Educational Policy and Practice Regarding More Able Students in Spain: Some Research Results

In this study we shall analyze the current situation of identifying, evaluating, and educating more able students in Spain. We mention, in the first place, the lack of specific legislation normalizing the identification of and educational attention to more able students. We include the latest legal regulations in which a few measures are taken for the education of more able students, but they are still quite insufficient and do not take teacher training into account at all. Despite the lack of support and educational resources in the field of higher abilities, some universities have carried out research projects aimed at identifying and studying the characteristics of more able students. Additionally, we incorporate the first studies on the identification of more able students and the educative attention given to their diversity. These studies were undertaken at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (in northeastern Spain) under the supervision of Professor Genovard and at the University of Murcia (in southeastern Spain) under Professor Prieto. Finally, we shall present our program for teacher training, which we began at the University of Murcia in the academic year 1996–97 with support from the regional delegation in Murcia of the Ministry of Education and Culture.