China, Gifted Education

Gifted Education in Mainland China

The year 1978 marked a milestone in the development of gifted education in Mainland China when Chinese psychologists gathered to form the Cooperative Research Group of Supernormal Children of China (CRGSCC). Rather than using the term tian-cai-er-tong with a nature-over-nurture connotation, CRGSCC adopted the term chao-chang-er-tong (supernormal children) to define gifted children whose performances are two standard deviations above the average children on IQ and cognitive ability tests developed for screening and identification purposes, and emphasized the inclusion of information from parents and teachers as well as from interview and observation in identification.

This milestone year also marked the beginning of the establishment of shao-nian-ban (youth classes) at universities, allowing gifted children to be admitted 2 to 3 years earlier than the average children. Specifically, the first youth class of 30 gifted students (aged 11 to 16) from different provinces was set up at the University of Science and Technology of China in Beijing. In 1985, 12 universities, including Beijing University, Qinghua University, Beijing Normal University, and Xian Jiaotong University, followed suit and had their own youth classes.

In subsequent years, there has been a downward extension of youth classes to special or experimental classes in key-point schools (e.g., Beijing No. 8 Middle School; Beijing Yumin Primary School) where gifted students may complete their primary and secondary grades faster than the usual duration. Experimental classes were also extended to kindergartens in 2004.

Parallel to this development of talent search and provisions of accelerated options in preuniversity education, enrichment options have also been provided for gifted children in Olympiad schools, special schools, and Children's Palaces. Olympiad schools admit students who are winners in competitions such as Mathematics Olympiad, Physics Olympiad, and Chemistry Olympiad; special schools and Children's Palaces, on the other hand, generally provide after-school or weekend programs for students gifted in specific domains such as athletics, painting, calligraphy, theater, sculpture, music, ballet, dance, and foreign languages. Overall, the general focus of gifted education has been on academic giftedness in science, mathematics, and technology, and the provision of accelerated options for gifted students to enter universities. Reports of unsuccessful and even tragic stories of some students from youth classes have highlighted the need to attend to the social and emotional development of gifted students. Recent experimentation in Shanghai with integrated curriculum and curriculum compacting along the line of Joseph Renzulli's schoolwide enrichment model (SEM) has also underlined the need to broaden the notion of giftedness.

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