This paper analyzes acceleration in education as a practice for meeting the educational needs of gifted students, and points out favorable and unfavorable arguments on the use of this practice. Acceleration is an educational practice consisting of several teaching strategies designed to encourage academically gifted students and reduce their time spent in school. It promotes faster learning by matching the curriculum to the student’s level of knowledge, interest and motivation. There are several arguments in favor of acceleration, such as the improvement of academic performance, self-esteem and student’s social adjustment. However, educators are reluctant to implement this practice, arguing that students may be immature or lose part of the content of the regular curriculum.

Se analiza la aceleración de la enseñanza como práctica de atención a las necesidades educacionales de alumnos superdotados y se presentan argumentos favorables y contrarios. La aceleración de la enseñanza es una práctica educacional compuesta por diversas estrategias para estimular al alumno académicamente superdotado y reducir su tiempo de permanencia en la escuela. Promueve un aprendizaje más rápido al equiparar el currículum al nivel de conocimiento, interés y motivación. Son varios los argumentos a favor de la aceleración, como mejora del desempeño académico, la autoestima y el ajuste social del alumno. Sin embargo, educadores se resisten a implementar esta práctica alegando que los alumnos pueden ser inmaduros o perder parte del contenido del currículum regular.

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o rendimento acadêmico e a criatividade de alunos de um programa de atendimento a alunos superdotados e talentosos, investigar a percepção de professores, alunos e mães acerca das atividades e estratégias educacionais implementadas no programa, bem como examinar a extensão em que tais atividades e práticas educacionais se diferenciam das utilizadas em sala de aula regular. Participaram do estudo 77 alunos, do ensino fundamental e médio, que freqüentavam o programa, 11 professores que atuavam no programa, 6 professores de sala de aula regular e 6 mães de alunos do programa. Os resultados indicaram que alunos com habilidade em áreas acadêmicas apresentaram rendimento acadêmico superior aos da área artística que, por sua vez, obtiveram escores superiores no teste de criatividade. A percepção de professores, alunos e mães acerca das atividades empregadas no programa era positiva. As práticas educacionais utilizadas no programa se diferenciavam moderadamente das implementadas na sala de aula regular.

This study evaluated the impact of a program designed to meet the needs of gifted and talented students on the academic performance and creativity of its participants, to investigate teachers’, students’ and parents’ perception of activities and strategies implemented in the program, as well as to examine the extent to which activities and educational strategies adopted in the program differ from the ones used in the regular classes. Seventy-seven students who attended the program, 11 teachers who worked in the program, 6 teachers from regular clasrooms and 6 parents of students from the program participated in this study. The results indicated that academically gifted students had a better academic performance than talented students, who obtained a higher score in the creativity test. The perception of teachers, students and parents about activities developed in the program was positive. Educational practices implemented in the program were moderately different from that adopted in regular classrooms.

Esse estudo investigou a percepção do professor de ensino fundamental e de educação infantil sobre o aluno superdotado. Questionários foram aplicados em um grupo de 41 professores de escolas particulares e públicas de Brasília. Uma abordagem qualitativa foi usada nesse estudo. Procedeu-se a uma análise de conteúdo dos dados obtidos. Os resultados sugeriram que tanto os professores de escolas públicas quanto os de escolas particulares consideram importante o papel da escola na educação do aluno superdotado. Entretanto, não adotavam medidas ou instrumentos para identificação desses alunos, nem os atendiam de forma diferenciada. Os professores relataram nunca terem trabalhado com alunos superdotados. A maioria dos professores possuía um conhecimento superficial do conceito de superdotação, do processo de identificação do aluno superdotado e não contava com uma orientação específica sobre práticas educacionais compatíveis com as necessidades desses alunos superdotados.

The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school teachers' perception about gifted students. Questionnaires were administered to 41 teachers from private and public schools in Brasilia. A qualitative approach was used in this study and the data were analyzed through content analysis. The findings suggest that both private and public schools teachers believe that the involvement of the school in the gifted student educational process is important. On the other hand, neither public nor private schools adopted any kind of student identification system or had a special program for those students. The teachers reported that they have never had a gifted student in their classrooms. It was observed that most teachers have a superficial information about the concept of giftedness, identification processes, and educational strategies that could attend the needs of gifted students.