Guidance for Gifted Students

Main idea

Outline

All of the students of the bachelor’s programme Organization and Management with the specialization in International Relations talk to the interviewee in the context of Talent Lab (a class in the curriculum), because they are the lecturer. The interviewee is also the student community coach, so students can come to them outside of this context as well. During these conversations, some students mentioned being a highly sensitive person, losing motivation easily, being afraid of failure, feeling like the odd one out… It became clear that there was more to the picture and after doing some research, the suspicion grew that these students might be highly gifted. Having an above-average intelligence isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes, highly gifted people will underperform due to not being adequately stimulated, feeling out of place or different from the rest, ruminating…

Detailed description

Students that might be highly gifted are asked some questions using a checklist based on findings about giftedness. Some of these questions are:

• Do you feel like you can understand things faster than your peers?
• Do you often feel like you’re not really part of the group?
• Do you feel like you view the world around you through a looking glass, causing you to notice things your peers don’t notice?

Their answers to these questions often confirm the suspicion of the person offering guidance. This person then tailors their guidance to better fit the needs of these students by educating them on the topic of giftedness, giving a book recommendation and showing them a website on the subject. This helps students realise that there’s nothing wrong with them and see their struggles in a different light. This realisation can cause students to feel more at peace with themselves.

Main purpose

Offering adequate support and guidance for gifted students so that they can realise their potential and feel more at peace with themselves.

Goals

• Challenging the misconception that highly gifted individuals don’t go to Artevelde University of Applied Sciences (AUAS), because they are ‘too intelligent’ to enrol in a university of applied sciences.
• Helping highly gifted students feel more at peace with themselves by helping them realise that there’s nothing wrong with them and see their struggles in a different light.
• Helping highly gifted students realise that they are gifted, so they can find their way to adequate support initiatives.
• Referring highly gifted students to adequate support initiatives.
• Helping highly gifted students feel safe and understood.
• Helping highly gifted students realise their potential.
• Helping highly gifted students realise that they can help other students with their intelligence.
• Preventing burn-out in highly gifted students.

Target group

• Students from other communities
• Students experiencing educational difficulties

Obstacles targetted:

• Educational difficulties
• Social obstacles

Students involvement

Students are not involved in the design or delivery of the guidance.

Inspiration and evidence

• The book ‘Meer dan intelligent’ by Tessa Kieboom and Kathleen Venderickx on highly gifted (young) adults.
• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy.

Success criteria

The coach’s expertise makes this initiative successful.

Points of attention

• The coach would like to follow a course on coaching gifted students.
• The highly gifted students that would benefit most from adequate guidance and support (e.g., those that have lost all motivation), are hardest to reach.
• There needs to be more awareness of giftedness.

Do you feel you can effectively provide the support that students require?

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

strongly agree

Evaluation

This initiative is evaluated informally and intuitively during the conversations with students.

Communication

All of the students of the bachelor’s programme Organization and Management with the specialization in International Relations talk to the interviewee in the context of Talent Lab (a class in the curriculum), because they are the lecturer and the student community coach. Student community coaches at AUAS are present and available throughout the students’ academic careers: through the Talent Lab course, in kick-off week, at moments of trajectory guidance, during talks with students… They are put forward as the students’ first point of contact. If the interviewee notices that they might be highly gifted, they send an invite to these specific students for a follow-up conversation. However, students are not aware that the interviewee is interested in and knowledgeable about giftedness.

Timing

The student community coach is available throughout the entire academic year. The length of the conversations with students depends on their specific needs.

Day information

During regular ‘school’ hours.

Resources

• Professionalization for coaches
• Staff with good coaching skills
• Knowledge about coaching highly gifted people
• Visibility for the initiative so that students know where to go

Extra information

• Exentra

Transferability

We think it is easily transferable to other contexts or groups.

This initiative is easily transferable. Ultimately, it’s about listening to all students and discovering whether they have certain obstacles, needs or talents. So whether it’s about giftedness or something else, if the coach has enough knowledge and experience to recognize these specific elements, the coach can talk to the student about it.