The Implementation of The Schoolwide Enrichment Model, in an Italian SEM School

Balanced research and practice

The field of Gifted Education is a universe that is still little known in Italy despite in many Countries of the European Community, as well as in the so-called emerging countries, the issues of giftedness and talent development are widely known and addressed. The idea that also in Italy different education models should be adopted to meet the diverse educational needs of children with high intellectual potential is suggested by the European Community since the Nineties, but no national provisions have been taken so far. Nonetheless, the first SEM School was founded in the north of Italy where the SEM Model has been implemented for two consecutive years under the guidance of a Specialist in Gifted and Talented Education who provided professional training to the school teachers. The aim of this presentation is to describe, from a practical perspective, how the SEM can be implemented in a Middle School to develop students’ interests and talents.