Giftedness in primary education, a study of prevalence in ecuadorian children

Abstract

Ecuador is a country with quite recent policies regarding attention to intellectually gifted individuals. While these normative frameworks are good intended, it is necessary that their statement and scope consider the situation of children with these conditions. The objective of this work is to determine the prevalence of giftedness in children attending at primary schools in Cuenca-Ecuador and compare with the index reported by the Ministry of Education. For this study the participants were 2021 children enrolled in second, fourth and sixth year of primary education, from public and private schools. To analyze the giftedness construct, two factors of the tripartite Pfeiffer model were used. The first factor, IQ, was assessed by combining the scores of two tests: Ravens and, according to the age of the participants, BADyG E1, E2 or E3. The second factor refers to academic performance, for this study we evaluated five academic fields: science, social studies, mathematics, language and general performance. Ad hoc tests, the BADyG subtest, and the general average of the students’ academic performance were used. Children were considered to be gifted if they met two conditions: 1) IQ of 120 or higher and 2) One or more academic performance test ranking within 92nd percentile or higher. Prevalence of giftedness was obtained for IQ, general academic performance as well as for each individual academic field. The average prevalence was 2.75%, percentage substantially greater than that reported by the ministerial entity, with higher percentage reported in private schools and second grade children. These results could affect educational policies, as they not only make it possible to discern the number of gifted children in classrooms, but also, demand actual educational responses in search of a successful promotion of talent.

Keywords

• altas capacidades
• prevalencia
• primaria