Much of the work on predicting academic success in postsecondary education has focused on the impact of various cognitive abilities, although in recent years there has been increased attention to the role played by emotional and social competency (also called emotional intelligence (EI)). Previous work on the link between EI and giftedness is reviewed, particularly factors connected to the successful transition to postsecondary education. Data are presented from a sample of 171 exceptionally high-achieving secondary students (high school grade-point average of 90% or better) who completed a measure of trait EI at the start of postsecondary studies and who had their academic progress tracked over the next 6 years. High-achieving secondary students who completed an undergraduate degree scored significantly higher on a number of EI dimensions compared to the secondary students who dropped out. Results are discussed in the context of the importance of EI in the successful transition from secondary to postsecondary education.
This study aimed to examine the relationship between social–emotional learning skills and perceived social support of gifted students. Based on this relationship, the authors also examined to what extent social and emotional learning skills were predictive of social support. In addition, gender variables were compared in social and emotional learning skills and social support as well. By convenient sampling, the study was carried out as a correlational research design and involved 117 gifted middle school students who attended an enriched after school program. For the collection of data, Social Emotional Learning Skills Scale (SELSS) and Child-Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASS) were used. Results showed that there was a significant correlation between SELSS and CASS. Regression analysis indicated that social and emotional learning skills explained 29% of social support importance section and 43% of frequency section. Another important finding was that gifted students saw close friends as the primary source of social support and their teachers as the important social support source. In addition, the most significant difference between female and male students was also found on most subscales of two scales in favour of females. Discussion and suggestions were provided based on the findings.
Models of giftedness in the 21st century tend to describe talent as a social construct. Research now indicates that certain talented populations that are composed of multiple exceptional individuals are excluded from talent development programmes. Recognizing how well the environment best fits individual needs at particular key developmental moments, shifts the emphases of focus regarding gifted education significantly. The provision for, and the development of, multiple exceptional gifted individuals from this perspective can engender far greater possibilities than previously imagined earlier. In Hungary, we started to create innovative networks for the encouragement and the development of effective, inclusive provision. The networks have however replicated many of the problems of the former provision for talented individuals and groups. The further development of content and appropriate forms of programmes need to be synchronized through networks of innovative provision and evaluation. The proposed complex provision is suggested as a solution for the new forms of talent development that are open to the multiple exceptional gifted population regardless of the populations’ needs being understood, and perceived by, different audiences as being variously extreme, diverse and novel. A system utilizing key aspects of Bloom’s taxonomy, Renzulli’s enrichment triad and Gardner’s multiple intelligences is proposed.
The research on families of the gifted is extremely limited. In the past, families of the gifted have been studied mainly for two reasons: to discover how family life creates or supports giftedness or eminence, or to understand how one gifted child affects siblings. Few studies, however, have examined the impact of gifted children on the lives of parents. Most studies highlight that many gifted have unique needs and vulnerabilities. Although there is limited empirical research on the experience of parenting a gifted child, there is clinical and anecdotal evidence that the role presents unique parenting challenges. This article presents preliminary research data on the experiences of parenting a gifted child within the family. The authors embrace a risk and resilience model, supported by clinical data obtained from families with a gifted child seen at a leading center for gifted children in Milan.
Mindfulness and character strengths are synergistic tools that work together to cultivate well-being. Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice (MBSP) combines the research and practice of these constructs to enhance well-being, meaning, and engagement. In this article, research supporting how mindfulness and character strengths may benefit the gifted population is explored. Particular attention is devoted to exploring practical implications for the integration of mindfulness and character strengths together and the application to support gifted students and their teachers/parents. MBSP provides a promising avenue for addressing some of the unique challenges inherent in working with gifted students.
Gifted students usually require much less time spent in practising and revising basic skills; instead, they benefit greatly from opportunities to work through the curriculum at a faster pace (acceleration). Teachers currently working with mixed-ability classes do not always find it easy to differentiate their teaching approach in this way, so there is a need to facilitate in-service professional development to provide teachers with practical strategies for implementing effective differentiation for gifted learners. In response, a project for primary school teachers was organized by a university in Hong Kong. The purposes of the project were (a) to enhance the confidence of teachers in planning and delivering differentiated lessons in specific key learning areas (KLAs) with particular reference to gifted students; (b) to empower teachers with knowledge and strategies necessary for designing and implementing a differentiated curriculum in KLA domains and (c) to establish a professional development practice that connects local academics with schools and teachers. The project was implemented by inviting curriculum leaders, panel chairpersons and subject teachers from primary schools to attend a 3-hour lecture and a 6-hour workshop in which differentiation practices were explored. The project was later evaluated based on feedback from participants and university consultants. Overall, the feedback was positive, but suggestions are provided here for enhancing future projects of a similar nature.
