PARADIGM SHIFT IN ASSESSMENT FOR GIFTEDNESS AND TALENT: A CATHOLICON FOR REALISTIC GIFTED EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
Since 1983, the national policy on education recognized the need to identify
and nurture children who are gifted and talented in the interest of the nation's
economic and technology advancement. It is however unfortunate that this
laudable policy was compromised due to many reasons of which
inappropriate screening instrument and procedure for testing are considered
major impediments. The inappropriate screening and identification
procedures have been blamed on ineffective testing and assessment in
addition to unhealthy political influences that have centered on academic
intellectual capacity only. Consequently, the gifted education programmes
have failed in achieving the national desired goal for 33 years. This paper
therefore positioned that a paradigm shift in testing for giftedness is a
panacea to achievingappropriate gifted education for attaining the desired
national development. Suggestions and recommendations were highlighted
for experts in special education, measurement and evaluation and
psychological testing to be considered for the development and validation of
effective scaling and testing procedure for identifying all categories of gifted
and talented individuals for potential realization.
Key word: Testing for Giftedness, Gifted Education
DADA, OluseyiAkintunde, OGUNDARE, Olusegun Godwin
PARADIGM SHIFT IN ASSESSMENT FOR GIFTEDNESS AND TALENT: A CATHOLICON FOR REALISTIC GIFTED EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
Since 1983, the national policy on education recognized the need to identify and nurture children who are gifted and talented in the interest of the nation's economic and technology advancement. It is however unfortunate that this laudable policy was compromised due to many reasons of which inappropriate screening instrument and procedure for testing are considered major impediments. The inappropriate screening and identification procedures have been blamed on ineffective testing and assessment in addition to unhealthy political influences that have centered on academic intellectual capacity only. Consequently, the gifted education programmes have failed in achieving the national desired goal for 33 years. This paper therefore positioned that a paradigm shift in testing for giftedness is a panacea to achievingappropriate gifted education for attaining the desired national development. Suggestions and recommendations were highlighted for experts in special education, measurement and evaluation and psychological testing to be considered for the development and validation of effective scaling and testing procedure for identifying all categories of gifted and talented individuals for potential realization. Key word: Testing for Giftedness, Gifted Education