Parents in this study understand that being intellectually gifted relied
on the cognitive ability of the child. When the child’s needs were not
met in school, parents found other ways to nurture their gifts. The
option to send the children to the One Day School was seen as the
favourable choice for all the parents in this study.
Janet: “At the school, he gets bored with the repetition and spoon feeding” possibly because “his giftedness
wasn’t nurtured um [pause] they tried to stamp him down” (Transcript 1/3).
Janet found that the One Day School helped Peter get through the
week because they felt that the school was not providing enough
stimulation to cater to Peter’s needs. Janet described that Peter
seemed to be bored in school before having an interesting and
challenging day in the One Day School. Janet felt that Peter’s school
was not helping to nurture his abilities, but the One Day School was
helping him to achieve his potential.
Janet: “He started to begin to get recognition for his abilities, positive feedback and encouragement, and the staff over there were really good” (Transcript, 1/4).
Peter’s father talked about the activities conducted in the One Day
School that enhanced the learning of his gifted son.
Edward: “...they do stuff...ump challenging tasks that test your thinking skill...um [pause]...it’s exciting to see your kids can create um things that let you think how they created that!” (Transcript, 2/2).
Both parents found that the One Day School helped them to identify
their son’s gifts. They felt the activities conducted in the One Day
knowledge provided an opportunity for Janet and Edward to nurture
Peter’s gifts at home.
Janet: “We learned so much from him...ump the
teachers were good, the activities were challenging for him...” (Transcript, 2/1).
Kate’s Perspectives
When Kate realised that Tim was not getting the necessary
intellectual needs at school, she gave her suggestions to Lou to find a
solution for the problem. The alternative option was the One Day
School. Kate described her children’s work in the One Day School
and noticed their reading activities were not based on their ability to
read, rather the focus was more on critical thinking.
Kate: “...there are various activities um [pause] for example dissect where someone brings along the animal parts and children will dissect them or there might be something about plants and the kids will dissect the plants, you know it could be anything” (Transcript 1/12).
Listening to Kate’s description of what her children did at the school,
the researcher concluded that Kate knew what was best for her
children. Kate filled the gaps when she realised that her children’s
gifts should be developed and nurtured not only at home but also
Sandy’s Perspectives
As for Sandy, her son’s intellectual ability was not given attention by
the teachers in his pre-school and primary school. Sandy indicated
that Andrew did not do any kind of academic study in his pre-school.
Sandy stated: “he is a physical child, so he plays all the time”
(Transcript, 1/2). Sandy believed that Andrew was able to develop his
own performance, and he also has the thinking potential to assimilate
complicated matters easily, but the preschool was not recognising his
abilities. Thus, the only choice she had was to send him to the One
Day school.
Sandy: “The One Day school is our saviour. The school makes him feel alive and that makes us feel alive too. The old system never did anything for us so there are other systems such as the One Day school that helps us” (Transcript, 1/15)
Lily’s Perspectives
Lily had the same thoughts as the other parents in this study. She
sent Jack to the One Day School because she believed her son’s
educational needs were not met either in the early childhood setting
or the primary.
Lily: “We know his needs aren’t met at school and we have to find the way to meet them elsewhere, I mean for instance the One Day School. We made a decision
that we have to find money and he has to be able to go because...um [pause] it’s half of his well being and it has to come down to who is going to survive and be happy and how to save him” (Transcript, 1/4).
In summary, a need for educational support, and frustration over the
lack of support from the school were associated with gifted children’s
learning. Gifted children often have more advanced metacognitive
skills than non-gifted children, and they are often able to apply
strategies to contexts that are different from those in which the
strategy was originally taught (Webb, Gore, Amend, & DeVires,
2007). All the parents believed that if the present system was not able
to provide the needed support, alternatively they had to find their own
ways to support their gifted children’s learning. Parents considered
that sending their children to the One Day School was an alternative
option that may support their learning when schools weren’t meeting
their needs. However, the system of the One Day School was that
children attend the school once in a week and on the remaining four
days they will be studying in the general education system. That
5.1.3 “My child is not gifted one day but every day”
The One Day school was run by a non- profit charitable trust, the
Gifted Education Centre and incurred a financial cost. When the study
began, Edward was a full-time student, whilst Janet was in fulltime
employment. Although the financial situation of this family was quite
different from the other three families, Edward and Janet balanced
their available time and energy to support their gifted son. Even
though at times it was a juggle for them physically and emotionally,
this family was keen to promote positive outcomes of having a gifted
child in the family. However, their concern was that the One Day
school acted as a survival mechanism only for one day and on the
remaining four days their son seemed to be struggling in the general
education school system.
Janet: “Your child isn’t gifted for one day in a
week, they are gifted every day um...[pause] we
stopped going to the One Day School when they shifted the location...and [anonymous] stopped teaching it. We lived up in Cambridge and it’s too much for us to be travelling for one day, dropping them off or going to work, picking them up. So it’s too much for just one day in a week” (Transcript, 1/12).
things that you like your child to do...well at least his mother (Peter’s) has been very supportive and providing what she can for the needs to help both of the boys do extra things” (Transcript, 1/9).
Janet expressed that the cost of travelling to and fro as well as the
fees for just one day were too much for her family. Although the One
Day school seemed to be a better alternative for all the parents in this
study, as for Janet and Edward it was managing their time and
arranging transportation that seemed to be very stressful for them.
However, there was no mention of ‘regrets’ by them of having a gifted
child and even though Edward openly and honestly confessed having
financial problems he only expressed his frustration for his inability to
provide enough stimulation for his gifted son.