Pedagogical Support of Personality Self-development of Gifted Adolescents in the Schools of USA

Дослідження присвячено вивченню та теоретичному обґрунтуванню організаційно-педагогічних засад педагогічної підтримки особистісного саморозвитку обдарованих підлітків у школах США. Уточнено сутність поняття «педагогічна підтримка особистісного саморозвитку обдарованих підлітків у школах США» на основі трактування таких його складових, як «педагогічна підтримка», «особистісний саморозвиток обдарованих підлітків», «обдарованість». Проаналізовано феномен педагогічної підтримки у контексті особистісно-орієнтованого підходу в освіті обдарованих дітей США. Окреслено адміністративно-правові та з’ясовано змістові, процесуальні та методичні засади педагогічної підтримки особистісного саморозвитку обдарованих підлітків в академічному, соціальному, емоційному і кар’єрному напрямах. Визначено типи програм, в межах яких реалізуються вказані напрями, та моделі педагогічної підтримки особистісного саморозвитку обдарованих підлітків. Окреслено можливості творчого використання позитивного досвіду американської школи в аспекті досліджуваної проблеми в Україні.The thesis is devoted to the pedagogical support of personality self-development of gifted adolescents in the schools of USA. On the basis of scientific literature and normative documents analysis the actuality of the problem and the essence of the research subject have been defined. The definition of the core notion of the research «the pedagogical support of personality self-development of gifted adolescents in the schools of USA» has been specified on the basis of the interpretation of its components such as «pedagogical support», «personality self-development of gifted adolescents», «giftedness». The phenomenon of pedagogical support has been analyzed from the person centered perspective in the USA gifted education. Therefore, two theories are considered: Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization and Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration. Advanced development and self-actualization have much in common. One of the types of advanced personality development, described in Dabrowski’s theory as level IV, shows a good fit with Maslow’s concept of self-actualization. It has been also found out, that effective pedagogical support of personality self-development of gifted adolescents is based on the integration of all aspects of their being. The federal policy in terms of the problem investigated has been analyzed. Several key pieces of legislation have had both direct and indirect consequences for the gifted and talented, these are: National Defense Education Act, 1958; the Special Projects Act, 1974; Education of All Handicapped Children Act, 1975; Gifted and Talented Children’s Education Act, 1978; The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act (Javits), 1988; No Child Left Behind Act, 2002. It has been concluded, that federal attention to gifted education fluctuates depending on Educational reform movements, economic decline, and global competition. Many experts in the field of gifted education feel that No Child Left Behind Act gives schools every incentive to continue to ignore the needs of gifted students. Significant attention to personal, social and emotional as well as academic development of gifted children is being paid in the standards of professional training and students learning and counseling programs: NAGC-CEC Teacher Preparation Standards, 2006; The ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs, 2007; 2010 Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards. As far as effective pedagogical support is aimed at helping gifted adolescents in overcoming challenges affecting their personality growth, two groups of such developmental challenges (exogenous: a type of giftedness that is not recognized or rewarded in the culture, gender, ethnicity, maladaptive motivational characteristics; and endogenous: inappropriate schooling, culture, family functioning, peer relationships) have been examined. The following models of gifted adolescents’ personality self-development pedagogical support have been identified and disclosed: T. Buescher’s curriculum model for students, parents, and professionals; G. Betts and M. Neihart’s Profiles of the gifted and talented; M. Piechowski’s Integral Counseling Model for gifted with High Developmental Potential; Mahoney’s Gifted Identity Formation Model; S. Mendaglio’s Models for Counselling Gifted and Talented Students; and Roeper’s Education for Self-Actualization and Interdependence. Two of them have been identified to be the most thorough and comprehensive (T. Buescher’s and G. Betts and M. Neihart’s models) on the basis of the suggested detailed work scheme. The analysis of the pedagogical support of personality self-development of gifted adolescents in the schools of USA has enabled to outline the possibilities of the positive ideas implementation in Ukrainian schools