Struggling to find support and resources for your gifted child in the BC education system? Trying to even get your child assessed through the school system? You are not alone.
The Gifted Children’s Association of BC (GCABC) has long been one of many parent groups operating in BC in support of students with special needs. Over time, support for families has shifted from local chapters to selected events organized by GCABC to provide learning opportunities and networking between parents. In addition, the GCABC website provides up to date information easily accessible to parents and educators.
When it comes to education, parents of gifted children in BC face some unique challenges. In this environment, the GCABC has been working on several initiatives to advocate for parents and children.
Data from Student Headcount by Special Needs Category, Published by the Ministry of Education – Education Analytics
In the past two decades, the number of BC students reported as gifted to the Ministry of Education has plunged by 70%, ministry data show.
Experts in the field agree that this is not because BC’s population has become less intellectually able but primarily because gifted children are no longer being identified.
A slow decline in numbers in the late 1990s sped up in 2002 when the ministry halted targeted funding for gifted students. Without dedicated funding, districts stopped assessing and designating students as gifted, reasoning that there was little point as there was no money for the supports these students would need.
Resources that had been in place dried up along with funding, sending gifted student numbers off a cliff: From 18,372, or 2.6% of total BC students, in the 1999-2000 school year, students designated as gifted had shrunk to just 5,469, or 0.8% province-wide, in 2017/2018.
In Vancouver, the biggest school district in BC, the share of gifted-identified children in the public system fell from 5% in 2002/03 to just 0.8% in the 2017-18 school year. The slump in some other regions was even more extreme: in Mission 173 students were classified as gifted in 2002. In 2017, that number had dwindled to just five.
One bright spot on the gifted education landscape is Coquitlam, the third largest education district in the province. In this Lower Mainland district, the number of identified gifted students more than doubled to 2,027 over the same 15-year period. The increase is due to all students in the district being screened for “exceptional abilities”, according to a 2015 Vancouver Sun article.
Gifted designations have also been increasing at BC independent schools. Although the numbers are small, gifted student identifications have increased 74% since 2013 (when the ministry started reporting independent school data separately) to 265 students in 2017/18.
BC student headcount by special needs category, which includes gifted, can be viewed here
BC student headcount by school calendar type can be viewed here