Prior literature on the use of character strengths suggests that both deficiencies and excesses in the use of strengths can be problematic. While most school-based training in character strengths tends to focus on the former issue, an example is provided of a school-based program offered by the Mayerson Academy in partnership with the VIA Institute on Character that does not focus on deficiency but rather celebrates enhancing one’s own personal key strengths. This program, entitled Thriving Learning Communities, will be implemented in 42 Cincinnati public schools this year. It aims to motivate students, as well as educators, to perform at their highest levels through encouraging increased use of character strengths. We provide an overview of the program and discuss how it may be modified by the teacher to offer a more nuanced perspective on character strengths within a gifted student population. Specifically, within a gifted classroom setting, we discuss ways in which educators can encourage gifted students to understand the importance of balancing their strengths and effectively matching their use of strengths to the situation. In addition to focusing on the use of signature or top strengths, we suggest a program that would aid gifted students in deciphering when it is most and least appropriate to use top strengths, through a dial-up/dial-down framework for targeted strength use.
In this article, we report the findings of a qualitative, collective case study exploring the academic experiences of six grade 11 gifted students in two schools in diverse socio-economic communities in rural Western South Africa. Gifted students represent an important component of a nation’s intellectual capital. They possess the qualities needed to find innovative solutions for many scientific and social challenges. Despite inclusive education policy initiatives aimed at ensuring quality education for all, the extant research indicates that gifted students from all socio-economic levels and cultures are neglected in South African classrooms. In this study, the voices of the students themselves were analysed. Whilst they are on the receiving end of education policy and teaching initiatives, their contributions are seldom sought. Our data collection methods included multiple measures and six in-depth individual semi-structured interviews as well as a focus group interview with all the subjects. The informal findings showed that academically gifted students from both affluent and disadvantaged backgrounds face similar challenges. They often feel neglected and academically under-stimulated. Recommendations were made to address their needs more appropriately.
The aim of this descriptive study was to determine the features of intelligence perceptions according to age, gender, class level, school success level and university departments. Two different scales by Dweck (2000) for both adults and children were translated into Turkish. These scales were then applied to 1350 Turkish students ranging from fourth-grade primary school to fourth-year university. Results showed that student scores relating to the perception that intelligence is an unchangeable feature in accordance with age, gender, class level, school success level and university departments were higher than the scores relating to the perception that intelligence is a malleable feature. In the terminology of mindset theory, these students were more likely to reveal evidence of fixed than growth mindsets.
Gifted education (GE) in Singapore is entering its third decade. However, local research into the gifted is typically undertaken by graduate students and left as unpublished data. Internationally, there is also very little if any research on counseling models that have been empirically validated for use with gifted children irrespective of their country of origin and cultural experience. This article serendipitously originated from the second author’s visit to Singapore as a consulting scholar and his discussions with personnel at the Singapore Education Ministry’s GE Branch and interactions with local teachers and parents of gifted children. Drawing on the published wisdom of clinical experts and the second author who have provided counseling for gifted children, and the first author’s knowledge about Asian culture and educational context in Singapore, the article proposes an evidence-based counseling model that could serve the needs of gifted children in Singapore and possibly other Asian countries.
The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between self-esteem and motivational components and to determine which were the best predictors of academic achievement among Turkish gifted students. Participants in this study were 184 students (76 girls and 108 boys). Sixty-one students were from the fourth grade, 43 from the fifth grade, 34 from the sixth, 32 from the seventh and 14 from the eighth grade. Eighty-four of the students attended Istanbul Art and Science Centre, which is an after-school program for gifted students, and 100 of them attended a public special education school for gifted students. The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory was used to assess self-esteem and the Scale of Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Motivational Orientation in the Classroom was used to assess motivational components. Findings showed significant correlations between self-esteem, motivation and achievement. Using a regression analysis, in fourth graders general self-esteem, in fifth graders academic self-esteem, in sixth and seventh graders intrinsic motivations and in eighth graders extrinsic motivation were found to predict academic achievement.
