Cultural Values and Education for the Gifted and Talented in Italy.

The psychology and education of gifted and talented children in Italy is discussed and past and present research on the topicis reviewed. In addition, the role of cultural values in educational policy decisions for gifted and talented children and for community institutions is analyzed. Efforts to construct a new definition of gifted optimal human development are also discussed. There are numerous differences between past and present attitudes toward issues related to the identification and development of gifted and talented children in Italy. Nevertheless, an analysis of social policies reveals striking continuities in the cultural interpretation of family roles and social responsibilities related to these questions.

"The effort is worth it because solutions to the intransigent problems that continue to plague our world are urgently required ..." (Milgram 1990, p.229)

In Italy, historical background, social structure and ideologies have influenced decisions made for the education of gifted and talented children at institutions and for individuals. Attention to the problems of students who are above average either in general ability or in specific talents has fluctuated historically. Intellectual superiority was viewed generally in periods when the ideology of intellectual abilities conformed to the values of a dominant class. During the Italian Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and the Industrial Revolution, for example, people accepted the principle that the aristocracy was superior and a privileged education was provided for their children. The evolutionist theory of natural selection provided a scientific basis for the dominance of the intellectually gifted. Recently, however, the democratic value of equal opportunities has led to the avoidance of elitist selection based on individual talent. As a result, there has been a passage from the study of genetic differences to the field of applied psychology on the assumption of "the right man in the right place" and the hope that a democratic society can develop the capacities and talents of all individuals. Enhancement programs, grade acceleration and a series of educational experiments were developed and special classes for the intellectually or academically gifted were organized. The problem of identification and curricular help for the gifted rapidly transformed itself into studies on creativity, on differences of divergent thinking, and on personality traits. In addition, there was increased research interest on environmental factors, on the problems of cultural disadvantage, and on social class and minority groups.

Important research projects on intellectual giftedness have not yet been conducted in Italy. During the 1960s, research focused on the personality aspects of the gifted as well as their social role, their school problems and their affective adaptation (Bassi, 1957; Battacchi, 1957; Chiari, 1957; Lazzeroni, 1957). In the last 25 years, a talented person was defined as someone who is both superior in general intelligence and in specific abilities. The empirical and theoretical literature on the gifted focused primarily on thinking abilities or talents. In the 1970's some studies on creative thinking were conducted (Calvi, 1972a, 1972b; Pagnin & Vergine, 1977). Renzulli's(1978) triadic model was examined and the works of authors such as Gallagher (1964), Chauvin (1977), and Terrassier (1985) were translated into Italian. In recent research, there has been increased interest in personality and social factors.

Educational policy: Official Ministry of Education versus private schools

In the Italian system of values, the egalitarian thinking of the last 30 years remains important. The rationale remains prominent that justice may be achieved by giving the same education to everyone. Most educators believe that providing all students with equal opportunity means making different educational opportunities available for different persons. However, the Ministry of Education does not refer to gifted children or to particularly talented students, yet it does require the inclusion of the handicapped children in regular classes and a policy which means that some gifted may face remedial-type teaching during the day. The Italian school system only allows admission to primary school at the age of six and makes it possible to accelerate for only one year.

For some time there has been a complete separation between the official public educational policy represented by the Italian Ministry of Education and private education. Public schools claim to follow equalitarian ideology, with special initiatives for the handicapped. On the other hand, private associations provide grants and prizes to gifted pupils, and organized national competitions in mathematics, scientific inventions and film production. There are also some university colleges such as Ghislieri and Borromeo in Pavia, and the Scuola Normale in Pisa which admit selected high school students and promote their development through advance classes. In the Catholic education an initiative promoted by a priest in Sicily, entitled "Villaggio per super dotati" (Village for the Gifted), is a systematic educational program which gives assistance to disadvantaged youngsters.

Another private initiative was the school Pier Paolo Atzori in Milan, founded by Mormando (1989) in 1984 and closed down in 1990. The purpose of this school for gifted children was to offer an environment in which relationships were harmonious and equal, and in which children could develop positive self-esteem without feelings of inferiority caused by the sense of being different from others. The educational aim was the global development of the child. This school accepted children, ages 2 to 10, and included a nursery and primary schools. Children could enter at five years old, one year before public school, if their IQ was higher than 125.

In general, IQ is measured by the revised Italian adaptation of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R, 1986). Teaching activities were individualized based on respecting children's interests and timing (Mormando 1989). The nursery had special teachers for music, graphic arts, foreign languages (English and German) and physical education. In science education, teachers were supported by experts. Every subject of the curricula was organized in homogeneous level groups. In primary school, for example, the curricula subjects were: music, foreign language, science education, psychology, graphic arts, psychomotor skills and logic. The curricula, established by the Ministry of Education, were covered but in an enriched and advanced approach.

