Analysis of resources and services available to support gifted education in Australia

This report analyzes the resources and services available for gifted education in Australia. It explores Gifted Families Support Group, NASA Kids' Club, Kids First Children's Services, The Swot Shop, and Australian Gifted Support Centre. The report analyzes the suitability, accessibility, and availability of these resources and services, identifies barriers that may prevent parents and children from using them, and formulates recommendations for improvement of gifted education support services particularly for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families.

Analysis of resources and services available to support gifted education in Australia
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Running head: RESOURCES AND SERVICES

RESOURCES AND SERVICES
Assessment Event 2 - Report
Title: Analysis of resources and services available to support gifted education in Australia
1. Gifted Families Support Group Inc.
Website: https://www.gfsg.org.au/
Gifted Families Support Group Incorporated is a not for profit association designed
to support families and educators of gifted children. It is run solely by volunteers and
focuses on bringing together ‘like-minds’, providing a vast array of supportive events and
highlighting the needs of gifted children within our community. To attend a GFSG Inc. event,
children are not required to sit for IQ test. They publish a newsletter called ‘Thought Space’
and are based in Sydney, Illawarra and South Coast. It aims to provide a community that
allows its members to feel comfortable and supported. They do this by providing various
seminars, events and excursions at different locations where children and families can
meet, play and explore together such as:
 Little GEMs Playgroup for children prior to school entry
 Games nights for school aged children and their families
 Regular Sunday dinners for Mums
 Parent Dinners
 Men’s Nights Out
• Analyse and critique the suitability, accessibility and availability of Gifted Families support group
and its resources. (150 words)
The resources and services of GFSG are available routinely for children between 1-12 years due to
their collaboration with state universities like UNSW and UOW, collaboration with state authorities
like The Teacher’s Guild of NSW. Also GFSG has collaboration with educational institutes like NSW
DoE and ACARA, with business and other groups who have helped GFSG to promote their support
services and resources to support gifted children and families. GFSG’s collaboration with different
bodies has helped them to network which has extended their reach and support as well as has
helped them to promote their vision to support gifted children. The services and resources of GFSG
are accessible due to their affiliation with GLD Australia which is a national online learning
community. This has helped GFSG respond to needs of gifted children and adults who have learning
disability (GFSG 2019) Also services and resources of GFSG are suitable as it has members who are
professionally expert and provide support drawn from their experience. Moreover, professional
experts at GFSG also provide invaluable advice and offer families/parents and educators extensive
opportunities for support and professional development.
• Identify and discuss barriers that may prevent parents and children from using the resources and
services of gifted families support group. (100 words)
The barriers that may prevent include safety concerns of gifted children where parents may view
that gifted children are unsafe in GFSG. These concerns may encompass a number of areas where
parents of gifted children may perceive that their children may be more vulnerable to accidents or
injuries at GFSG due to their disability. Like parents of children with physical or sensory impairment
may perceive danger of falling on staircase, or playground at GFSG. Also transportation and field
trips act as barriers and concerns for parents and children to use resources and services of GFSG.
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• Formulate recommendations for improvement of gifted education support services particularly
for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families. (100 words)
The recommendations are: (Siegle et al. 2016)
1. Formation of home based parent and family support programs- these intervention support
services can be delivered to all families including vulnerable and disadvantaged families
through home visits. These will help to lower barriers to support services that may arise due
to lack of transport or motivation. These can also offer source of support to family and help
them to build social network. Also these will promote better insights into needs of parent
and children specifically around concerns pf parenting and child rearing and can help to
detect parental distress or child neglect.
2. Parents education program- these interventions can improve knowledge and skills of parents
for purpose of improving development of support services for gifted children as education
programs can support needs.
2. NASA Kids’ Club
Website: https://www.nasa.gov/
NASA Kids’ Club is online website for the children pre-K through grade 4 to learn about
NASA and their missions. The website provides fun games and activities related to science,
technology, engineering and mathematics. The children can also explore the gallery with a
range of photos and videos from the Space as well as research any topic related to the
Space throughout the stories shared by NASA. This website can be also useful resource for
educators and parents to provide information to the children about the Space.
• Analyse and critique the suitability, accessibility and availability of the resources and services of
NASA Kids club. (150 words)
The resources and services of NASA Kids Clubs are provided to children between 5-12, teenagers
through web site which features entertaining and educational activities for children. Also interactive
games available on website helps children to learn and explore space, build and launch rockets, keep
airplanes on schedule and learn how comets travel in solar system. Also NASA Kids club site is
designed for easy accessibility and is compatible with screen readers, assistive technology devices
and even allows use by disabled children. In addition to flash based games, Kids club website also
features version of content that is accessible to locations that have slow internet connections or
computer equipment’s (NASA Kids Club 2019). The resources and services of NASA Kids club are
suitable as they help kids learn about space, science, technology with entertaining interactive games
and even help educators use the fun learning way of website to reach students in class, library etc
thus helping kids encourage to pursue careers in science and technology.