This study explored the relationship between verbal and nonverbal intelligence scores in students from low-income households. Researchers investigated how the verbal and nonverbal scores of these students differed both by ability level and within each grade. The Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scale was administered to 1935 kindergarten through fifth-grade students enrolled in free and reduced-price lunch programs. Large gaps were found between students’ verbal and nonverbal intelligence scores; such gaps were not specific to any particular grade or ability level but rather were seen in all of the examined grades. Gaps were even larger for students with higher nonverbal IQ scores. Results suggest that assessments based solely on nonverbal scores should be interpreted with caution.
Positive psychology has revived psychology’s abandoned interest in the study of morally positively valued traits (the so-called character strengths) and virtues. We review literature generated on strength-based approaches and focus on applications in the so-called positive psychology interventions. There seems to be great potential in this approach for research in the field of giftedness and, of course, also when practically working with gifted children and adolescents. We highlight some ideas for future research directions.
Strengths of the heart is a new and potentially useful paradigm for understanding how the whole gifted child can thrive and flourish. Until recently, those who have written about and have researched the gifted have focused much of their work on strengths of the head—understanding, identifying, and promoting intelligence and creativity. More recently, there has been a growing interest in looking "beyond the head," to the heart and soul of the gifted child. Feelings, emotions, character strengths, and social competencies are now being researched among high-ability students. This article introduces the idea of strengths of the heart and the special issue.
In this article, the author describes a different theory of multiple abilities, the Prism Model, developed with Usanee Anuruthwong from Thailand, and further evolved with Belle Wallace from the UK and Leonie Kronborg from Australia. Using this model, insights gained will be shared that have been gained from working with children and adults from different cultures, especially the Diné people in northern Arizona, USA, and my journey toward development of my spiritual awareness and abilities. These insights will help readers find their own ways to recognize and develop these abilities in their students. Our current work with the Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving model will illustrate practical ways educators can develop spiritual abilities in classroom contexts while teaching the required academic content.
The concept of spirituality is influenced by culture and the values and mores of Brazil, and though not directly linked to religion it actually grows from the same roots. This paper examines spirituality in education from the perspective of a humanistic psychology framework expressed as an ideal of the adequate personality or healthy personality. An exploratory study conducted by the Potential and Talent Devenlopment Center (CEDET) is discussed in which students responded to two major themes: idea of God; and where is the Soul? The idea-units of the students were grouped as themes and sub-themes around the definition of spiritual intelligence of Sisk and Torrance and humanistic psychology.
Current models of spiritual development suggest that adolescents have limited capacity for spirituality and spiritual experiences. Adolescents are seen to have immature moral and ethical judgment and be incapable of deep spiritual experience due to lack of cognitive development. This mixed-methods study explored the existence of spiritual intelligence in adolescents using surveys to measure spiritual intelligence and spirituality: the spiritual intelligence self-report inventory (SISRI), the integrated spiritual intelligence scale (ISIS), and the intrinsic spirituality scale (ISS). High scorers were found on every survey, and all surveys were positively correlated. Top scorers were interviewed concerning their lived experience of spirituality. Thematic analysis revealed eight major categories: definition of spirituality, definition of God, importance of family, ways of connecting to the divine, spiritual experiences, role models, spiritual values, and skepticism of spirituality. Some adolescents display high levels of spiritual intelligence, which manifests as having spiritual values (e.g. altruism, compassion, openness), spiritual experiences, and practices to connect to the divine.
This paper addresses the question of spirituality in a religious setting, and prayer as an expression of ultimate values, as a discipline which inspires empathy, as an instrument for connecting us with nature, and as a compass pointing us toward God, meaning, and purpose. Spirituality in the general education setting will also be discussed, as well as the relationship that exists between the skills of critical and creative thinking and the traits of spiritual intelligence. Examples will be provided on ways in which the prompts of depth and complexity can be used to provide opportunities for students to develop understanding of content, knowledge, and skills, and how these can be integrated into classroom learning experiences through questions that teachers ask students.
This paper explores connections between spirituality and creativity in indigenous communities, and their link to spiritual intelligence. Some spiritual and creative characteristics of Brazilian indigenous peoples are described, as well as their legacy to Brazilian culture and creative giftedness. The paper concludes that Brazilian people have inherited a rich imagination, permeable culture, and many animist elements from the indigenous societies, which are factors that contribute to creative expression and the blossoming of spiritual intelligence.