Gifted children participated in additional programs in their favorite subjects after school. The data based on the exams these students took at the end of the year showed that during the last two years of the school, the IQ scores of the children increased by an average of 20 points. The Mormando's private school closed down in 1990 for economical reasons and lack of financial support.

Mencarelli (1972, 1974, 1976, 1977)) introduced a new perspective and method to students to pursue their gifts and talents. He proposed an education that considered individual potential, environmental demands and physical functions. According to Mencarelli, creative thought was not only the characteristic of a particular talented subject, but it was something that could also be achieved with an education, particularly one that strengthened fantasy and imagination in an atmosphere of confidence and trust. Attention towards creativity was based on the educational concept to promote in children a personal and social consciousness of their own abilities and inner personalities. The spread of these ideas produced new educational programs for primary and secondary schools (Rosati, 1996).

An innovative experimental model was introduced and laws published in 1974 and 1977 changed evaluation aims and the criteria for evaluating interventions. Special education programs for the gifted continued to develop. In 1979, the secondary school educational program and in 1985 the primary school program started and in 1990, Law No. 148 was established. In the introduction of the primary program, creativity was emphasized as an essential point in education, because "the school contributes in developing the potential creativity of the child". The program stressed that the whole personality is a dynamic interaction between cognitive, affective and motor functions, and the need not to reduce creativity to expressive activities only.

National association and research program

In 1962, a program for the identification and assistance of gifted children was started entitled the Identification Assistance and Research on Gifted Children Association (IARD). Founded as an association in Milan, it was sponsored by Silvio Brambilla and Aldo Visalberghi at Milan University in Italy and Harry Passow of Columbia University in the United States. For the first time the word "superdotato" was used to indicate high general ability as differentiated from talent (Andreani & Orio, 1972). In the few Italian studies on gifted students, a gifted child is described as having intellectual abilities specified by three levels: mildly gifted, moderately gifted, highly or profoundly gifted, corresponding to 6-10%, 3-5% and 1-3% of the school population (Bobbo, 1992).

A program developed in the seventies by the IARD in Milan, was planned to be carried out through the several phases. One phase was the construction and standardization of three group tests for the 11-14 year olds, one test measuring overall intellectual ability and the other two measuring verbal and mathematical ability. Another phase was the identification of subjects above the 90 percentile based on the results of two of the three group tests to represent upper, lower and middle levels. A third phase was an intensive study of a sample of 128 gifted 11-14 year old children using inventories, and teacher's and parent's assessments. Another phase was a program of grants and social assistance to children for special educational programs and extra-curricular enrichment activities which were open to other children in the school. Research on creative thinking and the extension of enhancement programs to large samples of normal children in ordinary schools were other phases as well as developing guidance and vocational programs on a large scale (Andreani, 1991; Andreani & Orio, 1972; Calvi 1972a, 1972b; Rubini, 1980).

The research conducted by IARD for this program included a study by Andreani (1991) of a sample of creative subjects selected by a battery of traditional tests (intelligence tests, followed by individual tests and other indicators like specific ability, hobbies, interests). The data showed that children are gifted because of the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. This research result stressed the important role of family and parents, generally with higher educational levels, in motivating and challenging children. The data also indicated that gifted children were usually first born in small families and more independent of the family.

The personality of gifted children was analyzed using the Rorschach test which showed a precocious growth rate and an intellectual and emotional pattern more similar to adolescent and adults than to age peers. Empathy and a rich inner life with signs of stronger drives for aggression and sex, usually well under control, also were reported as among the personal characteristics of the talented adolescent. The intellectual profile was considered to be derived from a harmonious integration of all mental functions, illustrated in perceptual articulation in speed and precision, logical, verbal and mathematical thinking, fluency and flexibility of thinking, and high creative potential. The gifted also have a wide variety of interests. Variety and richness of interests itself may evolve in a negative direction, transforming itself into excessive dispersion and lack of concentration. In Italy, even the favorable conditions of small families may become stress factors when children are confronted by excessively high expectations, particularly from parents who try to compensate for their own frustrated ambitions. Andreani (1995) found that this phenomenon becomes more frequent during adolescence, when intellectual superiority easily led the gifted to isolate themselves from peers, to revolt against social norms, and to enter into conflict with adults.

