Special Abilities: A Maori Perspective, Implications for Catering for Gifted Children from Minority Cultures

Abstract

This paper uses selected findings from a research study on Maori children with special abilities to illustrate various points about catering for gifted children from minority cultures. Reasons why gifted Maori children are not well catered for in New Zealand are explained and differences between a Maori concept of special abilities and an “official” New Zealand definition of giftedness are examined. Seven suggestions for improving provisions for gifted children from minority cultures are outlined and discussed. Six suggestions are specifically teacher related. The seventh looks at the need for research and discusses the inherent danger of people from majority cultures misinterpreting data on minority cultures. The paper poses a number of questions relating to identification and provisions for gifted children from minority groups and challenges readers to reflect on their own school or institution's performance in this area.