OUTSIDE THE BOX!
Why have we changed our name?We started with an (almost) empty box ...
Once upon a time, there was almost no school-based provision for gifted children in Aotearoa New Zealand. No official support. No pre-service training. Just one university paper. A tiny handful of teachers who saw the need and tried to share ideas with colleagues, with little success.
Lifting the lid….
And then in 1995 the George Parkyn Centre for Gifted Education was created to “make gifted children visible”. Over the next ten years the Centre organised national conferences, took teacher workshops to many parts of the country, and established the successful One Day School programme.
Out of the box….
But one-off workshops are not enough to make any real or lasting change in teacher practice. One Day School did not necessarily change children’s school experience the other four days of the week. New thinking was needed!
So REACH Education was born and began offering the Certificate of Effective Practice in Gifted Education. That course has now been completed by several hundred teachers. REACH has continued with developmental work, built international alliances, run conferences, and brought various recognised leaders in the field to present in this country.
But where to next?
Having reached this point, we asked ourselves, “Where to next?” And so Aotearoa Gifted was born
We’ve kept our tried and true goodies – our Certificate course, PLD advice, parents’ page, practical Multi-D model
We’ve trialled and now added a new short course, a bi-cultural checklist, and two practical teaching examples
We’ve researched and developed an exciting new holistic and bi-cultural definition of giftedness.
And we've made our lay-out easier to follow - try it and see!
