The first goal of the meeting was to summarize the latest activities on talent support in the participating countries, so several presentation were held by the participants,
Claudia Resch, Johanna Stahl, Sylvia Oppresnig and Bernhard Seyr from Austria, Mojca Jurisevic, Tania Bezić and Gordana Rostohar from Slovenia, Eva Vondrakova, Stanislav Zelenda and Vojtěch Tutr from the Czech Republic, Zsuzsanna Szilágyi; Zsuzsanna M. Szilágyi, Csilla Fuszek and Szilvia Péter-Szarka from Hungary, who represented Polish colleagues who could not come to the meeting. A short summary of the results of the Warsaw International Conference on ’Systemic strategies in teaching gifted students – a way to the future of education’ held in Warsaw, 19-20th October, 2012 was also presented, as the regional meeting was intended to serve as a satellite event of the Warsaw conference to provide more space to personal discussions and sharing of ideas about implementational practices.
The second topic on increasing mutual understanding through knowledge management was presented by our Austrian colleagues, Claudia Resch and Johanna Stahl, who introduced the outlines of a new project about building a web-based knowledge map of the terminology of giftedness and talent, identification, support and promotion of the gifted and talented, and structural and legal framework all over Europe. This project is a new initiation of networking in the continent, as it requires the cooperation of experts of several countries, and will result in mutual learning and increased understanding, and will provide easier comparability across countries.
The third topic was introduced by Csilla Fuszek, the director of the European Talent Centre – Budapest, who presented the recent results of the Hungarian National Talent Support Council on building and strengthening the network in Hungary, which serves as a starting-point of the European Talentpoint system. A model about a newly emerging European Talentpoint system and the Written Declaration on the support of talents in the European Union was also reviewed. A very useful conversation was carried out about the questions of who can be placed on a talent map and what criteria should be applied for institutions to become European Talentpoints. All the participants were highly involved into the topic and contributed in elaborating the initial idea in a very constructive and professional way. Finally a more refined understanding was reached about the European Talentpoint system, however, it can be predicted that some critical issues need to be further developed in the future as practical implementation will surely provide directions for later refinement.
In addition to fruitful professional conversations we had a chance to build personal relations and companionship, as well as to enjoy the monumental scene of the Szeged Dóm, and the taste of traditional Hungarian meals and the specialties of the region.
The meeting served as a further step in strengthening the network of Centrel-Eastern European countries, thus improving the quality of talent support in the region.
Presentations:
Austria:
Claudia Resch
Johanna Stahl
Sylvia Oppresnig
Bernhard Seyr
Czech Republic
Eva Vondrakova, Stanislav Zelenda
Vojtěch Tutr
Hungary:
Csilla Fuszek
Zsuzsanna M. Szilágyi
Poland:
Szilvia Péter-Szarka / Wieslawa Limont
Slovenia
Mojca Jurisevic
Tania Bezić
Gordana Rostohar
