A thesis carried out as part of the Masters in Psychology at the Faculty of Education and Psychology of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (FEP-UCP) has provided new evidence on the benefits of academic acceleration for gifted students. The thesis, which was defended in the 2023/2024 academic year, heard from parents of children who had gone through the experience, and who reported a positive impact of academic acceleration on both the emotional well-being and self-confidence of the students.
Academic acceleration - a practice that allows gifted students to progress faster and earlier in the school curriculum - has been a topic of debate in Portuguese education policy. The dissertation carried out at the FEP-UCP by the student Gil Costa, under the supervision of faculty Marisa Carvalho and the co-supervision of Dr. Alberto Rocha, investigated the perspectives of 8 parents on this measure, in order to understand how it affects the lives of their gifted children, particularly from an academic and socio-emotional point of view.
Positive impact on students' emotional wellbeing
Preliminary results from interviews with parents indicate that the majority observed an increase in their children's self-esteem and emotional wellbeing following academic acceleration. In addition, the students' social integration, although variable, was generally positive.
“These findings corroborate previous studies and reinforce the importance of offering differentiated teaching options for gifted students. They also underline the importance of investing in inclusive education for all students”, says Marisa Carvalho.
Gil Costa stresses that there is still a long way to go before these students are truly integrated: “The experiences of the parents who took part in this study indicate that, from both a legal and practical point of view, there is still a long way to go for gifted students to feel truly included in the education system and for their high abilities to be put to good use”.
The preliminary results of the interviews with parents were presented as a poster at the 4th Porto International Conference on Research in Education, held at the Porto School of Education from 17 to 19 July.
The Master's thesis is entitled “Impact of academic acceleration on gifted students: The perspective of parents in the context of Portuguese educational policies”. The work was co-supervised by Alberto Rocha, from the Associação Nacional para o Estudo e a Intervenção na Sobredotação (ANEIS) and ISCE DOURO - Instituto Superior de Ciências Educativas do Douro.