The Lithuanian delegation was impressed by the attention of the State of Israel to gifted children
Dileta Tindžiulienė, Head of the Center for the Education of Gifted Children at the Vytautas Magnus University Academy of Education, and a team from the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports visited Israel.
The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the Israeli model of education for gifted children.
The guests visited the University of Haifa and discussed with the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Prof. Dr. Roza Leikin. The professor is the founder and director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Research and Development of Talents and Competencies, the head of the Master’s degree program in the Education of Gifted and Talented Children, and the head of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education, so the experience of the University of Haifa was very relevant in finding solutions in Lithuania in preparation for the implementation of inclusive education change.
At the meeting at the Ministry of Education in Jerusalem, they were impressed by the attention paid to the education of gifted children in the country. A special department for the education of gifted children has been established in the Ministry, which employs over 200 employees. Head of the Department Menachem Nadler and his team presented the most important strategies for the education of gifted children, discussed them, and answered questions.
At the RON VARDI (Rishon LeZion) and TEHNODA (Hadera) centers for the education of gifted children (there are about 60 of them in Israel), guests not only got acquainted with the activities of the centers, but also had the opportunity to observe classes for students who come to these centers once a week for a full day of study. A pleasant meeting took place at the TECHNODA center, when the Lithuanian delegation met with Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry Aaron Ciechanover.
Dileta Tindžiulienė, head of the VMU ŠA center for the education of gifted children, GIFTED, says that the center, established in Lithuania three years ago, is a great example of the results that the realization that these children need additional learning, strategic vision, vision, and a good team can bring to children. “I am glad that the university’s decision to establish a center for these children is paying off. Although the center is only three years old, it has over 300 children studying in Kaunas and Vilnius, and employs about 40 teachers and a team of 7 psychologists. We have adapted the Israeli model and, as we learn with the team every day, we grow, strengthen, and become better experts in the education of the gifted. We hope that our country will also pay additional attention to the education of gifted children and find opportunities to identify and educate these children in Lithuanian schools.”
The Lithuanian representatives were helped to organize a meaningful stay by the Deputy Ambassador of Israel Erez Golan, to whom we sincerely thank for organizing this visit. We also thank the partners of the VMU “Gifted” center, the “IPC” company.
We summarized the stay in Israel with a meeting with the Lithuanian Ambassador to Israel Lina Antanavičienė. We thanked them for their help and support in organizing the visit and agreed to cooperate in the future in finding solutions in Lithuania that would allow the use of Israel’s experience in identifying gifted children in Lithuanian schools and their education.