Educational problems

An examination of the school performance of gifted children in three types of high school: classical, technical and professional (Andreani, 1991, 1995) revealed that approximately one-third were highly successful academically, one third above-average level of academic achievement, and one-third were scholastically underachieving. Some children in the failing group showed conflict between an excessive need for achievement leading to obsessive perfectionism and anxiety, and a need for autonomy, which resulted in their leaving school. Others in the failing group, were highly creative, had poor control over drives, difficulty in identifying with parental models, poor tolerance towards frustration, and an intolerance of conventional teaching methods. Bobbo (1992) added low economic and cultural family background as other reasons for these gifted children "underachievers". Underachievers are described as subjects who show: poor language, hostility towards school, disinterestedness, emotional instability, poor socialization skills and creativity.

In the field of gifted education, there is a dilemma which involves avoiding the dangers of an elitist education and the danger of wasting high intellectual potential and talents in a grey, monotonous school routine. In Italian culture it is necessary to express educational objectives for talented children. The educational choice to be made must not only meet the psychological needs of the gifted but at the same time create equal opportunities for all (Andreani 1995).

Bobbo (1992) believes that there are three most important educational aims for both gifted achievers and gifted underachievers: to develop educational activity that is more than passively receiving information; to develop suitable tools for learning by discovery to encourage inner motivation; and to develop creative thinking opportunities in order to communicate social and moral responsibility. Cestaro (1985) writes that these aims may be achieved through differentiation of curriculum and/or acceleration allowing gifted children to cover the regular school curriculum quickly. These aims may also be achieved by the creation of special groups and classes only for gifted children. Unfortunately, this method is limited because it isolates gifted children from others and lacks comparison and cooperation with age peers. Cestaro believes that these limitations may be overcome by contact between average pupils and talented children in other activities and opportunities outside of school such as: weekend activities, clubs and holiday programs.

Although by the end of 1986 there were some special schools for talented children in different regions like Lombardia, Emilia, Lazio, major controversy exists as to whether this trend is desirable or not. Andreani (1995) criticizes the special school approach. She considers more efficient forms of individualized type of educational programs, and believes that teaching should offer different levels of difficulty to appreciate the performance of less able pupils. Gelati (1996), also believes that the solution of this problem is not the opening of special schools for gifted, but that schools must become more attentive to children's divergent abilities, ready to offer many kinds of programs, and able to respect the different rhythms of learning or cognitive styles.

In the current educational situation, the potential of the gifted may be lost. Sansuini (1996), a leading figure of the Italian Ministery of Education, stresses the necessity to examine the following: every child is different from others, and for this reason family and school must provide the best development for everyone; the intellectual potential which exists in each child must be sought; the ways in which other countries deal with these questions; intelligence and talent, environment and genetic code; the gifted family, the gifted personality, and educational aspects; specific and general talents; be flexibility in dealing with diversity; school attendance is not sufficient for the right to study, but it is a necessity to improve individual potential for everyone: individual merits, abilities, aptitudes, and efficiency must be assessed with valid instruments.

Research on gifted education in Italy

In Italy, efforts to construct a new definition of gifted optimal human development focused on the educational problems of nurturing creativity and on moral development. At the present time, creative processes are explained by three approaches: creativity as an indispensable element of intelligence (Renzulli, 1978); creativity as independent on intelligence (Torrance, 1965); and creativity as linked to intelligence over a threshold level IQ 120 (McClelland, 1976).

Creativity is based on particular cognitive and personal schemes, with complex interactions between individual and environmental process and factors (Bobbo 1992). Andreani (1994, 1995) states that creative process, beside having capacity for divergent thinking and a high level of general or special ability, is influenced by motivational and affective factors. The intrinsic motivation of these subjects has its roots in the need to achieve and the need to know. To acquire complete knowledge about gifted subjects, cognitive factors as well as personal factors and social areas must be studied. Andreani (Andreani & Pagnin, 1996) stated that it is necessary to carry out a more systematic analysis of the relationship between moral and cognitive development in gifted children. It is also necessary to give more attention to their emotional problems and to the acquiring of social behavior. The typical difficulties of adolescence are role adoption in adult responsibility, self-esteem and confidence. The gifted should have optional activities to develop specific talents, but should maintain contact with age peers in other activities.

Study of the development of social and moral reasoning of gifted children might provide a more concrete basis for examining logical reasoning; it may also suggest ways to prevent deviant behavior. Andreani (1991) noted the shortage of data on the altruistic and pro-social behavior of gifted children, and observed that the few studies conducted reported contradictory results on the relationship between general intelligence, social competence and altruism.

