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Programs and provisions

Program versus provision

A useful distinction can be made between provision and program. A program is a “comprehensive, sequential system for educating students with identifiable needs” (Berger, 1991). Programs are permanent and well articulated sequences of goals, strategies and content, in contrast to provisions, which are “fragmentary, short-term and an adjunct to the core curriculum.”

The curriculum for gifted learners is guided by certain beliefs, including the following:

• The needs of gifted learners encompass cognitive, affective, social, and aesthetic areas of curriculum experiences.
• Gifted students are best served by a curriculum that incorporates both accelerated and enriched learning.
• Curriculum experiences for gifted learners need to be thoughtfully planned, written down and incorporate explicit assessment.
  (Van Tassel-Baska, 2003)

Gagné(2003) indicates that provisions for gifted students may include a variety of individual or group interventions specifically targeted at developing talent. Gifted education provisions are generally divided into three areas: enrichment, acceleration and grouping. Unfortunately this has often been interpreted to mean that acceleration practices are not enriching. Also these provisions are often regarded as being mutually exclusive, which is not the case (Gagné 2003). Such provisions for gifted students may be important components of a program, but short-term, ad hocand fragmented provisions, which are not connected to the core curriculum should never be considered a valid substitute for a comprehensive program (Tannenbaum, 1983).

Three criteria useful for deciding whether curriculum opportunities are appropriate for gifted students are:

1. Would all students want to be involved in such learning experiences?
2. Could all students participate in such learning experiences?
3. Should all students be expected to succeed in such learning experiences?

If the answer to each of these questions is “yes”, then the curriculum is not differentiated to cater for the individual needs of gifted students. What is more, opportunities should not be exclusively provided for gifted students when all students can benefit from the experience (Passow, 1982).

Further information on programs and provisions is available in Program organisation and Curriculum differentiation.

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