Schools, which generally use classical methods, are not fast enough to react to sudden changes in society or the world and prepare their students for them. The solution to this problem is to ensure quality and more sophisticated forms of education and preparation for life for all students. For the talented, prepare such educational forms which meet their needs. They are expected to solve many current problems and challenges that humanity is going to face in the future.
The biggest challenges of the contemporary world include serious problems such as climate change, global warming, migration, terrorism, disease and armed conflicts in various parts of the world. To be able to solve these existing problems, we need to prepare young people in the education process already in school so that they are able to handle and solve such global problems.
Colleges and universities that prepare future teachers for the education of gifted children should develop and provide a guide for teachers who intend to teach such students. In our country, it is a huge problem because colleges, in their commonly recognized systems, often aren’t aware of gifted students. In other words, our universities are lacking an active exchange of information, and are ineffective at sharing information between high school and college. The link between the levels of education in the school system is weak. On the contrary, in developed countries abroad, schools for gifted individuals cooperate with colleges and universities, coordinate various activities, and also offer additional programs. This helps in developing and forming their talent. The link between secondary schools and universities is also very effective in these countries.
ŠpMNDaG and APROGEN
Human knowledge and technological capabilities are changing at a rapid pace. It is emphasized that education must reflect the reality of this rapidly changing world in which there is no point in forcing the children to use the old patterns of learning.
Teachers, educators and schools should teach children about leadership, how to discover and develop their talents in times of constant change. Why is there a need for a change in the education of the gifted? Since 2009 we have been teaching with little difference. But the world has changed and it continues to do so at an enormous speed. A new generation of children and also parents is coming to school. Before, we used to focus on how to find information, now it’s about how to process the information. This is why it is necessary to look for new forms and methods of work, especially when educating the gifted.
Our School - ŠpMNDaG
The school is focused on developing the potential of gifted students, starting from pre-school age. We started to work with talented students in 1993. Since then we provide education for children from 5-18 years. We follow the specially developed program – APROGEN. The teachers innovate the content of the educational program for the gifted. Moreover, on they regularly review the content and methods in terms of educational practices and approaches with an emphasis on the development of personality and character traits of gifted individuals.
APROGEN PROGRAM and its AUTHOR
This program was specially designed and developed by PhDr. Jolana Laznibatová CSc , the principal of the School for Gifted Children. The program is used in a network of more than 20 schools in Slovakia that provide classes for gifted children, where she works as a coordinator. She founded the Alumni Club to work closely with former students of the school to create an independent research group providing information about the gifted in real life. For her long-term excellent care, support, education, and development of gifted and talented students in Slovakia she was awarded the title of Slovak Woman of the Year 2016.
APROGEN helps students develop their skills and abilities as well as their competence and flexibility. It supports problem-solving skills and trains the ability to respond quickly to changes. It mainly teaches the ability to think analytically and synthetically, combine various factors in solving innovative assignments. It prepares the students to function in a foreign environment. And last but not least, it flexibly addresses new challenges and unexpected problems as part of a quality preparation for life.
SPMNDaG is also known for specific school projects. Students cooperate with local universities, the Ministry of Education, the Slovak Academy of Sciences and other institutions. Some international projects involve online AP courses at the Hopkins University and an exchange program at Wiedner Gymnasium in Vienna. They are also very successful in various international competitions, our team won a bronze medal at the International Olympiad in Metropolises three years in a row. We are also proud of our 15 year old student who is an expert on picoballoons and is working with SOSA on many projects. The latest success belongs to our team of 9th graders who won the first place among 945 teams from the V4 countries in NABOJ, which is a competition in Math and Physics. We could fill up this page with other children winning in languages, computer science, chess etc.
Our future
It can be said that a competitive and dynamic society based on education thrives on the talents of its people. Promoting excellence should become the overarching objective of Europe and the individual states should develop education systems with emphasis on promoting and developing the extraordinary abilities of gifted and talented individuals.
Jolana Laznibatová, Principal, ŠpMNDaG
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