Conversations with Accelerated and Non-Accelerated Gifted Students

Alison Kirby and Michael Townsend - University of Auckland

The authors extend thanks to the gifted administrators who gave assistance and advice in this study, and to the children who participated so willingly.

ABSTRACT
Although there is a great deal known about giftedness in children, little of it comes directly from the gifted children themselves. This paper presents an account of what a group of preadolescent children said about themselves as gifted people in a school setting. Their reflections about life and school were examined as a function of whether they had been accelerated at school or not. The conversations provide instructive insights for teachers and parents into the intellectual, social and emotional worlds of gifted youngsters.

Conversations with Accelerated and Non-Accelerated Gifted Students
Kids say the damnedest things! Fortunately, the things that gifted children say are frequently interesting and even instructive for those of us concerned with their well-being. This is because they very often possess an acute self-awareness and a high capacity to articulate their thoughts. This makes ‘self-reports’ an extremely valuable tool in research with gifted children (Freeman, 1996). This paper presents an account of what a group of preadolescent children said about themselves as gifted people, the things that caused them stress, and the things that they believed would make them happier and more fulfilled in the context of schooling. Their personal reflections about life and school are framed within a contrast between those children who had experienced acceleration at school and those who had not.

Acceleration practices, such as skipping a class level or being withdrawn from normal classes to work with older students in some subjects, are limited both in New Zealand (Riley, Bevan-Brown, Bicknell, Carroll-Lind, & Kearney, 2004) and in many other countries (Benbow, 1991). The common concern is not that gifted children will stumble academically, but rather that they may be at risk of social and emotional difficulties if they have inadequate contact with their age-peers. However, where children are screened and managed carefully the intellectual and academic gains associated with accelerated learning are also accompanied by healthy social and emotional development (Townsend, 2004). Despite this evidence, teachers overseas remain cautious in their attitudes towards acceleration. This is also the case for teachers in New Zealand (Townsend & Patrick, 1993).

But what do gifted children themselves think? Most gifted children will spend most if not all of their school lives in regular mixed-ability classrooms, sometimes working cooperatively with other children and sometimes working individually. Thus, although gifted students may prefer to work individually (Li & Adamson, 1992), it is inevitable that some learning for gifted students will take place in heterogeneous collaborative activities. This is both socially appropriate and promotes higher conceptual learning, especially when teachers use inquiry-based and problem-based curricula that are focused on questions or issues that students find intrinsically interesting, relevant, or meaningful (Patrick, Bagel, Jeon, & Townsend, in press).

However, several aspects of mixed ability classrooms may cause discomfort for gifted children (Gallagher, Harraine & Coleman, 1997; Robinson, 2003). When gifted children work on the same content and at the same pace as their class peers, they may feel bored because the work is not challenging or the pace is not fast enough. Further, they may feel that the products of tasks shared with classmates are disappointing, or underestimate the quality of outcome that they may have achieved alone. They may often find themselves in tutoring roles, assisting less skilled classmates, making them resentful at doing the teacher’s work. Such difficulties can undermine children’s enjoyment and motivation for school (Feldhusen, 1996).

Given these difficulties it might be expected that gifted children would be more positive about acceleration than their regular teachers appear to be. The vast majority of the research literature supporting the use of acceleration has focused on measures of children’s academic, social and emotional development. Only rarely do researchers sit knee to knee, eye to eye with gifted children, asking about their school experiences (e.g., Heinbokel, 1997). What would gifted children in New Zealand say? And would those who had been accelerated perceive themselves differently, or report different social and emotional concerns, than gifted children who had not experienced acceleration?

METHOD Participants
The volunteer participants were eight children (six boys and two girls) aged 11-13 years who were members of the Explorers Club, an organisation affiliated with the New Zealand Associations for Gifted Children. Four of the children reported having been accelerated at school and four had not.

Interview
Following an opportunity to self-identify as gifted (all did so), children were asked eight leading questions designed to explore three issues related to giftedness: academic acceleration at school, the distinctiveness of being gifted, and the stresses and pleasures of being gifted. Questions relating to the first two issues were asked in a direct manner, while questions relating to stress and happiness were framed within a scenario in which the child was to imagine providing useful information and advice to a younger sibling who has just been identified as gifted. Where appropriate, children were prompted for further discussion or elaboration of their responses.