• Identify and discuss barriers that may prevent parents and children from using the resources and
services of Nasa kids club (100 words)
The barriers that can prevent include barriers faced by parents in to their learning in science and
technology subject because of which they wont be able to instil confidence in their children towards
the needs to demonstrate ability in science and technology area. This lack in confidence contributes
to mindset in children that they have no ability in area of science and hence they demonstrate no
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interest to use NASA Kids club resources or service. Other barrier is lack of right environment,
encouragement in children so as to promote natural curiosity to learning. Due to this children’s skill
development and interest in science and technology becomes less and they seem to not enjoy these
subjects which makes them not to use resources and services of Kids Club.
• Formulate recommendations for improvement of gifted education support services particularly
for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families (100 words)
The recommendations include:
Creating communication and awareness raising interventions like information distribution in
different language and channels like NGO, networks and media so that support services can reach to
more disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families. Also parental awareness meets and
camps can be introduced which can include community leaders, heath staffs who can raise
awareness for improvement of gifted education registration process for families (Bice-Urbach,
Kratochwill & Fischer 2018). These community groups can sensitise parents and families about
gifted children education and support services.
3. Kids First Children’s Services
Kids First Children’s Services is a service that aims to support children’s development
despite of all their uniqueness. Their values each child’s gifts should be valued and
respected. Thus, this service is a team which consist of psychologists, speech pathologists,
occupational therapist and teachers. They focus on preschool and children at school age.
This service has several programs that are available for children who are gifted and
talented, such as after school program in English, maths, selective schools, and OC exam
preparation, it has school readiness programs for preschool, as well as IQ and learning
assessments tests.
https://kids-first.com.au/about-us/
https://kids-first.com.au/transition-to-school/
https://kids-first.com.au/how-to-choose-a-school-for-your-gifted-child/
• Analyse and critique the suitability, accessibility and availability of the resources and services of
kids first children services. (100 words)
The resources and services of Kids First Children’s services are available for children (1-10 yrs),
teenagers, parents through Parent guidebooks which are available for free on the web platform and
are suitable to guide parents by giving them practical idea and information to support their kids
learning, development and behaviour. Also these resources are suitable as these guidebooks include
tips that are easy, at home approaches and are highly practical. Moreover the resources and
services of Kids First can also be accessed through community service seminars, community
workshop and through events (Kids First Children’s Service 2019). The services are highly suitable as
they include practical strategies that helps parents, teachers and kids to easily navigate the ups-
downs of pre-school school and life.
• Identify and discuss barriers that may prevent parents and children from using the resources and
service of kids first children services. (100 words)
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The barriers include:
Potential of discounting child’s ability: parents would likely get concerned that resources and
support services at Kids First may focus on what the gifted child cannot do to the exclusion of what
they can do. These assumptions act as barriers to use of resources and support services.
Other barrier is concern to make gifted children carry over homework which parents may assume
can create debate over if the work presented students efforts or parents. Under these situations
parents get concerned that their kids would be penalised for mistakes. These concerns act as
barriers for using resources and support services.
• Formulate recommendations for improvement of gifted education support services particularly
for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families (100 words)
The recommendation for improvement of gifted education support services includes: (Kronborg &
Cornejo-Araya 2018)
Providing financial and in-kind support for enrolment to support services: financial subsidies for
gifted children’s enrolment in support services can be made to encourage participation of
disadvantaged and vulnerable families.
Also concession or waivers can be given in fees for low income families along with free hours of early
childhood education and care support offered to vulnerable families and children.
4. The Swot Shop
Website: https://www.swotshop.com.au/
The Swot Shop is a private service that offers enrichment and extension programs for intellectually gifted
and talented students. Classes are delivered after school hours and on weekends for small groups from
ten to sixteen children. Their programmes offer a range of focus from English, to higher order thinking, to
maths for students between kindergarten to year 10.
• Analyse and critique the suitability, accessibility and availability of the resources and service of
the swot shop (150 words)
The resources and services of SWOT Shop are made available to students of pre-school, grade 1-12
through discussions, debates, problem solving activities and through use of hands-on-material
programs which encourage intellectually gifted children to develop a liking for learning as well as
promotes high level of thinking. Moreover, resources and services of SWOT shop are made
accessible through different programs, games and competitions so that students can have fun and
learn together. These programs include Galileo’s gang which is developed to meet needs of
intellectual gifted students through social, recreational activities. Other programs include Math
Talent which includes enriched activities on basic mathematics principles to increase understanding
of gifted students (The SWOT Shop 2019). All resources and services of SWOT shop are suitable as
these programs are designed to cater to skill needs of gifted students and designed to offer
interesting, challenging and stimulating activities. Further, these programs promote skills over
knowledge helps to improve gifted students’ comprehension, reading and general thinking ability.
• Identify and discuss barriers that may prevent parents and children from using the resources and
service of the swot shop (100 words) (in dot points)
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The barriers that can prevent use of resources and services of SWOT shop are concerns of parents
on support service transitions either from one level of schooling to other like elementary to middle
school or into new support services such as in case of family relocation because in case of transitions
parents would have to start all again.
Other barrier that prevents use of services and resources include concerns of parents regarding
establishment of new relationship with parents, teachers and support service providers as well as
with parent of other students because changes in settings and routines can make gifted children feel
little control as well as can create stress and anxiety at home.
