Banter, belonging, and being unique: Boys' experiences of acceleration in New Zealand

Abstract

No accessFULL TEXTAustralasian Journal of Gifted EducationOther Journal Article01 December 2018Banter, belonging, and being unique: Boys' experiences of acceleration in New Zealand Authors: Lindsay Yeo; Tracy Riley; Vijaya Dharan Authors: Lindsay Yeo Educational Psychologist, Ministry of Education, Palmerston North Google Scholar More articles by this author ; Tracy Riley Associate Professor, Institute of Education, Massey University, email: [email protected] Google Scholar More articles by this author ; Vijaya Dharan Senior Lecturer, Institute of Education, Massey University, email: [email protected] Google Scholar More articles by this author SectionsAboutView PDFExport CitationsAdd to FavouriteAdd to FavouriteCreate a New ListNameCancelCreate ToolsTrack CitationsCreate Clip ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedIn COPY LINK Abstract Despite significant evidence indicating its effectiveness in meeting the needs of academically gifted students, academic acceleration is not a popular provision in New Zealand schools. The literature suggests that parents and educators fear that removing students from their same-aged peers will damage their social-emotional development, although the available evidence does not support these concerns. A mixed methods approach was used with 29 male students from a single-sex secondary school to explore the impact of acceleration in this study. All participants were simultaneously enrolled in secondary school and undertaking a variety of first-year courses through a local university. The participants completed the Piers-Harris Children's Self- Concept Scale 2. An analysis of the responses indicated no significant differences, other than physical self-concept, with normed mean age equivalent scores. In a follow-up interview with five of the participants, a sense of belonging to the school and the acceleration programme was identified. The questionnaire and interview findings indicated that the accelerated participants generally felt comfortable with their identity as accelerates, while also feeling accepted by their non-accelerated peers. The conclusion was reached that acceleration may be a positive provision for gifted students in New Zealand that does not negatively impact their social-emotional development. Full Text DOI Previous article Next article RelatedDetails View PUBLICATION DETAILSDate of Publication:December 2018Volume:27Issue:2Journal:Australasian Journal of Gifted EducationISSN:1323-9686Page Range:16-27First Page:16Last Page:27Source:Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, Vol. 27, No. 2, Dec 2018: 16-27Date Last Modified:05 September 2019 12:02Date Last Revised:23 November 2018SubjectEducational accelerationAcademic achievementGifted boysGifted children--EducationGeographic LocationNew Zealand METRICS Downloaded 10 times Copyright© Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented, 2018Download PDFLoading ...