Andreani & Pagnin (1992) examined this problem in a study on large sample of adolescent students (1141 subjects). They used Kohlberg's and Rest's models to study moral judgement by using dilemmas, questionnaires and interviews (Kohlberg, 1969; Rest, 1983). They found that moral reasoning, as a part of social abilities, is an important but not as yet well studied component of abilities to be investigated in the gifted. From a cognitive point of view, it is interesting to compare the sequence of stages in logical development with the stages in moral reasoning and the development of social cognitive processes in making moral evaluations. The results of an empirical research with three groups, consisting of low, average and high intelligent subjects, showed that low-ability subjects scored higher than high subjects on moral development. However, clear differences emerged between low/average adolescents and high/very high according to the contents of dilemmas and to the level maturity of moral judgement.

Based on their interpretation, Andreani & Pagnin (1992) proposed a two-level model of moral judgement. The first level is a morality of sentiments, which is more intuitive, typical of average and low subjects in which some basic principles and immediate feelings are applied to situations. The second level is a rational morality, which is more formal, typical of the highest ability subjects, in which there is a search for coherence and justification. Judgements are organized by levels like those proposed by Kohlberg and various general principles are applied to the situation. There is recourse to strategies in connecting different principles to each other, and in combining concrete needs with principles. The greater logical coherence of the gifted may lead to greater flexibility and innovation in morals and in social behaviours prior to social and ideological transformations, but it may often neglect the immediate feelings and moral inhibitions which usually control everyday life behaviours in ordinary people.

Andreani & Pagnin (1993, 1996) proposed ways to enhance the development of moral behaviour. They believe that gifted children have the potential for a high level development of morality, which gives them the opportunity to become real leaders, making a positive contribution to their community and to humanity. This potential is not realized in a simple and automatic way, without educational support and intervention. Cognitive theorists have stressed the role of communication, discussion and cooperation to develop moral reasoning. Social learning theorists have emphasized the role of models especially the efficacy of a loved model such as parents and close relatives, who are near and powerful. Parents' education is not sufficient for the gifted. Teachers and educators also play an important and similar role. Parents and teachers should appreciate the intellectual superiority and precocity, but not mistake it with narcissistic pride and excessive pursuit of personal success. The gifted should be educated in their responsibility of choices and in the respect of others, on the integration of a positive construction of the self, the capacity of identification with others and with a rational justification of values. A research program, called "Progetto Plus" (Andreani & Zanetti, 1997) was started at the University of Pavia, in Italy It's aim was to identify and develop the intellectual potential for gifted and talented students, adolescents and young adults, without isolating them. Role taking and guided reflection interventions as well as training and vocational motivation and orientation are applied.

Conclusion

In Italy, one finds numerous differences between the past and present responses of society to the education of gifted and talented child and a number of educational issues have recently become more salient. On the other hand, careful analysis of social policies about gifted education in Italy reveals striking continuities in the cultural interpretation of family and school roles and social responsibilities. Gifted education has three important purposes: to personalize the school experience; to identify an individual profile for each gifted learner by including not only the IQ scores but also cognitive, personal and social measures, and to provide for out-of-school activities for gifted children because these activities may be predictors of future adult achievements.

Italian research on giftedness has provided evidence that a major goal of gifted education is to increase objective attitudes towards facts and the capacity for deductive and inductive reasoning. It must also encourage independence of thinking and moral development of gifted children. There are many different kinds of gifted and talented children, and therefore, curriculum material and educational strategies must be designed to meet the needs and characteristics of each. The realization of talent potentialities and abilities is not only a gift but an achievement. Investigators have stressed the importance of collaborative research on topics of common interest, especially of longitudinal studies on specific areas of giftedness. Andreani & Pagnin (1993) argued that high intellectual ability can either be used for the benefit of humanity or for destructive purposes. Gifted children can grow to be adults who will contribute to finding solutions to the many social problems like health, pollution, and war. In order to help for this to actually happen, Italy must devote more attention to the educational problems of gifted and talented learners.

An important implication for future research is suggested. Gifted children in every country share a cultural heritage that influences their cognitions and shapes their personality. The focus of cross-cultural research is generally on universal theoretical and empirical questions that are equally relevant in all countries and on the influence of culture on the development of talent. There is the need to expand research on gifted and talented youngsters that seeks to identify similarities or differences within, between and across-culture, on the distinction and interplay between universal and particular contexts. Creativity and moral responsibility may be special opportunities for nurturing the development of gifted children. Such research will increase the possibility that the abilities of gifted and talented children will be used for the benefit of humanity.

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Anna Laura Comunian is at the Department of Psychology, University of Padua, Italy.