The Future of Education

keywords: gifted pupils, mathematics education, perspectives, lower secondary school, grammar school

The education of gifted pupils in mathematics is a current topic in pedagogical research. Gifted pupils need specific approaches that support the development of their abilities. However, the application of these approaches for gifted pupils has proven problematic in practice. Some pupils perform below average, feel uncomfortable, and have difficulty with differentiated curricula. The voices of gifted pupils are often overlooked in pedagogical research and school practice, even though their experiences can reveal how educational approaches focused on developing potential actually work. How does what we say about gifted pupils differ from what they actually experience? The study aimed to understand how gifted pupils perceive the difficulty and motivational aspects of mathematics teaching and what shortcomings they identify in it. In this presentation, I will present the results of a research project that examined the experiences of gifted pupils (n = 30) with mathematics education in Czech lower secondary schools and multi-year grammar schools. I conducted semi-structured interviews with pupils whose giftedness had been diagnosed by a pedagogical-psychological counselling centre. I will discuss the findings showed similarities and differences between lower secondary and grammar school pupils. Lower secondary school pupils reported insufficient challenge and limited task differentiation, but appreciated organisational aspects of classes. Grammar school pupils highlighted methodological and organisational issues and suggested improvements including more group work, opportunities to present solutions, and greater flexibility in problem-solving. The results highlight the need to recognise gifted pupils’ individuality and to create supportive learning environments that provide cognitive stimulation and giftedness development. Based on these findings, I propose recommendations: strengthening teacher training in differentiated mathematics instruction for gifted pupils and systematically developing support measures to facilitate an individualised approach in classrooms.

Jana Veseláková, Mgr. 

Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

[email protected]