Ready, set, MATCH!

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Ready, set, MATCH!

The road to matching support needs with support offerings for gifted students.

nov 2024

Student: Eveline C. Tramper

RITHA-JAN2023

supervisor: Esther Klaassen

Summary

In current educational practice, the support needs of the gifted pupil and the support offered in education do not always seem to meet each other in a timely manner. There seems to be a situation where the support offered in the areas of motivation, social and emotional well-being, mindset, (under)achievement, and mismatch does not meet the support need in these areas, or where the support need or available support offer is not sufficiently clear. 

summary 1/3

To recognize a student's support need, it is important to pay attention to characteristics of demotivation, static mindset, underachievement, reduced social and/or emotional well-being, and mismatch in the student's attitude and behavior.

To get a good picture of the support offer, a curriculum of the support offer is needed that, in addition to the basic elements, also addresses specific concerns for gifted learners. 

summary 2/3

For the connection between support needs and support provision, I developed the match conversation tool and worksheet. This aims to provide educational professionals with structure in the conversation with the gifted pupil, parents, education and care professionals. Support providers are encouraged to adapt the curriculum to the information needed to make a better match and to take a multidimensional look at the function of writing this information down.

summary 3/3

where do you work?

mental health care

education (teacher)

education (support)

Have you ever been in a situation where support needs and support offerings did not match?

Do you feel you are well informed about the different support options available and what they offer in terms of support?

Challenges for the gifted in regular education

The system for classifying the nature of the problems of clients in youth care, the CAP-J (Netherlands Youth Institute, 2016), lists as possible common problems related to giftedness, among others;

• motivation problems, 
• social and emotional problems, 
• development of a fixed mindset 
• underachievement. 

Nederlands Jeugdinstituut (2016). CAP-J 2.0: Classificatiesysteem voor de Aard van de Problematiek. Buro Extern.

Challenges 1/2

When these challenges could already be spotted in regular education and appropriate action taken, it may be possible to prevent challenges in these areas from developing into problems for which youth welfare is involved.

challenges 2/2

Research Question 

As, in current educational practice, pupil support needs and educational support provision do not always seem to meet (in time), the following question can be asked;

What do education professionals require to make a good match between the support needs of gifted pupils and the support offer in education?

Research Question 1/3

what do you think is important
to make a good match?

This question has several aspects: on the one hand, the domain of the pupil's support needs and, on the other hand, the domain of the support offer in education.

The education professional, finds himself between the two domains and in practice faces the challenge of having to oversee both sides.

Research Question 2/3

This has led to the formulation of the following sub-questions:

1. What information is necessary for educational professionals to determine the support needs of gifted learners?
2. What information is necessary for educational professionals to have sufficient insight into the support offer for gifted pupils to make a good match with the support need? 

Research Question 3/3

Objective

Teachers, parents, the pupil and involved education and care professionals have different ways of accessing the information about the pupil's support needs, which makes it important to engage in conversation together and be able to see the whole picture together. 

Objective 1/4

Why would it be important to
look at the pupils needs and the
offer in education in one place?

The Match-conversation tool that was developed aims to make the search for a good match more insightful for education professionals. It serves as an aid when looking at gifted students and getting clear on their support needs. In addition, it serves as an aid when looking at the support offerings in education that are available.

Objective 2/4

The purpose of the match-conversation tool is to bring together insights from the multiple angles applicable in practice. the match-conversation tool is to map and match support demand and support offerings together in one place. 

Objective 3/4

The worksheet accompanying the match-conversation tool provides structure to the conversation with the pupil, parents/carers and other education and care professionals involved. It supports to get as complete a picture as possible of the gifted pupil's support needs and the support on offer, in order to achieve the best possible match.

