Smartest students are giving up in boredom

GIFTED and talented students are frustrated, disengaged and failed by the education system.

GIFTED and talented students are frustrated, disengaged and failed by an education system that offers an inadequate and ad hoc approach to teaching the smartest kids, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has found.

A year-long examination of how gifted students are taught in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools identified shortcomings in how they are identified, the absence of any statewide, systematic approach and an imbalance in the resources and programs offered between schools and particularly in regional areas.

"This report demonstrates that failure to provide appropriately for gifted students in the school environment can have severe and devastating consequences," it warns. "Understimulated gifted students may be bored and frustrated at school. They may exhibit behavioural problems or even disengage from education entirely. A concerning number of gifted students dumb themselves down to fit in at school, while those who don't may experience social isolation or even bullying."

Atop a lengthy list of recommendations to the Baillieu government, the cross-party education and training committee chaired by Liberal David Southwick calls for the development of a Victoria-wide policy on educating gifted and talented students.

"This policy should be founded on the principle that gifted education must be available in every classroom in every Victorian school," the report urges. There is currently no national policy.

Greater responsibility would be placed on schools to identify gifted students and provide them with the tailored teaching they need. A dedicated unit within the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development would be established to co-ordinate policy, research and programs for teaching gifted kids.

A Kennett government program known as Bright Futures to promote the teaching of gifted students was shelved under the later Labor administrations amid accusations of elitism.

Education Minister Martin Dixon welcomed the report. "Our job in education is to engage, excite and extend students," he said.

"Labor jettisoned the Kennett government policies on gifted and talented education so it is timely we put this back on the agenda."

The report estimates there are between 23,000 and 85,000 gifted or talented students in Victoria. Of those, as many as half will fail to reach their full potential.

Mr Southwick told The Australian his committee had found an ingrained, cultural resistance within state primary schools to addressing the needs of the smartest students.

He said the committee heard from dozens of gifted students who were told to "sit in a corner and a read a book" throughout primary school.