“YOU HAVE NOT REACHED THAT LEVEL, WHY DID YOU WRITE THAT EXAM?” UNDERSTANDING THE ‘LIVED’ EXPERIENCES OF GIFTED LEARNERS IN GHANAIAN SCHOOLS

Abstract

Globally, gifted learners have a significant number of unmet needs relating to their personal, social and academic concerns in the school system. Persons with unusual ability and potential for extraordinary expertise in any field of human performance have necessitated the call to study in a field of “gifted education”. Even though there is a paucity of literature on the gifted learner in the Ghanaian educational system, more disturbing is the fate of school pupils who perceived themselves as capable of educational attainments and needed acceleration yet, are frustrated by lack of educational provisions and policies to cater for their needs. With this background and available literature on the increasingly segregated and unequal educational system, we asked the question, “How challenging is it for the gifted student in Basic schools in Ghana to achieve their dreams of acceleration?” We used qualitative phenomenological interpretive design to engage seven young gifted learners who wrote their BECE examinations without completing JHS. Individual interviews were conducted to garner data. It was found that students who wrote the BECE before completing JHS performed exceptionally well. It was also found that participants had self-confidence and their parents serve as protective factors. We conclude that exceptionally gifted learners are capable of performing significantly higher before their BECE completion. We recommend a system of special screening for acceleration and permission to students with high abilities to write BECE and that the Ghana education service and the government should make policies to enhance gifted learners’ learning opportunities in our educational systems so as to contribute to national development.