Academic Acceleration as an Educational Adaptation of the Curriculum

Introduction

Receiving education is a human right; it is crucial for the exercise of other human rights. Quality education should aim to guarantee the best possible development of every human being. Therefore, it is necessary to meet the needs of every individual student, considering abilities, other personal characteristics, environment, and social, economic, and cultural influences. High ability students’ needs differ from the needs of most of their age mates. To meet these needs, the curriculum, in primary as well as in secondary school, requires adaptation. There are different ways to do that; pullout classes, compacting and enriching the program, and/or accelerating the pace of the program.

Most European countries officially offer educational measures for gifted students, both enrichment and acceleration (Hoogeveen, in Assouline et al. 2015). Academic acceleration is a complex issue in European education. There are European countries where academic acceleration is not allowed,...