry,
Weyringer & Wageneder, 2001). Also, several
Austrian schools are practicing a teaching style
called "free learning" in order to allow gifted
students more freedom to learn and explore
what they wish while keeping them in their
regular class. In Germany, "working groups" of
gifted students are common. They are very
similar to the "Plus-Kurse" offered in Austria. In
Switzerland, enrichment is often practiced as
"within class differentiation”, for example by
dividing students into groups who work on tasks
at different levels of difficulty (Mönks & Pflüger,
2005). Pull-out programs, frequently as
cooperation projects between schools, seem to
be popular as well. An example is the
"Fördertag für Hochbegabte" in the canton of
Thurgau. Once a week, it gives gifted children
from regular primary schools the opportunity to
pursue their own interests on an individually
chosen subject in small groups (Hoyningen-
Süess & Gyseler, 2001).
Several schools in German-speaking
countries offer special curricula for the gifted.
This usually means completing a condensed
curriculum in less years in a more creative and
free learning style. Again, admittance depends
mainly on parental request, teacher
recommendations, high grades, and,
sometimes, aptitude tests and successful
participation in a trial lesson (Bayerisches
Staatsministerium für Unterricht und Kultus,
2010). There are several special schools for
gifted children only in all three countries, for
example the Sir-Karl-Popper School in Vienna
or the Talenta School in Zurich.
Even though student competitions are
usually open to any student who is interested
and are not a gifted education program per se,
they can have a motivating effect and further
young talent. Especially in Austria and Germany,
regional, national, and international
competitions and "Olympiads" in the sciences,
mathematics, foreign languages, arts, music,
and sports, are a frequently organized and
popular opportunity for gifted students to
explore their talents (Mönks & Pflüger, 2005).
Furthermore, Austria and Germany both
offer additional courses and summer academies
(Austrian and German Pupils’ Academies) for
gifted students, the majority of which are
organized and sponsored through the
government. Offered during the summer
holidays, most academies last for a few days to
two weeks and consist of courses from different
academic disciplines, usually taught by experts
52 Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011.