Children can
\nshow signs of exceptional creativity and intelligence from a very early age and
\nparents pay attention to any sign that may indicate their child is particularly
\ngifted in the arts or sciences. In school, children should be able to develop
\ntheir native talents, provided these talents have been identified. This is how
\nthings stand in theory, but in practice the situation is very different in
\nRomania. Programmes to test and identify gifted children are defective and
\nthere are no official statistics in this respect. The Gifted Education
\nnon-governmental association has conducted its own survey, which is however not
\nrepresentative, as admitted by the association’s president, the mathematician
\nFlorian Colceag:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Generally
\nspeaking, no nation-wide surveys have been conducted, only surveys that used
\nsamples of up to one thousand people. So, the data we have supplied can be
\nchallenged. Around 4% of the children we surveyed have above average
\nintelligence, that is an IQ of over 120. With Chinese children, the percentage
\nis 6% and the world average is 2%. But
\nthese figures are fairly debatable, because it all depends on the type of test
\ngiven and the indicators used. For instance, a few years ago, a team of
\nNorwegian psychologists tested children in the rural areas and on the outskirts
\nof the city. They tested ordinary people, with no education and who had made no
\nintellectual effort in their life. Their result was an average IQ of 89,
\ncompared with the world average of 100.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Other factors
\nthat may influence the result of testing can also be encountered in other
\ncountries, not just in Romania, says Florian Colceag:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The IQ revealed
\nby testing does not always match the individual’s success in life. There are
\npeople with a high IQ level who have not achieved anything important
\nprofessionally and have left no visible mark in their domains. There are very
\nintelligent people who work as taxi drivers. For example, 50% of the people
\ntested and shown to be smarter than average according to a survey carried out
\nby universities in Connecticut, the US, do not have exceptional careers. This
\nis why I’m reticent to say that these statistics are relevant.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Statistics may
\nnot be relevant, but they can be a starting point for the development of
\neducational programmes designed to help children develop their potential.
\nUnfortunately, this aspect is almost entirely neglected by the Romanian
\nauthorities and the legislation in the field is precarious, says Robert Florea,
\nthe coordinator of the Bucharest Centre for Educational Resources and
\nAssistance:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Unfortunately,
\nthere is no special interest in this area. I don’t know how things stand at the
\nEducation Ministry, but there is certainly no concern with this idea at the
\nlevel of school inspectorates. Neither does the legislation cover the area
\nproperly. The current education law only has one section and one article with
\nfive paragraphs dealing with children capable of high performances. The law
\ndoes not use the term gifted. One piece of legislation from 2007 included a
\nfew provisions referring to the identification of such children and the
\nallocation of human resources to deal with them. Unfortunately, there is no
\ninterest in this matter today.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The law on the
\neducation of young people capable of high performances, adopted in 2007, was
\npassed at the initiative of professor Florian Colceag: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The National
\nCentre for Differentiated Training should have existed since 2007, with the aim
\nof creating a school network. It does exist in name, but has no staff, no
\noffices and no budget. No political party has ever been interested in
\nidentifying children with great intellectual potential. This institute should
\ncreate educational alternatives for the development of children’s personalities
\nand for maximising their potential. This alternative form of education would
\nnot measure performance, but the progress of children in their fields of
\ninterest, because no child can be passionate about everything at the same time.
\nWhen a child makes a significant progress in a certain field and is passionate
\nabout something, this is something extraordinary, but this requires
\nindividualised and personalised education.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the absence
\nof governmental programmes, parents resort to various private initiatives to
\ntest and train their gifted children. The only children who benefit from
\nspecial training are the winners of the international science and language
\ncompetitions known as the Olympiads, but only in order to train for these
\ncompetitions. As for other children, we asked Robert Florea what he thinks the
\ngovernment should do to discover the country’s gifted children:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It is an issue
\nthat needs to be tackled at the level of the entire system, with the help of
\nexperts. The latter should develop the testing tools and identify the
\nrepresentative sample nation-wide. Right now, unfortunately, there is no
\ninterest in this at an institutional level. Nobody has ever been interested in
\ndiscovering these children, although they should. If we look at the
\nparticipants in international Olympiads, we see that many have left the
\ncountry. Romania should create the necessary conditions for their development,
\nbut first we must identify these gifted children, something which requires the
\ncreation of an entire new system.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
To conclude, we
\nmight say that the issue of gifted children in Romania is not just about
\ndeveloping a child’s individual potential, but also about the social, economic
\nand cultural future of the country. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania lacks an adequate system to identify and nurture its gifted children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":141659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[43509,19347],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-141658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-gifted-children","tag-romania"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n