Managing the curriculum of centres for gifted in the north of Israel : perceptions of stakeholders

In recent years, most countries of the world, including Israel, have recognised the need to respond to the unique needs of gifted/talented students. Nurturing natural "human treasures" requires the educational system to find a variety of solutions that are suited to the skills and the abilities of each child. How can this potential be nurtured into achievements? This question has led to the establishment of varied cultivation frameworks. This study examines one of these frameworks -- the "Children Searching for Knowledge" (CSK) enrichment centres. The project was developed by the administration of the Northern Region of the Ministry of Education of Israel and its goal was to cultivate cognitive, emotional and social fields of study and to provide effective programmes in order to help the gifted children to fulfil their potential and enable them to make contributions to the society. The programme was aimed at the upper stratum, ten percent of students from every school, in every community, from grades 1 - 6, who were identified through tests and recommendations.;The research questions examined the goals of the project, the management of the centres, choosing the enrichment programmes, the expectations of the students and their parents, the ability of the project to satisfy the needs of the gifted students and the impact of other factors involved, such as budget, teacher availability and location.;From an analysis of the findings it can be determined that this enrichment programme from gifted students satisfies the needs consolidated in the planning stages of the project, of developing intellectual ability, providing wide and multi-disciplinary knowledge bases, cognitive skills and problem solving, creativity and originality, satisfying tools for independent study through investigation and discovery, improving self-image, and education for social involvement and responsibility.