This paper begins a discussion of the importance of moments of inspiration, or as they are commonly called ‘mountain top experiences’, in the development of the Self, as defined by Annemarie Roeper. In considering the spiritual nature of gifted children, a long overdue discussion, the concept of Self or self-awareness is often reflected in definitions and concepts of spirituality and therefore must be addressed. The importance of creating an environment to nurture the spiritual aspect of gifted children is discussed and suggestions for creating this environment are offered.
This article will share the intellectual journey E. Paul Torrance and I traveled in 2001, in which we explored psychology, science and ancient wisdom and traditions, including Native American and indigenous traditions, to establish a foundation for spiritual intelligence. This section will be followed by ways to develop and nurture spiritual intelligence in the classroom, focusing on service learning with student examples; a section on seven ways to develop or raise spiritual intelligence; a section examining efforts initiated and developed in business to develop spiritual intelligence; and servant leadership that incorporates much of what E. Paul Torrance and I called spiritual intelligence: The capacity to use a multi-sensory approach, including intuition, meditation and visualization, to tap inner knowledge to solve problems of a global nature.
This article examines spiritual giftedness and the spiritual development of a recent high school graduate. The framework of the investigation was to explore teachers’ perspectives on spiritual giftedness and what traits students display in the classroom. The concept of spiritual giftedness has gained increasing attention over the years and is evolving in the field of gifted education. These findings may be useful for practitioners in understanding spiritually gifted students and for professors as they prepare teachers to serve the needs of the whole child.
In the previous literature on gifted education in Hong Kong, there has been little mention of special schools for gifted and/or talented students in Hong Kong except for GT College, Hong Kong’s first college for the gifted. Some notable researchers in gifted education in Hong Kong have described the college briefly with regard to its admission policy but have not discussed its programmes. The present article aims to provide a more extended introduction about how GT College successfully nurtures its gifted and/or talented students to become future leaders in Hong Kong. The present article comprises a systematic overview of the historical developments of gifted education in Hong Kong. This is followed by a historical review of GT College. Then, GT College’s learning and teaching philosophy is addressed followed by its innovative curriculum for gifted and/or talented students – Talent Development Programmes and Youth Development Programmes.
This small-scale exploratory study identified strategies used by three intellectually very able university students with specific learning difficulties for maintaining motivation on their path to achievement. All three participants were located in Hong Kong. The research questions were: (a) What coping strategies are used by intellectually very able university students with specific learning difficulties? (b) What are the critical influences driving and supporting their motivation to achieve? A narrative inquiry method was used to obtain and analyze data. Two gifted university graduates and one undergraduate, all with specific learning difficulties, were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire and open discussion. Data indicated that they developed strategies to cope largely in response to adverse learning environments. The support of significant persons, such as parents and teachers, were also seen to be essential for sustaining their motivation to achieve. Implications for supporting university students with specific learning difficulties are briefly discussed.
This paper describes a social skills programme implemented to enhance the social competence of Primary-one students in order to ensure a smooth adjustment after transition from kindergarten to a formal school learning environment. The participants were 122 students (64 boys and 58 girls; mean age 6.17 years, SD = 0.29 years) newly enrolled in a Hong Kong primary school. The intervention involved 60 minutes of contact per week for 8 weeks, and focused on playing interactive group games led by trained parent volunteers. Raven’s (1980) Standard Progressive Matrices were used to identify high-ability and average-ability students. In order to assess the programme’s impact on social competence, parents and teachers completed the Early School Behavior Rating Scale. Results indicated that students in the programme made significantly greater progress than a comparison group of Primary-one students who did not go through the intervention. High-ability students showed significant improvements in social competence, sustained over time in both home and school settings. Students of average ability exhibited positive improvements in social competence in school, but this did not always transfer to home. Boys improved their social competence and narrowed the gender difference with girls. Implications for school intervention are discussed.
Dabrowski recognized that the creative process is important in the personality development of the gifted and talented. Given the intrinsically creative nature of learning in an arts- infused context, we hypothesize that interdisciplinary approaches to curriculum address the unique needs of the gifted. First, we will summarize Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration, providing a theoretical context to discuss an ongoing research project that engages gifted students in arts-based learning. We then briefly describe the implications of positive disintegration in the middle school context, and how art education can support this process. Finally, we describe how two arts integrated projects addressed the process of positive disintegration. In 2013, University of Calgary students in ART 307, "Applied concepts in art with children ages 6-12," worked with gifted middle school students on an integrated art–social studies–science project called "When Fisher went to Skyland." In this project, one class of Grade 6 students explored Iroquois culture and sky science through printmaking. In 2014, four classes of Grade 5 students worked with ART 307 students to enhance their understanding of electricity and magnetism through explorations using theatre games, creative movement and animation. We suggest that engaging gifted middle school students in the arts can be a means to facilitate alternative learning methodologies in all subject areas, and provide necessary support in personality development.
