2.9.9 Why Do We Not Have Gifted Education in Schools? Facilitators and Barriers for Implementation in Chile

The Chilean educational system has no existing legislation for gifted education that can secure adequate provisions and services for this population. In this sense, there’s no attention for this group of students at the school level. Only a few private initiatives can be found and seven enrichment programs at university level throughout the country for students in grades 6 (elementary) to 12 (secondary) (Conejeros, Cáceres, & Riveros, 2012). This lack of prioritization at school level urgently needs to be addressed to give development opportunities and recognition to gifted and twice exceptional students (Conejeros-Solar, Gómez-Arizaga, Sandoval-Rodríguez, & Cáceres-Serrano, 2018). At the school level, the identification of students is focused on their disability rather than the abilities (Gómez-Arizaga, Conejeros-Solar, Sandoval, & Armijo, 2016). This almost non-existing provision is related also with teacher preparation. In Chile there’s no training in undergraduate programs in this area, consequently, they don’t know how to serve and address the needs of gifted students in the classroom (Cabrera-Murcia, 2011; Conejeros-Solar, Gómez-Arizaga, Sandoval-Rodríguez, & Cáceres-Serrano, 2018). This study sought to explore the facilitators and barriers for the implementation of gifted provisions in four elementary schools in Chile. Through an initial quantitative screening methodology, 1.333 students from grades 3rd to 6th from 7 schools in the Valparaíso Region were assessed using the Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test (NNAT3). After this evaluation four of these schools were chosen for the qualitative phase, the inclusion criteria were related with school disposition and a higher number of students with results in the test over the 90th percentile. In each school three interviews (principal, academic coordinator and coordinator of special education) and one focus group (with different schoolteachers and professionals) were conducted. Through a coding analysis process, the categories that reflect the central contents of the interviews were raised. From the results, the principal facilitators include commitment an enthusiasm for learning about gifted education and the possibility to provide development opportunities for this students. The barriers were related to a rigid school curriculum, prejudices and wrong beliefs from classroom teachers, especially from secondary level and also a focus on students’ deficits that are supported with current legislation were raise as difficulties to be address, the latter is essential to stop the invisibility and neglect of the needs of gifted and twice-exceptional students.

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