High expectations from family and school may lead to challenges for the student, including:
(a) Social and emotional challenges: Gifted students may face social and emotional pressures due to high expectations. These social challenges include feeling out of place and tension with peers.
(b) Social isolation: Because of their special interests and unique abilities, gifted students may feel out of step with their peers and thus tend to isolate themselves.
(c) Performance pressure: The expectation from family and school to perform well can be the tip of the iceberg that gifted students feel obligated to climb, increasing students’ levels of stress and anxiety as a result of this pressure.
(d) Life imbalance: High expectations require a lot of time to be devoted to study and development, which affects the time allocated for social activities and rest, and this may lead to gifted students becoming isolated and ignoring other aspects of their lives.
(e) Lack of appropriate challenge: In a general education environment, gifted students may find it difficult to find appropriate challenges that match their level of talent, which can lead to boredom and discomfort.
(v) Lack of sustainability: Gifted students may face challenges in maintaining a balanced lifestyle that allows them to develop their talents, while at the same time enjoying social activities and free time.
(z) Psychological pressure: High expectations from family and school may lead to psychological pressure on gifted students.
(h) Bullying: It includes the extent to which gifted students feel that they are not accepted by their peers and friends, and are more vulnerable to bullying, whether verbally or physically, directly or indirectly, especially when the talent is at a high level, as this talent increases their vulnerability to adaptive difficulties, makes them more sensitive to violence and social conflicts, and they go through degrees of isolation and pressure more than their peers at school, so they are in dire need of preparing preventive and therapeutic guidance programs. (Abu Asaad, 2018; Al-Jaghman, 2019; Cross & Cross 2021), especially if they find exaggerated praise for their abilities among their peers.
Proposed solutions: They can be divided according to those in charge of them into:
- Solutions in schools:
(a) Providing psychological support: Providing psychological support, guidance and counselling to gifted students to help them deal with the pressures resulting from high expectations by:
• Holding special guidance sessions/ providing special guidance sessions for talented students that meet their psychological, social and emotional needs, and enable them to identify their mental, academic, creative, leadership and artistic abilities.
• Providing safe spaces/ Providing safe spaces within the school, whether during counselling sessions or through discussing common psychological issues that gifted students face, such as: emotional, social and affective problems.
(b) Teacher training: Providing appropriate training for teachers and qualifying them to develop their teaching methods to enable them to provide appropriate challenges for gifted students in the classroom, in addition to training teachers on the characteristics and qualities of gifted people and the mechanism for working with them.
(c) Motivation and encouragement: Providing positive motivation and continuous encouragement to gifted students to enhance their self-confidence and praise their efforts in a disciplined and rational manner.
(d) Encouraging balanced excellence: Promoting a balance between academic excellence and participation in social and cultural activities that allow gifted students to connect with their peers.
(e) Expanding the circle of social relations: School is, by nature, a social place, and gifted students may face rejection from some peers more than others. What complicates the issue further are the social comparisons that gifted students may experience with their colleagues and peers who have abilities and social relations in which they have not succeeded. Therefore, teachers and counselors must help their gifted students develop social competence, build positive relationships, develop communication skills, and endure the difficulties resulting from behaviors that are inconsistent with the nature of peers.
(And) Mentoring programs: This is a professional relationship between an advanced talent and a beginner talent who shares the same interests and inclinations, has previously gone through the same experience, and has many experiences to provide support and assistance, and provide challenges appropriate to the level of his talent. (Abu Asaad, 2018; Al-Jaghman, 2021; Al-Zoubi, 2021; Bisland, 2001).
Solutions in the family:
(a) Emotional care and support: Providing emotional support by parents and care for gifted students by teachers and the educational institution to enhance their self-confidence and develop the skills of endurance and resilience to deal with the challenges they face to maintain their mental and emotional health.
(b) Support groups: Join support groups for families who have gifted students where parents can exchange experiences and advice.
(c) Specialized counseling: Providing specialized counseling with specialists in gifted education or psychological consultants helps the family in dealing with high expectations.
(c) Participation in activities: Encouraging participation in exciting activities and interactive groups that help expand their circle of knowledge and enhance their social skills. (Abu Asaad, 2018; Al-Jaghman, 2021; Al-Zoubi 2021).
Joint solutions between family and school:
(a) Enhancing communication and understanding: There must be effective communication between the family, the school and gifted students, with a clear understanding of their aspirations and concerns, because gifted students have a great influence on their families and are influenced by them. Therefore, family guidance and counselling is important and necessary, especially with regard to the methods of family interference in the lives of gifted children, the parents’ exaggerated ambitions, and the parents’ pressure on them to choose the academic specialisation that satisfies their curiosity, or giving them parental roles within those families.
(b) Regular meetings between teachers and parents:
It is important to organize regular meetings to discuss the progress and educational needs of gifted students, as well as to involve the family in providing feedback on the challenges facing their children and suggesting solutions.
(c) Training programmes and workshops for families:
Organizing educational workshops and seminars for parents to understand the needs of gifted students, how to support them at home, and providing educational materials and resources to families to help them develop their children’s skills.
(d) Encouraging sustainable learning: Encouraging gifted students to continue their learning and develop their skills over time through ongoing supervision.
(e) Ongoing assessment: Providing regular reports to parents that include an assessment of the progress of gifted students, their needs and recommendations for their support.
(e) Set realistic expectations: Expectations should be set towards a realistic goal, taking into account the abilities and requirements of gifted students, in order to avoid adding unnecessary pressure.
(z) Flexibility: The school and the family must be flexible enough and be willing to modify plans based on the interests, needs and potential of gifted students.
(h) Encouraging psychological stability: Family and school support play an important role in providing a psychologically supportive environment that helps students deal effectively with challenges and pressures such as: the pressure of high expectations. (Al-Jaghman, 2019; Lockhart & Mun, 2020).
Close of:
Families and schools are essential partners in supporting and developing talents, and motivating students to realize their full potential. To achieve this goal, schools must provide an educational environment that is in line with the needs of gifted students, through customized programs that motivate them and meet their aspirations. In the same context, families must provide emotional support and positive encouragement, and direct their attention towards exploring their potential, and improve their understanding of dynamic problems and daily challenges; which helps enhance the efforts of school programs and provide appropriate challenges to achieve a balance between academic performance and personal aspects. Hence, continuous communication between families and schools must be encouraged, and psychological and social support must be provided to students, and an educational environment that encourages diversity and provides appropriate challenges must be created. By setting realistic expectations and close cooperation between families and schools, challenges can be overcome and sustainable growth can be achieved for gifted students, as their support and guidance contribute to motivating and engaging them in achieving tangible achievements and developing their future to their fullest potential.
the reviewer
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To quote from this article, you can copy the following:
Al-Dosari, Hussam. (June 25, 2024). Talented Students and High Expectations from Family and School. King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity.
