Systems theory provides a way of thinking about physical, biological and social systems (Slee & Shute, 2003). It has been particularly influential for thinking about child development and family relationships, but has the potential to be applied to other settings, such as teachers in schools. The key principle to be taken from systems theory is that of mutual interdependence, or reciprocity, within and between levels of interaction. If we consider Bronfenbrenner's (1979, 1989, cited in Berk, 1993) early explanation, systems theory views the person as operating within a complex system of relationships affected by both the immediate settings, such as family or school, and broader cultural values and programs. The following diagram captures the essence of the different levels of a school system, placing the teacher as the central focus.
(Adapted from Berk, 1993, p. 27) At the inner circle - the microsystem - is the teacher. This circle encompasses the activities and interactions in the teacher's immediate surroundings, keeping in mind that all relationships are bi- directional and reciprocal. At the mesosystem level are the microsystems that connect with each other, such as other teachers and students' families. The exosystem refers to settings that do not necessarily contain teachers, but that have an effect upon teachers' lives and work, such as professional and community organisations. At the outer level are the laws and customs that operate in society as a whole.
The value of systems theory is that it highlights that interventions at any level of the environment can affect the system as a whole (Berk, 1993). For example, changes in social values relating to education at the macro-level may lead to changes in budget allocations at the exo-level, to class size at the meso-level and to a teacher's workload at the micro-level. In reverse, a teacher's voice at the micro-level may lead to changes in school policy at the meso-level, to representations to government and community at the exo-level, and to a change in values at the macro-level. This highlights another fundamental premise of systems theory - that of change. 'Organisms change and develop over time, and a key aspect of the theory is that constituent parts may come together to produce new, emergent properties; the whole is thus more than the sum of its parts' (Slee & Shute, 2003, p. 168). References Berk, L. E. (1993). Infants, children and adolescents. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Slee, P. & Shute, R. (2003). Child development: Thinking about theories. London: Hodder Arnold.
4. Equal Educational Opportunity "There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people." Thomas Jefferson The concept of equal educational opportunity should extend to all children, including those identified as gifted, and provisions should be made to enable each child to reach his/her highest potential. Equal educational opportunity does not mean providing the same education for every child but providing the opportunities through which every child can maximize his or her individual potential. True equality is providing equal opportunity to benefit from education according to ability. To use the same methods and materials for all children is not providing equal educational opportunity. Setting expectations too high may frustrate some students and create an environment for failure. The same is true of a student with high ability who will not reach his/her potential if required to perform at exactly the same level as all other students. In the present social, political, and educational systems based upon democratic principles, the refusal to provide gifted children the right to an educational opportunity appropriate to their level of development is not acceptable. To assume that one level of educational opportunity meets the needs of all students is unfair. A variety of learning opportunities at many different levels must be provided for all children. When entering the educational system, many gifted children have already developed the basic skills other students have yet to be taught. Their ideas and interests may be very different from that of their age peers, and they may begin to develop a sense of isolation or feel different from others. Because their educational needs are being ignored, many students with giftedness fail to achieve their potential, set low goals for themselves, and achieve at levels significantly lower than their intellectual capability. Without access to special resources and intensive instruction early in their educational experience, the highly gifted are most at risk for under achievement. Gifted and talented students develop a sense of competence and self-confidence when they are provided services designated to meet their unique needs. Students with giftedness who receive special services tend to make significant gains in achievement. They learn to work more effectively and efficiently and develop strong problem-solving skills. These students absorb a vast amount of information and utilize this knowledge to produce a variety of possible solutions. They become producers of knowledge and ideas instead of just consumers. Loss of talent through educational neglect can be a tragic waste for both the individual and in turn for society. Students who are gifted and talented have much to contribute to society and in turn can benefit society by solving a range of complex problems facing humanity today. Society needs these gifted individuals and needs to expect much from them. As adults, today's gifted students are needed to play more demanding and innovative roles as humanity faces future complex problems. Leaders, problem solvers, and complex thinkers are vital for society's progress in this millennium. The United States Congress recognized the value of these talented individuals in a declaration made in 1972 (P.L.l 95-561, Title IX, Part A, Section 901):
"The Nation's greatest resource for solving critical national problems in areas of national concern is its gifted and talented children. Unless the special abilities of gifted and talented children are developed during their elementary and secondary school years, their special potential for assisting the Nation may be lost. Furthermore, gifted and talented children from economically disadvantaged families and areas are often not afforded the opportunity to fulfill their special and valuable potential, due to inadequate or inappropriate educational services." Because many students with giftedness do not continue to achieve without attention to their unique educational needs, the losses of individual potential and the benefits of gifted services are difficult to calculate. As James Gallagher wrote in 1978,failure to help the gifted child reach his potential is a societal tragedy, the extent of which is difficult to measure but which is surely great. How can we measure the sonata unwritten, the curative drug undiscovered, the absence of political insight? They are the difference between what we are and what we could be as a society." I. THE SCHOOL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS We are apt to look at the school from an individualistic standpoint, as something between teacher and pupil, or between teacher and parent. That which interests us most is naturally the progress made by the individual child of our acquaintance, his normal physical development, his advance in ability to read, write, and figure, his growth in the knowledge of geography and history, improvement in manners, habits of promptness, order, and industryit is from such standards as these that we judge the work of the school. And rightly so. Yet the range of the outlook needs to be enlarged. What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy. All that society has accomplished for itself is put, through the agency of the school, at the disposal of its future members. All its better thoughts of itself it hopes to realize through the new possibilities thus opened to its future self. Here individualism and socialism are at one. Only by being true to the full growth of all the individuals who make it up, can society by any chance be true to itself. And in the self-direction thus given, nothing counts as much as the school, for, as Horace Mann said, "Where anything is growing, one former is worth a thousand re-formers." Whenever we have in mind the discussion of a new movement in education, it is especially necessary to take the broader, or social, view. Otherwise, changes in the school institution and tradition will be looked at as the arbitrary inventions of particular teachers; at the worst transitory fads, and at the best merely improvements in certain detailsand this is the plane upon which it is too customary to consider school changes. It is as rational to conceive of the locomotive or the telegraph as personal devices. The modification going on in the method and curriculum of education is as much a product of the changed social situation, and as much an effort to meet the needs of the new society that is forming, as are changes in modes of industry and commerce. It is to this, then, that I especially ask your attention: the effort to conceive what roughly may be termed the "New Education" in the light of larger changes in society. Can we connect this "New Education" with the general march of events? If we can, it will lose its isolated character ; it will cease to be an affair which proceeds only from the over-ingenious minds of pedagogues dealing with particular pupils. It will appear as part and parcel of the whole social evolution, and, in its more general features at least, as inevitable. Let us then ask after the main aspects of the social movement; and afterward turn to the school to find what witness it gives of effort to put itself in line. And since it is quite impossible to cover the whole ground, I shall for the most part confine myself to one typical thing in the modem school movementthat which passes under the name of manual traininghoping if the relation of that to changed social conditions appears, we shall be ready to concede the point as well regarding other educational innovations.