Events

SNAP has been involved in a number of high profile events.  You can read more about some of them below.

Roskilde Educators

The Scottish Network for Able Pupils hosted a delegation of educators from the municipality of Roskilde in Denmark.  The group spent time with SNAP staff hearing about Scotland’s approach to the education of highly able pupils.

 

European Council for High Ability

The thirteenth International conference on Giftedness across the Lifespan was held in Munster, Germany 12-15 September 2012.  A range of international speakers presented including UK speakers Margaret Sutherland, Glasgow and Prof. Valsa Koshy, London.  Margaret was also voted on to the ECHA committee and looks forward to working with fellow committee members from across Europe.  In particular she will work closely with Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger, Chair Professor of School Research at the University of Regensburg, Germany who is the Editor of High Ability Studies.  The High Ability Studies journal is included in Social Sciences Citation Index this makes it the most important journal in Gifted Education.
 

To find out more about ECHA click here www.echa.info

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Research Seminar

Margaret Sutherland and Dr Niamh Stack participated in the Research Seminar : " Reconceptualising Gifted & Talented : Re-imagine, Retrench, or Reject?"  Headington Hill Hall, Oxford-Brookes University 10th June 2011.

Invited guests presented papers on a range of topics.  Margaret and Niamh's paper was titled 'Starting at the beginning: educational provision for highly able children in the early years'.  They presented emerging findings from a research project they are currently involved in.

 

Hungarian EU Presidential Conference on Talent Support 7-9 April 2011

The Ministry of National Resources, the National Talent Programme and the Hungarian Genius Integrated Talent Support Programme invited EU countries to participate in the Hungarian EU Presidential Conference on Talent Support and First European TalentDay.  The main Patrons of the conference were Dr Rozsa Hoffmann, Secretary of State for Education and Prof Jozsef Palinkas, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.  The main sponsor of the conference was MOL.  The aim of the international conference was to initiate professional exchange of ideas, important co-operations regarding talent support and to draw attention to the unexploited capacities of promoting giftedness.  24 out of 27 EU member states were represented.  SNAP was delighted to have been invited to participate in the event.

 

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Singapore Study Visit

Mrs Virginia Cheng, Principal of a top Junior College in Singapore led a small team of staff on a study visit to Scotland.  They spent some time working with SNAP staff from West Dunbartonshire Education Authority. 

 

 

Korean Visit

In August 2006 SNAP were delighted to welcome a delegation of 33 Lorean teachers to Scotland.  The Korean Education Development Institute (KEDI), one of the most prominent educational policy research institutes in Korea, has demonstrated a strong commitment to developing innovative education systems and a new teaching-learning methods to improve Korean education.  As part of their work, KEDI regularly send teachers abroad for staff development and training.  For the first time teachers will come to a UK University for a twelve day intensive programme of lectures and school visits.

Young children who are very able: What facilitates optimal engagement and learning in their education?

Dr Kerry Hodge, Macquarie University, Sydney

Anne Grant, University of Melbourne

In June 2010, SNAP welcomed Dr Kerry Hodge and Anne Grant to speak to at a short seminar. With reference to gifted literature and findings from their doctoral research, Kerry and Anne discussed the elements of an early childhood education programme that are important if young, very able children are to be optimally engaged in the classroom.Recognising and nurturing giftedness in young children presents an important challenge to educators. Schools need to respond to their educational needs before their abilities diminish or become less recognisable to those who can do something about them. But giftedness is more than developing skills faster or going through the developmental milestones earlier.

Information from the seminar is available at this link: Young Children Who Are Very Able and comes with additional Recommended reading: Giftedness in the Early Years.

A podcast of the seminar will be available soon - keep checking the website for updates.