ECHA2022 - POINT, Creating a critical and research-oriented mindset in the school

In our presentation we want to share our story about how we successfully connect research and practice in the field of gifted education in the Netherlands. We will share something about the backgrounds of our educational research labs in which teachers, teacher-educators and researchers work together to improve education for the gifted learners. We then elaborate on how we, work on a critical and research oriented mindset of teachers and how we stimulate evidence-informed education for gifted learners. The drive of our talk is to inspire other professionals with how to stimulate evidence-informed education for gifted learners and thereby improving the education for the gifted learners!

With our talk we want to give other professionals insights in how teachers could set up and conduct their own practical research within the school. Thus, conducting research that really connects with educational practice. We want to share how every step of the research cycle is guided and completed: e.g., how do you find literature, how do you write a theoretical framework or how do you write recommendations? Additionally we want to share how teachers could take a critical look at their class materials: e.g., which skills do children develop when a certain material is used, what is the theoretical substantiation of the material? We want to stimulate that all professionals work from a critical and research-oriented mindset, continually asking themselves: is what I just read supported by literature, was our look at this class material critical enough, is this intervention supported by research?

We will share our story with a presentation, supported by sheets and short video’s in which teachers, teacher-educators and researchers share their experiences. We experience that the way we work in our educational research labs results in many great outcomes for teachers, teacher-educators, researchers, and the gifted learners. We feel that our story is one to share with the world!

Kim Smeets, POINT, Eindhoven, Netherlands; Elise Samsen, POINT, Tilburg, Netherlands; Kim Lijbers, POINT, Den Bosch, Netherlands

In 2022 the National Talent Centre of the Netherlands hosted the 18th Conference of the European Council for High Ability on 31 August – 3 September 2022 in The Hague, The Netherlands.

The ECHA 2022 Conference brought together experts, professionals and interested parties from all over Europe and beyond to share knowledge, gain inspiration and exchange experiences. The congress offered a varied, high-level program with top speakers and a wide range of parallel sessions.