Underachievement among gifted students is a paradox that frustrates educators because of the significant disparity between students’ potential and their performance. Complicating the issue is the highly individualized nature of the underperformance, which must take into consideration factors of student culture, socio-economic status, motivation, and the environment. Once these factors are considered, both the intellectual and affective needs of the gifted underachiever must be examined and supported in order to try and bridge the gap between known ability and actual performance. This case study examines the factors behind three gifted underachievers in an urban, high school setting. Through interviews and observation, the researcher sheds light on the potential influences of each individual’s level of underachievement and shares insight into how it was addressed in the classroom through the lenses of motivation, culture and context, and the environment. While the approaches and outcomes for each student are different, one theme emerged: students were more effective at instituting change in their lives once they had fully accepted and embraced that they were both gifted and underachieving.
Using PISA 2009, an international education database, this study compares gifted and talented (GT) students in three groups with normal (non-GT) students by examining student characteristics, reading, schooling, learning methods, and use of strategies for understanding and memorizing. Results indicate that the GT and non-GT gender distributions show differences; GT groups’ reading time, reading material types, and level of interests are higher than or different from non-GT, but their use of library is not. Furthermore, teacher–student relationships of GT groups are better than those of non-GT, but their attitudes toward school show no differences. Results of t-tests reveal that two learning methods are employed significantly more often by GT than by non-GT, but a third method is used less by GT students.
Reviewing the assessment literature, dynamic assessment is the most recently advocated type of assessment in that it not only argues for integration between assessment and instruction, but also takes into consideration the testees' past, present, and future potentials. However, as far as dynamic assessment is concerned, a key question is: How much assistance, or mediation, should be provided by the assessor? Most studies are at the level of theory, and putting the theory into practice is not that easy. The same question is more salient for gifted students. Should they be provided with the same degree of mediation as is provided for other students? The current paper makes an attempt to provide a more practical and understandable answer to this question. To achieve the goal, the author refers to the concept of critical thinking and, after clarifying it, responds to the above-mentioned question by maintaining that helping gifted students reach the threshold level of critical thinking should be the final point of assisting learners in an assessment session.
This qualitative case study explored the operational curricula of an art teacher’s responsive pedagogy that focused on the differentiation aspects for artistically talented students in an elementary school in Taiwan. Findings indicate that cultivating a Jian Zi is the heart of the value system embedded in the art teacher’s responsive pedagogy for the development of art talent. Jian Zi means a superior person with both talent and virtue (Cai De Jian Bei). Three themes are discussed: (a) qualitatively differentiated curricula for fostering sensitivity to human concerns; (b) harmonic integration between self-pursuits and group intentions; and (c) personalized guidance for well-balanced mixtures of substance and refinement. The art teachers’ responsive pedagogy can inspire practitioners to implement a differentiated "attentive living art curriculum" (Gude, 2007) in their classrooms.
International evidence demonstrates the importance of engaging parents in the education of their ‘high-potential’ children, yet limited research has focused on the involvement of parents from differing economic strata/backgrounds. The current study explored the dilemmas of parenting academically high-ability children from economically deprived urban areas in the UK. Data were gathered from a sample of parents whose children attended a university-based sustained intervention programme for designated ‘gifted’ pupils aged 12–16. Parental perceptions were sought in relation to (a) the usefulness/impact of the intervention programme, (b) parents’ aspirations for their children growing up in economically deprived urban areas and (c) parents’ views on the support provided by the extended family, peer groups and the wider community. The findings have significant implications for both policy and practice and, more specifically, for engaging parents in intervention programmes offered by universities and schools to children in order to increase their access to higher education and for enhancing their life chances.
Students will speak a second language with an accent if they learn the language after the age of six. It does not matter how motivated and clever they are, the accent will not go away. Only a few gifted students can speak a second language flawlessly. The exact reasons for this phenomenon are unknown. Although a large number of hypotheses have been put forward, the phenomenon is still a puzzle to most language educators. We have conducted some preliminary studies with a computer system to verify some of the hypotheses and determine the relationship between listening abilities and language learning. These efforts will form the basis upon which to obtain a better understanding of the process of learning languages and, over the longer term, to devise better methods for learning languages.
