Early Entry: A Policy in Search of Practice

Abstract

The early admission of young gifted children to schools is a contentious issue. Although NSW has instituted a policy to enable early entry to school, it is rarely implemented. The focus of this pilot study was to identify the attitudes of principals to the policy on early entry and impediments to its implementation. A survey was conducted of 63 primary schools in the South Coast Region of NSW to which 27 schools (42.9%) responded. The data gathered indicated that 25 of the 27 schools were willing to consider early entry; however, only 10 reported that they had received applications, three of which had accepted children, and nine of which had rejected applications. The survey demonstrated that while a range of procedures was used to determine early entry, social and emotional factors were more crucial concerns for the principals than academic factors. The study concludes that the policy, while meeting the needs of young gifted children in principle, ignores the need for specialised teacher-training and resource support.