Making a difference: a report on educators learning to plan for young gifted children

A three-session professional development (PD) program on planning for young gifted children was provided to sixty-six early childhood/early years educators, aiming to increase educators’ professional knowledge and skills in this area. The program was grounded in a socio-cultural perspective that sees young gifted children as class members as well as individuals with specific needs. With this focus, the PD presented strategies for developing high quality educational programs to provide challenge for every child, including the most able learners. Participant evaluation feedback demonstrated an improved professional capacity to identify and plan for young gifted children. This was accompanied by an overt enthusiasm and confidence to be inclusive of the developmental needs of these children. The significance of this approach to professional development of educators is that it has the potential to increase appropriate educational provision for our young gifted children. A professional learning and development program to support early childhood educators working at preschool and primary school level, to provide for young gifted children was conducted in Victoria during 2015 and 2016. The focus was on increasing professionals’ skills and knowledge in identifying, planning, and implementing appropriate learning for gifted and talented young children. This article is a qualitative report on this program and includes identifiable outcomes for early childhood educators who participated.