This paper reviews the current literature on twice-exceptional students who are dual diagnosed as having giftedness and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This area of research is warranted because giftedness and ADHD present similarly but have different ramifications for performance and outcomes. In addition, research inquiry and intervention can ease the frustration of those individuals who have both of these strengths and weaknesses. Giftedness and ADHD are examined in terms of identification of individual and dual diagnoses; performance of gifted students with ADHD, including underachievement and creativity; psychosocial outcomes; and interventions for students with giftedness/ADHD. Gaps in the literature and future directions are discussed.
The primary purpose of this study was to compare language and narrative skills of both talented and regular young children in Taiwan. The participants were asked to tell a story based on images in children’s picture books. Twelve children, who participated in a screening session designed to identify young talented children for the Enrichment Program for Cultivating Problem Solving Abilities and Multiple Intelligences for Talented Preschoolers (PSMIGP program), were divided into a verbally talented group (VT) and a regular group (RE). The stories told by the participants were tape-recorded, transcribed, and coded using the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES). The results indicated that the verbally talented children demonstrated their linguistic talents at as young as four years of age. In telling a story, they used more clauses and more words that were different to complete the task. In addition, they used more modifiers (i.e. adjectives and adverbs) and employed more conjunctions that were more complex. However, there were no differences between the two groups in mean length of utterance (MLU) and type-token ratios (TTRs). This paper presents a discussion on the implications of this study and offers suggestions for future research.
This paper discusses issues on cross-cultural gifted screening from a Philippine perspective. Research on gifted education in the Philippines, and Southeast Asia in general, is still nascent. The main focus of this review of literature is on equity of the gifted education screening process across wide socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic differences within the student population. On account of the relative lack of specific literature on Philippine gifted education, this review links the findings in gifted education research from Western-based countries and relates the findings to the Philippine context. For example, although the Philippines do not have as much of an issue of racial inequity in schools as the United States, the same inequity because of socioeconomic factors can be tackled similarly. The implication of alternative assessments, and their utility in cross-cultural gifted education, are also examined.
The HighScope Summer Camp for Teenagers founded by David P Weikart in 1963, and operated until 2002, was an international, inclusive gifted education program that aided many young people, including those from disadvantaged social strata, in their personal development and shaped them in a special way. The six-week program stood for a high degree of structure and high expectations from the youth with regard to active thinking, problem solving and responsible action in the sciences, arts, and in social intercourse. Diversity and social justice were organically integrated, as was closeness to nature and a hands-on approach. The author worked on David P Weikart’s team during the summer of 1984 and then helped to found a similar program in Germany. The author’s personal HighScope experience remained intact over the decades and an effective background source of inspiration and orientation for his work in special and inclusive education.
Gifted education and talent development are considered today as key elements for developing human capital and increasing competitiveness within education and the economy. Within this framework, a growing number of countries have begun to invest large amounts of resources to discover and nurture their most able students. As boundaries and differences between cultures become less pronounced in a global world, educational models to guide gifted education and talent development are also becoming more widely applicable. In this context, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) stands as a flexible model that enables schools in different regions of the world to provide individuals with opportunities to identify their potentials and to help them reach their highest levels of competence. This paper provides an overview of the SEM and the broad range of regions in which the model is currently implemented, as well as an examination of the reasons for its widespread acceptance among educators around the world. In addition, this paper includes an interview with Dr Joseph Renzulli, inventor of SEM, in which several issues related to the cultural adaptation of the SEM are discussed. Finally, the paper presents an introduction to the SEM International Network, a newly developed project created to connect SEM users around the world and to facilitate the sharing and accessing of ideas and resources for talent development.
In this reflective conversation, Ugur Sak discusses the current "state of the art" of gifted education in Turkey. He reviews the use of enrichment, discusses acceleration and reviews curricular procedures in Turkey. He responds to questions about the identification of gifted students and discusses the age old debate of talent versus giftedness. Other topics discussed are mentoring and governmental policies impacting the teaching and education of gifted children and adolescents in Turkey.
The Hope Scale is an 11-item teacher-rating instrument designed to help identify academic and social components of giftedness. It provides insights from teachers who work with students on a daily basis, which may differ from the type of information yielded through achievement and ability tests. The Hope Scale development was made possible by the generous support of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and it is available as a free download from the GERI website (www.purdue.edu/geri).