Procedure
The study was conducted with the approval of the University of Auckland Human Subjects Committee. Permission to conduct the interviews was sought through the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Associations for Gifted Children which acted as an intermediary in forwarding information about the study to families involved in the Explorers Club. Arrangements were made for the researchers to attend one regular meeting of the Explorers Club at which they could interview the children whose families had expressed a willingness to participate to the intermediary. Assurances had been sought that some of the children had been accelerated at school. At the time of the interview written consent was required from a parent or guardian, and verbal consent was again sought from each child before continuing. Although the researchers had been led to expect approximately twice as many participants, an unexpected alternative activity on the day (a mock medieval battle) was more attractive for some of the intended participants.

All interviews were conducted individually and tape-recorded for later analysis. The purpose of the interview was described as finding out how children felt about aspects of their life and school. At the introduction of questions about acceleration at school children were told that it referred to leaving their class to be with an older class or group for certain subjects, or skipping a year and moving up a class. Each interview lasted approximately twenty minutes, including some time for explanation and establishing rapport. Analysis of the interview protocols followed guidelines recommended by Strauss and Corbin (1990).

INTERVIEW OUTCOMES Academic Acceleration
Four of the children had experienced academic acceleration at school and four had not. All four who had been accelerated were positive about their experiences (e.g., “It’s pretty good actually”), the main reason being a reduction in boredom (e.g., "Well, I was a bit bored in my class"). However, although the tenor of the comments was positive, there were some negative undertones. For example, one child explained:

It [acceleration] worked. But then we did it every day of the week, and we were taken out of normal classes. I don’t really like that because I miss the normal classes. I could handle both lots of work, but I just didn’t like missing everything.

Another child, who had claimed that acceleration resulted in his being "not as bored as I used to be," also admitted that acceleration was, "More work. Boring." When questioned further about whether he really meant that accelerated schooling was still boring, he replied, "Yes, just not as boring."

Of those who had not been accelerated, three commented that they would like to have been (e.g., "[I] wish I had been"). Again, the main reason for this was to reduce the boredom of regular classwork. One child reported that he was "quite upset sometimes" about not having been accelerated, explaining:

Well, the main lesson we are doing now is electricity and magnetism, and I did the stuff in Play Centre that they are doing now. [Then, in a mocking tone] You know, it’s like cooool, let’s drag some iron filings around with a magnet, and magnetise a plastic sheet, and stuff like that.

The remaining child who had not been accelerated stated categorically that he did not wish to be, noting that "Mum was asked if I wanted to be accelerated in Standard Two (Year 4), except she didn’t." Interestingly, this same child also acknowledged (see next paragraph) that other children might like acceleration because they "can work on their own level."

In a final question it was suggested to children that acceleration might be more popular with students than with teachers, and to explain why this might be. Three of the children (all non-accelerated) offered explanations that focused on the teacher, for example, "Teachers aren’t used to it;" "Teachers don’t like it how children can learn more than teachers;" "Because [teachers] will have two different parts [sections of the class to teach]." Four of the children (three from the accelerated group) offered explanations that focused on the children, for example, "They’re bored;" "Because [children] might get more out of it than teachers do;" "Because [acceleration] gave them a challenge, and not doing just all the boring stuff." One child could not offer an explanation.

Overall, the interviews conveyed a very positive student attitude toward acceleration, whether they had experienced it or not, coupled with a strong message of student boredom with schoolwork that failed to offer intellectual challenge. These results are consistent with previous research elsewhere. For example, questionnaire results from gifted primary school children in the United States indicate that although they begin school with positive attitudes they frequently become bored, often because of the lack of intellectual challenge (Feldhusen & Kroll, 1991). Such boredom can lead to frustration with schoolwork, resulting in maladaptive behaviour such as daydreaming, creating disturbances, and challenging authority (Freeman, 1998; Kanevsky, 1994). Apart from students in the present study feeling less boredom in accelerated contexts, these views appeared unaffected by whether the children had been accelerated or not.

