Exceptional Learners Support Service at NIST

The New International School of Thailand (NIST) has introduced a new initiative in learning support for ‘Exceptional Learners’. This commenced in August 2011, the beginning of the new 2011-2012 academic year.

The ‘Exceptional Learners’ initiative is a logical extension of the School’s philosophy of recognizing and responding to students’ individual needs. The introduction of this new support service is a result of a two year period of investigation and consultation by the Exceptional Learners Committee, and is a response to the NIST mission, its Strategic Plan, and the recommendations of accrediting committees.

It provides specialized support to exceptional learners, who demonstrate, or show the potential to demonstrate, exceptional abilities in one or more areas which will be significantly in advance of their peers. Exceptional learners will exhibit outstanding potential in intellectual and/or creative areas, display high social leadership capacity, excel in physical pursuits or specific subject areas. Exceptional learners are a diverse group of individuals who need support socially, emotionally and academically to fully develop these innate abilities.

“Our purpose in introducing this new support service is to ensure that we are adequately meeting the needs of all students, including those who are capable of performing at the very highest levels. There is sometimes a misconception that particularly bright students do not need any specialized support as they will most likely succeed on their own anyway, but this is not always, or even often, the case”, said Mr. Simon Leslie, the School’s Headmaster.

“Without an appropriately challenging curriculum that is matched in pace and complexity to the ability of the child, an exceptional learner is at risk of underachievement and disengagement from school. This in turn may lead to unfulfilled potential and accompanying undesirable consequences such as diminished self-esteem”.

A dedicated team of one full-time and two half-time staff members on the exceptional learner support team is led by Dr. Selena Gallagher who is new to NIST this year and who has brought with her a wealth of knowledge and experience having completed doctoral studies in this area. She is the author of several refereed journal papers as well as a teachers’ resource book.

“Our intention is to build a solid foundation for the exceptional learner support service that will grow and develop gradually in response to students’ needs. We are trying to avoid the use of the word ‘program’ as that implies a simple, one-size-fits-all model that students can be ‘in’ or ‘out’ of. At NIST, the exceptional learner support service will tailor an individual pathway for each identified student, so that the ‘program’ will look different for every student and will also change and develop over time as the student’s needs change”, said Dr. Gallagher.

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