Innovation in education

They excel in terms of the depth of their knowledge and abilities, they are original and inquisitive. These are exceptionally gifted children and pupils, or MiNDs. But their level of giftedness can be highly erratic, they may hide it or they may stand against authorities. It is therefore possible to divide them into three categories.

Ideal MiNDs, who are studious types of children, mature socially and motivated to actively cooperate with teachers.

Hidden MiNDs, who may hide their talents due to fear of social exclusion or may be labelled as having a specific learning disability.

Rebellious MiNDs who are difficult to work with, have social problems, often resist authorities and are very difficult to motivate to work. These children are the most numerous.

Unfortunately, there is still a misconception that MiNDs do not need any support. But the opposite is true. This is based, among other things, on qualitative research conducted by the Prague Innovation Institute (PII) in 2021.

In fact, these pupils may stand out from the crowd, may be perceived as a disruptive element (giftedness may not be obvious at first sight and may be mistaken for a specific behavioural disorder). It is therefore important to ensure that they are supported as much as possible.

Specifically, in terms of integration into the team, the development of soft skills, ethical education, ensuring psycho-hygiene or support in the acceptance and further development of their own talents. These are the aspects we want to focus on and gradually integrate into our school system.

Respondents to the survey agreed across all levels of education that they found the individual approach and the establishment of a personal relationship with a gifted child to be effective.

In terms of the content of teaching, virtually all of them prefer enrichment to acceleration. In kindergartens, for example, it is largely a matter of providing a stimulating environment with many sophisticated aids or using the NTC method (Mensa).

Concerning primary schools, it is most often about the methods that develop divergent thinking, approach the material in an “exploratory way” or focus more on understanding principles and strategies. These include, for example, Feurstein instrumental enrichment, Hejný method, the use of innovative teaching methods (cooperative, problem-based learning, Socratic questioning) and various logic games, such as Abaku, logiclike.com or gather.town.

At secondary schools, the opportunity to provide gifted children with opportunities to further develop their strengths (e.g., through cooperation with universities and research organisations) and to deepen their soft skills seems to be the most important aspect.

In most cases, the respondents in primary schools had a programme of care for intellectually gifted pupils at the first level; unfortunately, when they leave for multi-year grammar schools, the classes usually empty out and it is no longer possible to continue special programmes for talent development.

Thus, gifted pupils with double exceptionality may remain at the second level, but their talents are then not given as much attention.

The common denominator of the range of problems also seems to be a certain rigidity. Whether in the area of education funding, teaching time, or even the content of education. Educators often resign themselves to trying to provide support for gifted pupils through official channels and they rather focus on an informal approach instead.

However, despite this, the authors of the research often encountered a very creative approach to teaching and strong efforts by developed by educators to establish a personal relationship with MiNDs. And we see this as the key to success.