This finding is at odds with a survey by Gallagher et al., (1997) who found that gifted children reported some challenge at school if they were in special gifted classes. It seems that being accelerated a class, or participating in an advanced class, may still offer insufficient challenge to meet the precocity of gifted learners, and to overcome a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the academic demands of school.

A final interesting feature of the interviews was the indication that accelerated children spontaneously took the perspective of the learner, and non-accelerated children the perspective of the teacher, in explaining a possible difference in attitude toward acceleration between teachers and students. It is possible that the experience of acceleration heightens the awareness of fluctuations in personal boredom, thus giving such children greater empathy for the learner’s perspective than is possible for non-accelerated children. Systematic analysis of this and alternative explanations for this possibly unique finding are warranted.

Distinctiveness of Being Gifted

Children were asked whether they were any differences between themselves and non-gifted people, and to describe these differences (if there were any) or to outline the similarities (if no differences were perceived). All eight children reported (see below) that there were differences, and almost all descriptions focused on intellectual ability or thought. One child focused on academic performance, but even here the comment suggested a greater capacity to understand the tasks set by the teacher. It should be noted that, in the researchers’ view, these differences were usually stated in a confident, matter-of-fact way that did not appear to reflect a superior attitude.

I just think more - I think too much.
I can learn fast and understand things above my age.
I’m just smarter.
Not much difference. Just that we can think past our normal level.
Physically no, mentally yes.
We just think completely differently, like we have different views of the world and sort of compute things faster.
I think non-gifted people tend to think in a straight line but I tend to think ‘if this happens then what else could happen?’
I’m the best in the class - me and another girl are the only people who [do] all our own stuff that the teacher sets us.

An overwhelming emphasis on intellectual ability was also evident in the words the children supplied when asked to describe "a gifted person." All of the following were mentioned by at least one child: brainy, smart, quick-thinking, thoughtful, bright, intelligent, advanced, quick, able. The only exception to the emphasis on intellectual factors was from a boy who noted that other people expect more of a gifted person. This view is not misplaced since gifted children are often under considerable pressure from teachers and parents to be successful, particularly in academic contexts (Freeman, 1997).

In brief, these children perceived their distinctiveness in the very narrow terms of intellectual capacity, modes of thought and speed of processing. Again, this view is not misplaced in the light of extensive research indicating that gifted children have greater breadth and depth of knowledge and an ability to learn at a faster pace (VanTassel-Baska, 1998). However, the sting in the tail is that teachers need to offer instruction that takes account of these differences in thinking (Shore & Kanevsky, 1993; VanTassel-Baska, 2003). Perhaps more interesting is that not only did the children focus on intellectual ability, they frequently explicitly limited the differences to this ability: "I just think more"; "I’m just smarter"; "Physically no, mentally yes", and so on. It is noteworthy, in view of some of the stereotypes about gifted children, that they appeared to have no need to defend a view that they were emotionally normal (Nail & Evans, 1997), or that they had normal social relationships (van Lieshout & Heymans, 2000). Finally, it is also noteworthy that the experience of acceleration did not appear to have influenced how these children thought about their abilities - they all offered very similar insights.

Stress, Happiness and Reaching Potential

In the context of providing useful advice to a younger sibling about the experience of being gifted, children were asked what really stressed them about being gifted. One child (the youngest in the sample) could not describe any stress, while the remaining seven children mentioned ten causes of stress between them, most of which focused on themes associated with school life. Once again, the theme of lack of challenge at school emerged, mentioned by three of the children (one accelerated and two not): "Being bored," "Knowing all this stuff, but having to do it [again] at school" and "You are always a couple of steps ahead of everyone and you have to back-track half the time." A second theme, mentioned by four children (two accelerated and two not) related to problems of acceptance by others: "Being teased," "People looking at me and thinking wow she’s weird, she’s gifted, ooh she must be strange," "Most people don’t like you because you are smarter than them," and "The prejudice... it’s unfair, especially from some of the teachers... You are supposed to be learning from them and looking up to them [but] sometimes you’ll know more than them in some things." The last comments were made by a twelve-year-old boy who also indicated that prejudice can take the form of bullying. He said of his current school (an integrated school following attendance at two state schools):

I get some problems at school and I’m called ...[derogatory label withheld]. I’m told that means how I behave. So, ... what sort of an insult is that? I still get bullied there [but] a hell of a lot less than at other schools.

