Gifted students: Student engagement, recreational activities and their need for career counselling and guidance

• Main Authors: Gísladóttir, Inga Berg, Blöndal, Kristjana Stella
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2016
• Subjects: gifted students; student engagement; career counseling and guidance; upper secondary school; afburðanemendur; skuldbinding til náms og skóla; náms- og starfsráðgjöf; framhaldsskóli; Stella; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/tuuom/article/view/2161

Gifted students are not necessarily motivated students. In Iceland, where this study was conducted, a lower percentage of students reach the highest level of scholastic performance, according to Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) compared to the other Nordic countries (Almar M. Halldórsson, Ragnar F. Ólafsson, Óskar H. Níelsson & Júlíus K. Björnsson, 2010). This suggests there is a group of students who do not maximize their academic potential. However, few researches have focused on gifted students in Iceland. Student engagement is considered important for their academic achievement and attainment (Kristjana Stella Blöndal & Sigrún Aðalbjarnardóttir, 2012, 2014; Alexander et al., 1997; Rumberger, 2011). Fredricks and her colleagues (2004) define three broad dimensions of engagement: behavioral, emotional, and cognitive. By exploring whether engagement differentiates those who are high achieving from other students, we gain an insight into how we can support students to optimize their potential.The aim of this study was to explore in what way gifted students differ from other students with regard to student engagement in upper secondary school. Also we explored their participation in organized recreation activities outside of school and their need for career counseling and guidance, compared to other students. It may be expected that because of their abilities, gifted students need career counseling and guidance just as other students, taking into consideration their diverse educational and job opportunities.Based on students’ academic achievement on standardized national tests in the 10th grade (age 15) they were arranged into five groups: Gifted, good, average, fairly poor and poor students. This study is part of a larger, ongoing longitudinal study among all Icelandic upper secondary schools. The focus is on 2,504 students at the age of 16 to 19 who participated in the survey in 2007. The findings indicate that cognitive, emotional and behavioral engagement differentiated gifted ...