Objective 4/4

From the  examined suport needs, important developmental areas in finding appropriate support offerings for gifted learners  are;

• motivation, 
• mindset, 
• (under)achievement, 
• social and emotional development, 
• (mis)match, 
• affective processes 
• specific curriculum content 

     for gifted learners.

suport needs 1/2

Either I'm good at something, or I'm not.

image: charlottelabee.com

I can always become better at sports through practice

I take feedback as a personal attack

 I can find value in every bit of feedback I receive

I always struggle with math

 I can do better at something if I want to, even if it takes a lot of effort.

I feel threatened / intimidated by the success of others.

When others succeed, i wonder what did they do that made them successful?

fixed

mindset

growth

mindset

The left (yellow) side of the match conversation tool is about the support needs that can be catagorised into; general information, motivation, mindset, (under)achievement, social and emotional, mismatch and resistance. there are examples of behavioural characteristics by which an education professional could recognise this support need of a gifted pupil. 

suport needs 2/2

suport needs 2/2

From the curriculum models examined, curriculum content that were found to be effective;

• an emphasis on affective processes (Cavilla, 2019),
• project-based learning, 
• higher thinking order issues, 
• compact delivery of lesson material, 
• creative and analytical thinking
• appeal to problem-solving skills.

support offer 1/2

Cavilla, D. (2019). Maximizing the potential of gifted learners through a developmental framework of affective curriculum. Gifted Education International, 35(2): 136151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261429418824875

Spin the wheel and discover 

where support offerings 

in a curriculum for gifted 

learners can be 

focused on...

The right (blue) side of the match-conversation tool describes what information the education professional can find in a microcurriculum in education, to link as appropriate support needs of the gifted pupil. 

support offer 2/2

support offer 2/2

Completing the conversation sheet together, brings systematics to the conversation. This ensures that areas where strengths and challenges may lie  are addressed in the conversation. It can be discussed

together what would be appropriate 

offerings for this pupil. Depending on 

the decided policy, the team may be 

trained to lead such conversation or a 

specialist in gifted education may be appointed.

Match! 1/4

The worksheet provides space to write down points per section that are applicable to the gifted pupil. The behaviours shown on the match-conversation tool serve as examples that can help when completing the worksheet. In conversation, the parties involved can discuss possible appropriate offerings and note them under the items listed in the curriculum. 

Match! 2/4

On the back of the worksheet is space for making the best possible match. This is done by connecting the information from investigating the pupil's support needs (yellow, left), and the information from investigating the support offer (blue, right) into a match (green, centre). There is space to describe the outcomes of the conversation.

By completing the worksheet, the collaborating education professionals gain insight into whether or not the available support offer is a match. 

Match! 3/4

The use of the the match-conversation tool may or may not lead to a match between need and offer.

Bakx et al (2021) describe that education professionals will experience a degree of friction in this choice between what they would like to offer a pupil, and what is maximally achievable. The compromise made in this should lead to the best possible choice under the given circumstances.

Bakx, A. W. E. A. (2021). Het goede doen, ook in de ogen van het kind, Hoogbegaafdheid special: Met andere ogen, 1-22. 

Match! 4/4

Conclusion

To recognise a pupil's support needs, it is important to pay attention to characteristics of demotivation, static mindset, underachievement, lowered social and/or emotional well-being, and mismatch in attitude and behaviour in the pupil.

conclusion 1/4

To get a good picture of the support offer, a curriculum of the support offer is needed that, in addition to the basic elements, also addresses specific points of attention for gifted pupils, such as project-based offerings that include higher-order thinking issues, the compact provision of teaching material, creative and analytical thinking, and the appeal to problem-solving skills. 

conclusion 2/4

Attention to affect plays an important role in the curriculum in the development of a growth mindset and the connection between teacher and pupil, which is important for a good match in the support offer. This enables learners to develop to their full potential. Affect includes motivation, commitment and engagement of pupils. Attention to affective processes contributes to learner well-being. 

conclusion 3/4

The match-conversation tool provides tools to systematically map the overall picture. Support providers are encouraged to adapt the curriculum to the information necessary to make a better match and to look multidimensionally at the function of writing it down.

conclusion 4/4

How would the match-conversation
tool contribute to your work as a
professional of gifted education
and care?