Public Policies for High Ability/Giftedness: Including is Still Necessary

Abstract

This paper examines the Brazilian public policies for students with High Abilities/Giftedness (HA/GT), considering the currently ruling laws, verifying as causes of lack and precariousness of such policies, the dependence of specialized educational service offer to a demand still not assessed; the deficient understanding of regional educational realities, the circumscription of legal documents exclusively to the educational context; the poor knowledge (or even lack of knowledge) of laws, rules and guidelines and of real difficulties and needs of such students and the ideological prejudice. It concludes that the real inclusion of students with HA/GT requires the correct identification and record of such students in the school census; the promotion of a deeper knowledge on laws, rules and guidelines and its inspection by public agencies; the necessary initial and continued education of teachers, professionals and school managers on HA/GT and their needs; the technical and financial support and control of the work developed by the Centers of Activities on HA/GT. It also requires legal mechanisms assuring the access to the specialized educational services to most Brazilian students with HA/GT, children of low income families who have no financial and/or cultural resources to assure such right, as well as the elimination of economic, cultural and attitudinal barriers as object of the legal devices granting accessibility to people with special educational needs; the indispensable inclusion of specific educational modules on special educational services in training and specialization courses offered by public agencies and, finally, the elimination of the unfounded ideological prejudice.