Parallel Session Proceedings »
3.5.14 Pedagogical Approaches: A Study of Gifted Readers in the Primary Classroom in China and Scotland
Reading, as one important aspect of literacy, is a fundamental ability for children’s cognitive, social and affective development. Education should support all children to continuously develop their reading and literacy ability at each learning stage. Gifted readers are a group of children who can demonstrate advanced and high abilities in reading. Appropriate reading materials and differentiated instructions should be provided to support their development. It is vital to explore teachers’ practices for gifted children, including gifted readers.
This study contextualises the education of gifted readers in two socio-cultural contexts - China and Scotland. The Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 launched in Scotland in 2004 and updated in 2009 serves as a watershed and legislative foundation for educational provision of gifted children. This could lead to a change of gifted education in actual practices. The Scottish education system needs time to respond to these changes, and also needs sufficient research to inform school practices regarding each academic area. In China, although gifted education has not been articulated in the legislative framework, the 21st century Curriculum Reform for Basic Education should improve education for gifted children as it seeks to transform the exam-oriented education to quality education that values learner diversity, active and inquiry learning and all children’s cognitive and socio-emotional growth. However, there is a paucity of literature in relation to current schools’ provision for gifted readers in Scotland as well as China. Thus, this research aims to understand primary teachers’ conceptions of gifted readers in both Chinese and Scottish contexts, and to explore how primary teachers address the needs of gifted readers in China and Scotland.
This presentation will be based on my PhD research. This qualitative research was located in primary schools in Guangzhou, China and East Ayrshire, Scotland. It involved the use of a questionnaire to provide a snapshot of Chinese and Scottish teachers’ conceptualisations of and teaching practices for gifted readers. The main research method - the interview - was used to explore teachers’ and literacy coordinators’ (including head teachers, deputy head teachers and principal teachers) in-depth and diversified perspectives relating to the teaching of gifted readers in China and Scotland. By making a comparison of China and Scotland, the influence of socio-cultural contexts in gifted education will be illuminated.