Introducing our Erasmus+ Partners in Equity in Gifted Education
As a partner of the Erasmus+ project Equity in Gifted Education (EGE), Bureau Talent is proud to present the partners we cooperate with. The Equity in Gifted Education project focuses on three themes:
- identifying cognitive talent
- academic language
- parent participation
Every partner in the project has their own expertise. Bureau Talent’s role is leading the workpackage on academic language. We have experience in developing lessons on academic language and led the former Erasmus+ project Creating Equal Opportunities at School (CEOS). Below we proudly present our partners.
The core of the consortium of EGE is the same as our former CEOS project: Stichting VO Haaglanden in The Hague (Netherlands) and Thomas More University of Applied Sciences (TM) in Antwerp (Belgium). Our new partners are Dublin City University in Dublin (Ireland) and Heimerer College in Pristina (Kosovo).
Stichting VO Haaglanden is a school board which governs ten schools for public and general special secondary education in The Hague and Rijswijk (Netherlands). This foundation was established in 2003 as a result of the wish of the The Hague city council for the independence of public education in the region of The Hague. Currently, 1,400 employees and more than 13,000 students fall under the authority of VO Haaglanden. Participating Dutch schools are Rijswijks Lyceum & Van Vredenburch College (RLVVC) and Maris College (location Kijkduin), two of the ten schools under VO Haaglanden. Birgit Broekhoven, RITHA Specialist in Gifted Education, teacher of English and gifted coordinator at RLVVC, is project leader of the EGE project.
RLVVC are part of VO Haaglanden and 80% of the students live in areas of poverty. This public-school organisation with approximately 1,500 students and 150 staff members participates in this project. The schools provide secondary education at all levels in an urban context. Many of the students at RLVVC grow up in different cultures: at school, at home, and in the street. These cultures or contexts have different codes and demands, and sometimes collide. In order to be successful at school and in society, students have to learn to navigate between these cultures and climb the (social) ladder through education. The school pays a lot of attention to language development: it has been noticed that many students fall behind in education because they lack language proficiency. School policy states that every teacher is a language coach, for example by explaining words and helping students to express themselves. Since the CEOS project, all first year students do the COVAT in order to reveal hidden cognitive talents. All first- and second-year students take part in the academic language programme we developed during and after CEOS.
Maris College Kijkduin is part of VO Haaglanden and 45% of the students live in areas of poverty in the urban region of The Hague. This location with approximately 270 students and 50 staff members provides education at the pre-vocational level. All students need extra support, e.g. due to dyslexia. Because of the student population, language education as well as citizenship have a prominent place in the curriculum. Students take part in a
citizen programme ‘Youth of the world’. All first- and second-year students get an extra language class a week on top of the regular classes Dutch and English, and participate in a programme to improve their executive functions. In addition, multiple times a week special emphasis is placed on reading and writing skills during ‘language half hour’ (e.g. reading together, listening skills, touch typing). This helps students who fall behind due to a lack of language proficiency and/or educational needs. The school is looking for additional ways to help improve the language skills of students.
Thomas More is a university college for applied sciences. Marlies Tierens is a lecturer and researcher specialized in psychological assessment and cognitive giftedness. Together with partners, her team developed the COVAT-series: a cognitive abilities test based on the CHC model. The COVAT is constantly evolving, and the latest version is an online, adaptive test. In the EGE project, Marlies and her colleagues will develop and give a teacher training, so teachers can easily apply the COVAT at their own school. They will also make a guide on how to discover cognitive talent in disadvantaged students, since testing is not the only one way to do that.
The Irish partners are the Centre for Talented Youth, Ireland (CTYI) in Dublin City University. CTYI is the largest programme for gifted students in Europe. It is located in North Dublin, and is surrounded by some of the most disadvantaged areas in Ireland. Dr. Leeanne Hinch is CTYI's academic coordinator and will be the Irish lead on this project. Together with her colleagues she will develop a programme for parents of gifted disadvantaged students which will complement the academic language programme that the students will participate in.
Heimerer College (HC), is a higher education institution in Kosovo offering innovative programs in health, social and psychological sciences. Committed to research, clinical practice and client-centered education, HC sets a high standard for academic excellence in the region. It acts as a bridge between EU and Western Balkans in introducing missing and innovative curricula, latest and efficient pedagogical approaches, allied health, digitalisation and long term care service co-creation and delivery models, research methodologies, and community empowerment projects focusing on the vulnerable groups. Arben Hysenaj the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences at HC along with his team will be responsible for the EGE research and will implement the COVAT test and Language Program in the Kosovo Schools.
Apart from the two Dutch schools, two schools in Belgium, Ireland and Kosovo will participate in the programme as well. We will introduce these school later on.
Would you like to more about the project? Contact Lineke van Tricht lineke@bureautalent.nl
Co-funded by the EU