With further probing he said that at one previous school he had been physically threatened by a teacher, and at another "the teachers obviously didn’t like me." Another theme present in the statements of two children (one accelerated and one not) related to anxiety in meeting the expectations held by others for gifted children: "Being expected to do things that I am not really capable of," and "Having an older brother that’s smarter than you." One child (a twelve-year-old girl who had been accelerated) reported stress of a more global kind: "I worry a lot because I think too much about what is happening. I know what’s going on because I read newspapers and stuff and it kind of worries me."

Although the theme of social acceptance appeared to be just one of several causes of stress, it became the dominant theme when children were asked to give advice about what sorts of things would make them happy. Of the six children who answered this question, five gave responses concerned with social acceptance, understanding from others, and being treated as "normal." The children wanted "people who understand me," "someone that accepts me," "not being teased," "people to be nicer," or "people accepting that we are just like we are." One of the children wanting acceptance said that her parents were the most accepting of her, followed by other children at school. When probed about her teachers she said that they understood her. But several other children were adamant that neither their classmates nor their teachers really understood them. Finally, the child who worried about things she read in newspapers said that what would make her happy would be "No more wars, pollution, hate, dishonesty, and all that stupid stuff that’s going on today." There were no discernible differences in the views expressed by children who had been accelerated and those who had not.

The final question in the interview asked children to give advice on what could help them reach their potential. All children offered an opinion, and these overwhelmingly focused on an external agent - their teacher:

Having a teacher that understands about gifted kids. It’s not just that you’re brainy, ... it’s just that you can sometimes think faster on a more normal level.

[Having] a teacher who understood me.

I was in a classroom with a really good teacher, and she helped me a lot. … I think if I was with her all the time I would do really good.

I would like the teachers to do work at my level.

Teachers that knew how far I could go and how well I worked.

A teacher who knows how smart I am.

Interesting work, interesting teachers.

One child (the newspaper reader worried about global problems) took personal responsibility for reaching her potential, saying that she needed to “manage my time, get everything organised. I do do well [but] sometimes I put it off and it never seems to get done.” This twelve-year-old’s concern with getting things done seems prescient of a concern with perfectionism and the related problem of procrastination (Flett, Hewitt & Martin, 1995).

In summary, the children reported some stress associated with being gifted. Most of the stresses centred on school and related to issues already discussed above, such as lack of intellectual challenge and difficulty in meeting the expectations of others. A strong element of stress was the lack of social acceptance by some classmates and even teachers. In spite of evidence that gifted children may, in fact, be quite popular at school (Czeschlik & Rost, 1995), and even have better social relationships than other children (Hartup & van Lieshout, 1995), their individuality, their tendency to organise others, and their search for consistency make it likely that gifted children will experience some tensions with their age peers (Webb, 1993). These personal characteristics are also the likely cause of the explicit or barely disguised hostility shown by some teachers toward gifted children (Gross, 1993).

Given these reported difficulties, it is not surprising that the children felt that their happiness and potential could be enhanced by higher levels of academic challenge and greater social acceptance by both classmates and teachers. Perhaps of most interest here was the tendency to make external attributions (i.e., to classmates or teachers) for the source of their difficulties. In this regard it is noteworthy that Wertsch (1990) found that guided conversations with young children about knowledge and argument were effective in shifting children from being teacher-regulated to being more self-regulated. Future research might address whether such conversations in the social arena might have a similar effect. Once again, the experience of acceleration appeared to have little influence on children’s reflections about stress, happiness, and reaching their potential.

CONCLUSION
The conversations summarised in this paper provide insights into how children perceive their intellectual, emotional, and social worlds. These insights have the potential to be instructive for teachers and parents. In particular, the positive attitude toward acceleration, coupled with the ubiquitous dissatisfaction with the challenges offered at school, provide clear evidence of the need for differentiated instruction for gifted children. These voices also argue the need for a greater mentoring role by teachers, rather than merely instructional. Implicit in mentoring are notions of acceptance, concern for general well-being, the development of self-regulation and autonomy, and scaffolded challenge at a pace, and in contexts, appropriate to the learner. There is still much to be learned in our understanding of gifted children, not least by simply talking directly with them.

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