“The greatest talent is that you know you have talent. And that you then go for it. With a career you have to prepare for psychological, emotional and practical pain and disappointments. And you have to be able to endure that”. Pierre Bokma

Eagerness to learn

A year ago my son came home after his first Chinese lesson. He had brought along a little bag of original Chinese tea with the characteristic characters on it. He asked his teacher to explain the symbols. In the evening he emailed her another question about his homework. He received the reply that he would go far in life. (That same pupil, incidentally, came home that week with the conclusion he and his friends had reached, that school is mostly a waste of time...)

Talent, motivation and environment

This blog centres on talent, motivation and the importance of the environment. One person is helped by someone else who sees his or her talent, another finds out by themselves. Education is geared towards making a subject choice around the age of fifteen. Do you make this choice mainly on the basis of talent or on the basis of the expectations of friends and the labour market? And what if you do not yet know what your talent(s) are? Or what if you do know, but do not have the right motivation to earn your living with it later? How important is it to be seen, so that early on there is room to explore how you learn rather than only what?

Empathy in education

In an interview with internal coordinator Angelina Kalkman of Het Octaaf primary school, I asked about her experience of supporting pupils and developing talent.

For a long time education was geared towards children who needed extra support: the ‘backpack children’. Children who went through the material independently and (too) quickly had to keep themselves occupied. This was partly due to the persistent myth of the luxury problems of (highly) gifted children. This dates from the previous century when psychologist Lewis Terman held the conviction that ‘being good at learning’ was a guarantee for success. He did, incidentally, discover on the basis of scientific research that things are different. By now it is clear that E.I. (emotional intelligence) is of decisive importance in motivation and self esteem.

Photo: Martin Docters van Leeuwen

Interview with Angelina Kalkman, internal coordinator at Het Octaaf primary school

What does your work involve?

"I am the care coordinator for pupils in the lower and upper years of Het Octaaf primary school. That means coordinating various aspects in the areas of learning and behaviour, as well as part of the parenting support. So that is a very broad package. In a short time the screening for parenting support has got off the ground. If necessary we refer a pupil on to the Centre for Youth and Family. This approach, ‘one family gets one plan’, has now also been adopted nationally for some time. There is, in addition, a big change in the way we look at the child. Now we talk about ‘inclusive education’: (ed.: this video was chosen by the author to clarify the concept).

Previously parents were ‘listeners’. We, the school and teachers, indicated what we saw in the development of their child. Parents were only asked at the very end, or when things threatened to go wrong. That way of working has changed. Now parents are actively involved at an earlier stage. After all, a child can behave very differently at school than at home. By bringing both perspectives together we expect to get a complete picture. By recognising the (educational) needs earlier, some children can now attend mainstream primary school. Their needs and difficulties are very diverse.

A forgotten group, for a long time, were the children who needed more learning challenges. They did get some extra work, but the setting of goals and the giving of feedback on their work were missing, and it was not marked. Often the material was more of the same and seemed more like a way of keeping the pupil(s) occupied. So broadening rather than enriching of the learning offer. Some became frustrated by this and developed exactly the behavioural problems we wanted to prevent. We did not look at how it arose. What is the underlying cause or trigger?

Previously we looked afterwards at how we should solve the problems; now we already observe behaviour from the second year onwards. In recent years we briefly worked with the Digital handling instrument for the gifted. In the end this was not used, because the team found it a lot of work to enter all the information about the pupils. We now work with a social and emotional instrument: we put many questions to children in one to one conversations. By asking (open) questions we obtain important and valuable information. Twice a year, 5 to 8 conversations take place between pupils and teachers. Now we ask whether something is too easy. Previously we only asked whether something was too difficult.

We have other means as well. In the lower years we work with pictograms. This instrument ensures that the picture and the interpretation do not become teacher dependent. The child can then indicate that something is not going well.

The approach is different from 10 years ago. We now have new knowledge about psychology and the development of the child. Teachers now look at children differently than before. Besides passing on knowledge, we also look at the social and emotional needs.

The children with a developmental head start previously received extra material but no explanation, and they had to work independently. Now there are fixed moments when they go to the instruction table for feedback and tips. The children's learning results keep rising. In the past the line often dropped; we now know that this indicated underperformance. The social and emotional system is now used to the full. This group, fortunately, scores well and the school allows itself to be monitored by the schools inspectorate.

An unpleasant but understandable consequence of not seeing the (learning) needs in the past was that correcting behaviour took a lot of time and attention. Children started asking for attention in a different way. In the area of behaviour the teachers now spend less time, because children receive feedback. The interaction has become more enjoyable and they can mirror. My conviction is that all children want to learn. They are eager to learn and are well able to indicate this themselves. A shift in thinking has arisen among the adults: they see children as a conversation partner. In the past the child ‘underwent’ education: parents and school decided a lot.

Why did you choose, back then, to ask for understanding for these pupils, when the package of a pupil coordinator is already so demanding?

“I believe every child deserves the best education and you have to look at each child individually. This group was insufficiently addressed. I used to be a teacher myself. As a teacher you notice when your child is not comfortable in their own skin. Because there was nothing, I bought a second hand English course at the time and made my own quartet card games to serve this pupil. I made the language cards at home. Keeping children occupied is not enough, there has to be a challenge. In the past pupils were not quickly accelerated (which means skipping a year). Care is indeed important, because if a problem is solved in one area (cognitive), another problem can arise in another area (social and emotional).

At the time I had Michelle Sweering (ed. MS from Krimpen aan den IJssel won a gold medal last year at the International Mathematical Olympiad) in my kindergarten class. My advice was to let her skip a year. I received criticism because people thought it was too great a risk. The same applied to a number of other children for whom, looking at the whole picture, I saw that it would be better for them to be given more challenge. My advice was based on all the groundwork: the much trying, observing the pupil, holding conversations and testing further before you feel sure of your case. That was of course also preceded by many conversations with parents. Now I see that those children are doing well.

Another recent example comes up as we talk, about a boy who was at home for a long time.
Through Compulsory Education I came into contact with a boy. No school wanted to take this pupil on: too complex, too problematic. I then argued for accepting him at Het Octaaf.

We started very gently. First 6 weeks of getting used to school... His self image had been knocked down enormously, so that little seemed possible any more. So first the focus was on being able to have a place in the class again, being able to make contact with other pupils again and building in a structure.

He now feels wonderful in his own skin. The learning is not working yet, but that comes next. Then we can look further at the reason why he got stuck. Nobody wants to be given unjustified labels. If that succeeds, then I am satisfied’.

Text: Valérie Docters van Leeuwen