Who will make it on to the New Year Honours List this year?
Video / NZHerald
Dr Rosemary Cathcart
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to gifted children
Even after 40 years of working towards better education for gifted children and previously being honoured with a Queen’s Service Medal in 2004, Dr Rosemary Cathcart was not expecting to be named a New Year Honours recipient.
The freshly named officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit summed up her reaction to the news in one word: “Surprise.”
To the Rotorua 79-year-old, the honour meant more than a title and a pat on the back.
“It meant that there were people somewhere out there in high places that said it matters to be doing something for these children. To me, that’s what matters.”
Cathcart said the day wasn’t about her or her work. It was about making people think about what more could be done for gifted children.
“So often they are forgotten but if you get this kind of thing coming through then that sends the message that this was worth doing.”
Cathcart has spent the past 40 years doing work she believed was “worth doing”.
She established the George Parkyn National Centre for Gifted Children in 1995, serving as its director for a decade.
She advocated for the Ministry of Education to change its official policy on gifted education in New Zealand, which led to the Ministerial Working Party on Gifted Education, incorporated into New Zealand schools today.
Dr Rosemary Cathcart at Grey Lynn primary school in 2002.
Cathcart also established Reach Education in 2006, developing the Certificate of Effective Practice in Gifted Education, the first online course on giftedness in New Zealand.
This course is recognised in Australia and New Zealand and was awarded the US National Gifted Association Professional Development Network Award in 2017.
Cathcart is the author of three books including They’re Not Bringing My Brain Out and Gifted Programming Made Practical.
Cathcart’s journey started close to home when one of her own children experienced difficulties in primary school.
“I had been a high school teacher. I had no idea why my child was so unhappy at school because what I was seeing with that child was not something I had been taught about,” Cathcart said.
“It took a long time to find out that that child was highly gifted and also dyslexic and dyspraxic and the school was unable to deal with either condition.”
Dr Rosemary Cathcart at One Day School in Port Ahuriri, Napier in 2004.
The experience made Cathcart think. She joined the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children and met other parents experiencing similar hurdles.
“I started from scratch. I started with what I had seen and I started with recognising that it’s the whole child we need to look at.”
From a resource room in a primary school where she was working, Cathcart ran gifted children’s programmes for two years, staying at the end of each lesson to write down everything she observed.
“I recorded what the children had said and examples of the work they did. Then I got asked to teach it to a few other teachers and one thing followed another.”
Cathcart said she simply did whatever she thought would “make a difference” and was grateful to have the “opportunity to see change happen and be involved in that”.
“I’ve seen the change in children. I’ve seen the change in teachers and their understanding of what to do and how to work. I’ve seen the change in parents and families.
