Engaging gifted kids in transforming our future

Future Problem Solving Programme for gifted children

An innovative programme is helping to unleash young people’s potential to influence – and transform for the better – the societies of today and tomorrow.

Future Problem Solving (FPS) is designed for gifted primary and secondary school students nationwide. Over the course of a year, the students work in teams to consider some of the complex social and scientific problems our global society is likely to face in future. Using a six-step problem-solving process, they are encouraged to think creatively and critically, consider values and ethics, find solutions and develop plans of action to solve the problems they identify.

This programme also includes ‘Community Problem Solving’, where students identify a problem in their local community, apply the problem-solving process they’ve learned, develop a plan of action and implement their solution. This has contributed to some profound changes in local communities – like the Year 6 team in Kerikeri who were a key force behind the Far North District Council’s decision to build a bypass around the Kerikeri Stone Store Basin.

Originally developed in the United States and introduced to New Zealand in 1990, FPS is available in many New Zealand schools thanks to the dedication of the largely volunteer staff. The Todd Foundation has helped to put the organisation on a more secure footing by funding administration and office expenses, which will allow it to expand the programme further this year.

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