School, the “little geniuses” bill begins in the Senate

In Italy, according to estimates, around 8% of students are gifted or have a high cognitive potential. That is, children and young people with an IQ above average, who demonstrate highly developed learning abilities and intellectual curiosity. They are called little geniuses, endowed with brilliant characteristics from an early age that make them stay one step ahead of others and at the same time often create annoyance and frustration if not exclusion from the group.

The discussion in the Commission

A League bill has just been introduced in the Senate Education Committee which, explains the senator Roberto Marti, “envisages the establishment of an experimental plan to encourage the inclusion and academic success of pupils with high cognitive potential. The provision concerns all those who have an IQ above average and who demonstrate developed learning abilities.”

Second Marti “it is important to recognize students with high cognitive potential and enhance them through the definition of good practices, methods, techniques and teaching strategies that favor their inclusion”. And the objective of the bill “is – continues the senator who filed it – promote, in an adequate emotional-behavioral context, the development appropriate to their potential so that they can express and not hide their aptitude and intelligence. The measure therefore also includes training activities for teachers aimed at acquiring specific skills” .

What the bill provides

Article 1 of the bill calls for structured interventions aimed at the school inclusion of pupils with high cognitive potential, to allow the best development of their potential. A three-year experiment is planned which, in the first year, includes a training activity aimed at teacher-tutors for the acquisition of specific skills useful for recognizing students with high cognitive potential and enhancing them through the definition of good practices, methods, techniques and teaching strategies that promote inclusion. In the following two years, the selection and activation of the projects presented by schools of all levels of the national education system interested in participating in the experimentation is expected. The work will be monitored by the Ministry of Education, through a specifically established technical-scientific committee. At the end of the three-year period, the Ministry will present to the Chambers a report on the activity carried out and the results achieved, starting from the mapping of the “little geniuses” who attend Italian classes.