The long-term aim of fostering creativity in all students is specifically included in Hong Kong’s curriculum guidelines. However, implementation of teaching strategies to achieve this aim has presented difficulties for many teachers. It is likely that teachers with experience in gifted education are in the best position in this respect, because they may have studied aspects of giftedness in more depth, and may possess essential knowledge and skills to promote creativity. The aim of this exploratory study was to focus on this sub-set of teachers, to investigate their beliefs about creativity and their creativity-fostering practices. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 primary school teachers. Findings included the teachers’ beliefs about creativity and gifted education, and cognitive and personal aspects in their creativity-fostering practices. Implications for teacher education are discussed.
The provision of gifted students with learning difficulties (GSLD) composes a complicated educational problem that deserves special care. This study explores teachers’ attitudes towards the GSLD in two samples of primary school teachers: 225 Greek teachers and 158 teachers in the Czech Republic, 40–59 years of age and with 14–28 years of teaching experience. A questionnaire of 26 questions, created for the purpose of this study, was administered referring to teachers’ attitudes towards opinions and information regarding the GSLD characteristics, along with three open-ended questions on the most preferable types of the GSLD educational provision. Through multidimensional scaling solutions in their trigonometric transformation (MDS-T) one large common and one minor separate system of items emerged for the two samples, which were meaningful in the direction of understanding teachers’ difficulties in accepting the contradictory core of the GSLD characteristics and educational needs. These systems of attitudes are discussed in respect to their relative importance to Czech and Greek teachers and the respective educational settings.
The challenge of correctly identifying gifted students is a critical issue. Gifted education in Puerto Rico is marked by insufficient support and a lack of appropriate identification methods. This study examined the reliability and validity of a Spanish translation of the Gifted Rating Scales-School Form (GRS) with a sample of 618 island-residing Puerto Rican students. Alpha values for the Spanish-translated version ranged from 0.98 to 0.99, comparable to those reported for the USA standardization sample. Scores on the Spanish-translated GRS correlated positively and significantly with classroom grades, Naglieri Non-verbal Test of Intelligence (NNAT) scores and with the island’s local norm-referenced achievement test. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the six-factor model. Overall, findings provide evidence supporting the use of a Spanish-translated GRS for Puerto Rican island students.
Gifted students see both educational benefits and barriers as a result of living in rural communities. Benefits include increased individual attention and community engagement; barriers include limited curricular options (Lawrence, 2009). Acceleration is an option that has positive academic outcomes but is underused, especially in rural areas. Even teachers with experience teaching gifted students can be hesitant to recommend acceleration. This position paper, supported with evidence from the literature and from personal experience with an online course involving rural teachers, explains the objections teachers have to acceleration and why there is a need to improve rural teachers’ attitudes towards acceleration.
The current study investigates differences in the leadership skills between intellectually gifted and average students and explores the relationship between intelligence and leadership potential. Participants in this study were 176 students (57 males and 120 females) from an Eastern Province University in Saudi Arabia. Students were selected on a voluntary basis and asked to complete the Leadership Inventory (LI); data were also collected about their General Ability Test (GAT) scores. The Spearman Rho correlation formula was calculated and then the sample was divided into two groups based on their GAT scores – intellectually gifted and average students – and a subsequent t-test was performed. The LI consists of four subscales: leading self and others; problem solving skills; effective communication; and planning skills. LI internal consistency was α = .94. No significant correlations were found between leadership and intelligence (r = .077, P >.05). The mean of gifted students only in planning skills (M = 26.16) was significantly higher than the mean of average students (M = 24.747, t = –2.069, P = .04, df = 174, Cohen's d = .31). No other significant means differences among all other variables were found. Intellectually gifted students lacked essential skills to prevail in the global competitive economy. Recommendations, implications, and limitations of the study are discussed.
The researchers examined transcripts of comments made and dialogues engaged in by children, teachers and student teaching assistants during a 10-week enrichment programme for gifted and talented children aged 7–9 years. Attempts were made to match these utterances with the programme’s aims and aspirations as expressed in a promotional document. Little evidence of match was revealed, but considerable evidence did emerge of the extent to which dominant technical-rational discourses and practices permeate even privileged and non-state-sponsored educational environments, at the expense of children’s learning. Suggestions are made for foregrounding the processes of high quality pupil learning rather than the products of pupil performances in enrichment and extension programmes, and thereby for achieving greater congruence between this programme’s avowed aims and practice.
