'Put your seatbelt on, here we go': The transition to school for children identified as gifted

Abstract

This study explored the experiences of children identified as gifted as they began primary school in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2013. A case study approach within a bioecological framework was used for an in-depth analysis of the experiences of 11 children, their parents, pre-school teachers and Kindergarten teachers during their transition to school. A three-level model of data analysis was developed, with data content and context analysed separately before the relationship between the content and the context of the data was explored. This multi-level process of analysis considered the influences on the child and their contexts. The findings highlighted variations in the ways that preschool and Kindergarten teachers addressed the needs of children who had been identified as gifted. In particular, it revealed some difficulties that these children had during the first few weeks of school. Both pre-school and Kindergarten teachers prioritised the children's social-emotional and attention-related skills over their intellectual development. The findings reinforced the need for teachers in both contexts to find a better balance between the child's social-emotional, attention-related and intellectual development within the transition to school.