Will, Emma (SEN)
From:	Kathryn Bunn [kbunncon@alphalink.com.au]
Sent:	Wednesday, 7 March 2001 11:15 PM
To:	eet.sen@aph.gov.au
Subject:	The education of gifted and talented children
To: Committee Members

The following comments are based on my current teaching of gifted and 
talented underachievers.

I have had on a number of occasions been referred students ostensibly 
as learning disabled.
On some of those occasions, the child has had an I.Q. test undertaken.
In most of these situations, there has been no thought that the child 
might be talented- apart from the parent's view that their child is smart 
and not learning to their potential.

My comments are directed at the apparent lack of thought by teachers 
and guidance officers in schools that there might be another view of the 
child that they see as learning disabled.

My concern is that many of these children do not see themselves as 
bright and the changing of this perception takes a very long time.
Additionally, the parents in endeavouring to seek assistance for their 
child often become demoralised and intimidated by the defensiveness of 
teachers who, it could be conjectured, are threatened by being 
questioned as to the appropriateness of their teaching of this particular 
child.

My work with  children who are gifted and talented underachievers can 
take between one to two years- on current experience and whilst much 
of this is actual education, a lot of it has to do with convincing the child 
and the parent that the child has skills and abilities that have not been 
developed, or even perceived.

As a teacher myself, I can empathise with the pressures placed upon 
teachers in today's education system. However, I also empathise with 
the parents, who, in wanting the best for their child, are often at a loss 
to know what to do or where to turn.
Their attempts to discuss the matter with teachers are often rebuffed 
and in many cases their dealings with other professionals connected 
with their child's learning difficulties are less than satisfactory.

Many of the parents, in eventually finding their way to me are very 
defensive themselves and angry at the treatment they have had to 
experience in their attempts to help their child to learn.
For a number of parents, who do not come from high socioeconomic 
backgrounds, my teaching fees form a difficulty for them.
It may be that this Committee might look at the possibility of providing 
some economic support for parents in this situation.
In some instances, parents who are sending their children to private 
schools have retained my services. In  instances then of both public and 
private schools, parents are often having to pay twice for the education 
of their child.

Whilst the arguments for either teaching within or external to the 
classroom may continually be revisited, the fact of the matter is that 
these students are  often being missed in the school system and that as 
a country I do not believe we can afford to lose any of our young talent.

Whilst having had an interest in the area of Giftedness since my time as 
a teacher   at the Krongold Centre at Monash University during the 
tenureship of Professor Marie Neale and being aware that gains in the 
area have been made, I am not convinced that we do celebrate the 
achievements of our bright students as much as we celebrate our 
sporting heroes.

The stuff of the gifted and talented underachiever, is very heavy going.
It is the stuff of working with entrenched low self esteem and often a 
depressed view of the future. Some of these students have so much to 
contribute to the school system, to the community and to their own 
growth, but for many of them, their views of who they are and what 
they can be are very very low.
A presenting problem of learning disability and the resultant low esteem 
in which these students are placed by their peers- and often their 
teachers brings about a perception within that student a lack of 
capability or merit that is so hard to shift.

I am not convinced that support within the classroom is the way to deal 
with these particular students.
A process of re-establishing  trust, of confidence in them selves has to 
be undertaken and I believe it is a form of counselling which cannot be 
undertaken satisfactorily in the classroom.
The classroom is a place of high activity, where students have to live in 
community. The apparent vulnerability of particular students is always 
noticed. To enable a student to develop a rebuilding of trust in a highly 
competitive classroom climate- I do not think is possible.
The teacher is too busy, the children are far too observant.
A sensitive child will not be able to take the emotional risk of putting 
themselves up for that level of scrutiny. They will just remain passive 
and quiet or alternatively may become a disruptive behaviour problem.

My comments then in summary, are:

that we are missing the talented underachiever in our school system
that we do not have teachers or guidance officers who are sufficiently 
well trained to look past appparent learning disability to see something 
further- such as talent
that parents do undergo great difficulty both emotionally and 
financially in trying to achieve the best for their child
that gifted and talented underachievers do often suffer very 
entrenched low self esteem and reduced views of their ability to 
achieve in the future
that it is not possible to provide school based intensive support to these 
children- it is not possible in the classroom- and many of the students 
will be too embarressed to be withdrawn
that there isa mindset in our educational system that still does not 
encourage our tall poppies, or those students with innovative or 
indivualistic views that do not fit  with the predominant way of 
thinking within the school environment
that as a nation the loss of these minds to our future militates against 
our desire to back our own ability. 

Kathryn Bunn
Psychologist

B.A.(Swin.) 
Dip.Ed Psych.(Mon.)
Grad. Dip.O.D.(R.M.I.T.)
Trained Special Teacher's Certificate
Trained Infant Teacher's Certificate