• Formulate recommendations for improvement of gifted education support services particularly
for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families (100 words)
The recommendation for improvement of gifted education support services include: (Siegle et al.
2016)
Administrative support to disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families such as during
enrolment through support of mediators who can support parents with registration and other
administrative needs.
Other recommendation includes offering community support for transportation of vulnerable
children from home to support services. Other recommendation is to encourage learning
environment and diversity such as offering provision of language course for migrant disadvantaged
children and families whose mother tongue is not language of instruction.
5. Australian Gifted Support Centre
Australian Gifted Support Centre (AGSC) is an organisation that offers a wide range of services and
events that have been purposefully created for gifted children up until adolescents, their families, and
educators (Australian Gifted Support Centre, 2014). The events change to focus on different areas to
support all groups of people affected by giftedness, these are advertised and listed on their website and
take place in different locations. In addition to the events that are created by the organisation, they also
offer many services to offer additional support. These include; counselling, working memory training,
social skills programs, anger management courses and resources, parent seminars, and Stress ace which
is to help develop a natural stress control. Children or adolescents do not have to be diagnosed as gifted
to receive the services or programs from this organisation. Although, if parents are suspicious that their
child has an additional need, then AGSC offers Comprehensive Developmental Assessment, Brief IQ and
Achievement Assessments, and one-to-one consultations to identify giftedness.
• Analyse and critique the suitability, accessibility and availability of the resources and service of
Australian Gifted Support centre. (150 words)
The resources and services of Australian Gifted support centre is made available for children until
adolescents, their families, and educators through various service based centre in Sydney. Also
resources and support services are made available through workshop, games group and assessments
offered in ACT, WA and South East NSW. Also resources and support services are accessible through
events like camps, consultations as well as through online learning programs and assessments. The
resources and services of Australian Gifted support centre are suitable as they offer practical tactics
to control behaviour and emotions of gifted children as well as helps these children to grow
techniques for development. Moreover events like Camps help gifted children learn through fun
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activities and games which makes them explore creative, imaginative, problem solving and scientific
thinking skills (Australian Gifted Support Centre 2014). Moreover support services at Australian
Gifted support centre like Comprehensive development assessment and consultations help parents
identify giftedness, highlight strengths of their kids and identify other potential learning difficulties,
as such their services are very suitable.
• Identify and discuss barriers that may prevent parents and children from using the resources and
service of Australian Gifted Support Centre (100 words)
The barriers that may prevent use of resources and services from Australian Gifted Support Centre
are:
Language barrier: as lot of parents do not speak English as first language so they may be unable to
understand communication from these support services. This may be real barrier when it comes to
administrative process like enrolment or in events where parents may need translators or
interpreters who would advise them during conversations.
Time barrier: many parents of gifted children have long work schedule which makes them
unavailable to get to support services during school hours. While they may attend occasional events
but they are unlikely to engage with support service providers sufficiently which acts as barriers to
get regularly updated about their kids activities at school.
• Formulate recommendations for improvement of gifted education support services particularly
for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families (100 words)
The recommendations to improve gifted education support service include: (Kronborg & Cornejo-
Araya 2018)
Sponsoring transport and textbook schemes to support disadvantaged and vulnerable families in
their gifted child’s education related spending.
Allocating funds to support service schools and programs so that they can support higher intake of
vulnerable children from lower socio-economic status and deprived areas
Conducting effective communication channel from support service to home and vice-versa so that
follow ups can be arranged with parents to communicate students progress. Also scheduling regular
notices, phone calls and newsletters to communicate with parents. Assisting families who nee
language translators and establishing clear information on school policies, reforms and regulations.
References
Australian Gifted Support Centre. (2014). Working together Developing Potential.
Australian Gifted
Support Centre. Retrieved from https://australiangiftedsupport.com/
Bice-Urbach, B., Kratochwill, T., & Fischer, A. J. (2018). Teleconsultation: Application to provision of
consultation services for school consultants.
Journal of Educational and Psychological
Consultation,
28(3), 255-278. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1080/10474412.2017.1389651
GFSG (2019) About. Retrieved from: https://gfsg.org.au/about/
Kids First Children’s Service (2019). What we do. Retrieved from: https://kids-first.com.au/what-we-
do/
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Kronborg, L., & Cornejo-Araya, C. A. (2018). Gifted educational provisions for gifted and highly able
students in Victorian schools, Australia.
Universitas Psychologica,
17(5), 1-14. Retrieved from:
https://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/revPsycho/article/view/22383
NASA Kids Club (2019). NASA for students. Retrieved from: https://www.nasa.gov/stem/forstudents
Siegle, D., Gubbins, E. J., O’Rourke, P., Langley, S. D., Mun, R. U., Luria, S. R., ... & Plucker, J. A. (2016).
Barriers to underserved students’ participation in gifted programs and possible solutions.
Journal for
the Education of the Gifted,
39(2), 103-131. Retrieved from:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED566253.pdf
The SWOT Shop (2019) Programmes. Retrieved from https://www.swotshop.com.au/programmes-1
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