Abstract "School Talenta Zurich"

Below you find a survey of all activities under the heading of TALENTA, but feel free (and feel encouraged) to look at the German parts of the website, too. You will easily understand many of them ...and find more English texts, graphics and abstracts.

The founders of the school expect learning to proceed at an accelerated rate in comparison with the regular school. Furthermore, the psychological pressure on these children has proved to ease since they are taught in an environment suited to their particular needs and temperament.

One particularly motivating result of the school is the fact that pupils having had severe psychological problems in the regular school now are happy again, love going to school, and work zealously.

At present (since August 2007), there are some 40 to 50 pupils from the Greater Zurich Area working mostly in four different groups, with classes (of 10-12 children) at Talenta not being separated strictly by age.

The curriculum is basically the same as for the regular state school of the Canton of Zurich. However, the Talenta school offers a range of projects, as well as enrichment, accelaration and in-depth programs.

Talenta has six part-time teachers, the sum of the part-times adding up to 4 full posts and resulting in an average of more than "10%"  teacher per child. Two of the teachers hold a qualification as Gymnasium teachers, the others are - as everybody among staff - qualified primary school teachers.

From the start, Talenta has had a scientific evaluation by Professor Ursula Hoyningen-Süess from the Institute for Special Education of the University of Zurich.

With Talenta being a pioneering school, the board and management feel that the pedagogical and methodological approach must be open for permanent refinement, taking into account the current needs and ways of this particular group of children.

From the start, Talenta has been able to take a number of children from underprivileged backgrounds free of charge.

Selection

Talenta has been conceived for the two percentiles of children highly gifted in the field of cognitive intelligence (“western” or “academic” intelligence, i.e. linguistics, maths, spatial thinking). However, strong emphasis also is laid on the development of “hand and heart”, with Zurich standing in the tradition of Pestalozzi and his philosophy of developing the children to their intellectual, emotional and artistic potential.

To apply for the placement of a child, the parents must forward a professional report demonstrating the child´s potential. In Switzerland, state institutions accessible to all the population are in a position to provide this service for free or at a nominal fee.

Furthermore, the school management assesses the mutual suitability of the school and the child with a number of interviews. Natually, the view of the current teacher and individual elements of the child’s personal history are taken into account as well.

Funding

The initial capital was sponsored by public companies resident in Switzerland (Credit Suisse, UBS, IBM, Novartis, Zehnder, Zurich, Winterthur, Swiss Re, AMAG). While the Talenta school has been founded and is run on a strictly private basis by a benevolent non-profit oriented association (“Verein” in German), Talenta is let rooms at a favourable rate in an existing high school of the town of Zurich and therefore can concentrate its efforts on the educational task.

Effect

TheTalenta school has sparked off a number of projects and pilots all over Switzerland, one of them being the complementary project of Universikum, which focuses on the enrichment within the regular primary school.

Separation verus Integration

The position of Talenta is open. The founders believe that in some cases highly gifted children need an education among peers. This however does not preclude other solutions. Talenta welcomes every initiative fostering human intelligence for the better of the community and of the children concerned. Also, Talenta is happy to exchange insight and experience with organisations using different approaches to the common goal.

The name of Talenta

The name was chosen for its strong metaphorical content. Talents can be buried or used with little consideration, or they can be fostered for the better of all of us. The responsibility lies both with the talented person and with the community enabling the talents’ full use. Have you read the bible regarding this point?