Gifted education in Argentina

Abstract

In this article, we review the advancement of gifted education in Argentina which has been scarce and discontinuous, particularly, in the public sphere. About the primary conception of giftedness and/or talent, we mention the obsolete struggle between those who only consider a high intellectual coefficient (IQ) versus a more comprehensive perspective, considering a greater number of variables and data obtained from different sources. Regarding to talent and giftedness’s evaluation, we found a greater efficiency in identification from parents than from teachers who mainly identify academic talent. Related to the development at school, most of our studies find the deficiency of teacher’s training as a relevant fact. Strategies applied by teachers are moderate and applied in an intuitive way. It is also found that families with some talented or gifted member do not find restraint by the educational system looking for options in extra-school environments. The main contributions and scientific findings in Córdoba are related to the opening of a free Public University Service and the validation of reliable measuring instruments with statistical local data. The absence of legal instruments, which regulate the identification and the educational responses, remains a difficult to provide appropriate programs and services for the exceptional students. Finally, as future lines of research we consider to increase the ones recently initiated, related to the effectiveness of parents in the identification of talents and /or giftedness and the early identification in children from different social contexts.

Keywords:

• gifted education
• Argentina
• early gifted identification

Public Interest Statement

In 2015 the author was awarded with a postdoctoral fellowship from the Science and Technology’s Secretary of the National University of Cordoba, Argentina, through which a free Public University Service was opened. This service is the first and only in the country that proposed the objectives of early giftedness and talent identification of children between 4 and 8 years old. Besides, behavioral, and learning difficulties are also early identified in children of that age. In addition to the identification activities, the Service develops informative workshops for parents and teachers and enrichment workshops for gifted and talented children. The author of this article is the director of this Service and its opening has had a wide impact receiving multiple queries and carrying out the identification process in more than 200 cases during the first year of operation. This was reflected in various notes and interviews published in local mass media, material that is attached in the “Appendix 1” section of this article.

Acknowledgments

Firstly, I would like to thank to Dr Albert Ziegler for having considered my participation in this publication. It is necessary to emphasize its generous opening toward the developing countries that most of times are not considered. This opportunity allows us to make known the hard work that is attempted in a country that does not have the needed legal and institutional support to carry out an adequate development of the potential of each child considering their uniqueness and diversity. In the same way, I want to thank to the School of Psychology’s authorities for having agreed to provide a space to deploy early detection and educational response actions for children with high intellectual abilities. I want to give a special mention, to Dr Carlos Daniel Mías who initially offered us a space in the Neuropsychology Service at the School of Psychology, UNC, Argentina.

Finally, I also want to thank to D.I. Fabián Colina for his collaboration in the design of the cover page and to Barbara Despuy for collaborate in the translation of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paula Irueste

Paula Irueste has a degree in Psychology and a PhD in Health Sciences both from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina. As a result of his doctoral thesis she specializes in the field of high intellectual abilities. She is also a university expert in diagnosis and education of the most able students, from the UNED, Spain. In 2015 creates the Children’s Area in Neuropsychology Service at the School of Psychology, UNC, Argentina, in which the early detection and educational responses are carried out, with a huge impact in the community. Besides, the author is a collaborator Professor at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Spain, where it is one of the responsible of a course about students with high abilities in the classroom. She is also the academic responsible of grade and post grade’s courses about this field in the School of Psychology, UNC, Córdoba, Argentina.