Gifted and Talented Students

The ACT Labor Government will deliver a package of measures aimed at nurturing our gifted and talented students.

The package, announced as part of the 2009-10 ACT Budget, consists of support for teachers and schools as well as for parents and carers.

In the area of support for teachers and schools, we will ensure all public schools identify gifted and talented students and provide for their education through extension classes, curriculum, enrichment and acceleration.

We will also ensure professional development and support for teachers to help them identify students and implement strategies to ensure their education is enriched.

Thirdly, we will provide extra support for schools to provide gifted and talented programs and specialist programs among clusters such as performing arts or maths and science.

In recognition of the role parents and families play and some of the difficulties faced by families, we will also provide support in this area.

The Government has also provided a grant to the Gifted and Talented parent network to assist them in their support of parents and families of gifted and talented students. This grant will allow the Network to provide information sessions and support for parents. We will also encourage schools to provide information sessions for parents.

In recognition of some of the costs that are born by families of gifted and talented students, we will also fund the psychological testing of students ahead of early entry to school, where there is an identified need. Currently parents pay for this testing which can cost up to $1,000. We believe that this cost could be prohibitive to some families pursuing early entry and to some gifted and talented students getting the best start possible.

This package is aimed at ensuring more support for teachers, families and students and the ACT Labor Government has invested almost $1 million over the next four years.

The Department of Education and Training, in consultation with schools and other members of our community, also recently reviewed and revised its Gifted and Talented Student Policy.

The new policy clearly states that, through clear and transparent processes, all students identified as gifted and talented will have their learning needs met.  It states that all gifted and talented students must be recognised as having unique education needs and be catered for to ensure their learning experience is optimised.