School of Education

Development of an Online Programme for Teachers of Gifted Students in Regular Classrooms

This transnational project is led by Dublin City University.  The project will provide appropriate educational opportunities for highly able students at a school level.  In addition, the project will increase the competency and skills of educators, who are responsible for the provision of challenging learning experiences within the classroom. The project will synthesise educational practice and research in relation to the education of highly able pupils which has been developed by the participating institutions and centres across Europe, providing an Open Educational Resource (OER) online to support teachers across Europe and beyond.  A key aspect of high ability education in Europe is the contextuality of it. Education across Europe at the elementary and high school levels is governed by both national and local policies. Development of a unified programme in a single country aimed only at its own educators would not serve the policy needs of other countries well. Equally the expertise in this area of education is not confined to a single country, bodies such as the European Council for High Ability (ECHA) show that expertise in differing facets of high ability education is spread throughout Europe. Bodies such as ECHA provide a platform for experts in the field of gifted education to connect, form communities and develop cross-cultural plans.  However, it is not so easy for practitioners at the coalface  to form such communities  throughout Europe and are therefore not afforded the opportunity to share their in situ expertise with their European colleagues. Development of this programme will connect front line educators.