The scales for rating the behavioral characteristics of superior students (SRBCSS), which were developed by Renzulli and his colleagues, are considered the most widespread and the most important scales used in the identification of gifted and superior students. Recently, four new scales were added. The aim of this research was to examine the reliability and validity of the four new scales in the Saudi environment. The scales were administered in Riyadh city to 348 primary school children, and their validity was calculated in several ways: face validity, discriminative validity, construct validity, internal consistency, concurrent validity, and factorial validity. Reliability was calculated by Cronbach alpha and test-retest methods. Results showed that the scales have good psychometric characteristics, which render them suitable for use in the identification of the gifted in relevant scientific fields.
The landscape of gifted and talented education in England has changed in the past decade when the UK government launched an education programme for ‘gifted and talented’ pupils as part of its Excellence in Cities policy initiative. The policy was initially intended to raise educational achievement of higher ability pupils in secondary schools in socially deprived urban areas and was subsequently extended to all age groups and schools in England. This article reports the findings of official reports and reviews and includes the reflections of a local authority adviser of a large education district within a socially deprived area of London. The adviser had the responsibility for implementing the policy through working with schools and practising teachers.
James H. Borland, PhD is Professor of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. In this reflective conversation, he reflects on his experiences in an urban environment and the current challenges in gifted education. He argues for ongoing diagnosis of learners’ needs without the necessity for labeling some students "gifted" and others "not gifted". He also suggests that "gifted" is a relative term dependent on culture and socioeconomic background. The biggest challenge, he suggests, is that educators want a neat, simple definition and measurement of "giftedness", whereas the concept of "giftedness" is extremely complex and multifaceted.
Gifted students’ performance on a Chilean university admission test, Prueba de Selección Universitaria (PSU), was investigated in this study. Sixty-six students participating in an enrichment-based university program for gifted youth were selected. The sample included both male and female gifted adolescents who studied in public and voucher (charter) high schools. The purpose was to investigate which combination of factors was the best predictor of students’ scores and the differences between male and female students’ performance. Only intelligence, as measured by the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices test, correlated with the scores on the PSU. Males from voucher schools outperformed females on the PSU. Providing academic support and adequate preparation has been discussed as an important element for college readiness, successful transition to college, and to diminish the existing performance gap between students from different types of schools in Chile.
The present article contains a review of the literature devoted to gifted education in Europe. Forms of supporting the development of gifted students provided in European schools are presented with reference to the problems of diagnosing exceptional abilities, the existence and forms of educational measures for gifted students and forms of in-service training for teachers of such students. The individual European countries have not developed a uniform system of educational provision for supporting gifted students. This variety, however, gives educationalists, psychologists, teachers and parents involved on a daily basis in the process of educating gifted students an opportunity to avail themselves of the rich practical experience.
The article aims to depict the most common ideas regarding wisdom from young people across different countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Republic of Korea and the United States. A questionnaire was administered to nearly 800 adolescents from these countries and comparisons by country and gender were made regarding participants’ perceptions of a wise man and a wise woman. Although differences were found between countries, more consistent differences by gender were reported. From a global perspective, factor analysis established three major traits to describe wise people: charismatic, goal oriented and unconventional. Also, participants consistently excluded a person from the concept of wise if they were poor, pessimistic, naïve or inconsistent. Results indicate a lack of values attached to the description of wisdom and it is argued that schools should foster the development of conceptions of wisdom as a desirable stage in human development that includes values such as justice, equity and respect for others. Difficulties in international comparative research are discussed.
This article draws on evidence from interviews with directors of a diverse group of international gifted education organisations. The business models with which they operate and their obligation to satisfy various stakeholder expectations are found to compromise philosophical tenets and organisational aims, particularly those concerned with cultural diversity and multivariate identification criteria. Considering these economic limitations in a sociological context highlights how intrinsic they are to the neoliberal educational marketplace. Interdisciplinary research can best equip gifted education practitioners to navigate the complexities and contradictions in practice that result.
The creativity program, "imagination first: unleash the power of possibility," implemented in public primary and secondary schools in Northern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, deals with the power of imagination in unleashing creativity among gifted students and teachers. Following an in-depth literature review on creativity for gifted students, a Learner-centered Framework of Creative Pedagogy was developed. The framework is guided by the key question: "How can creative development be enhanced among gifted learners in schools?" The framework proposes that creativity can be fostered through the interplay of three key dimensions: creative practice, creative learning, and creative process.
The program demonstrates that the role of imagination is at the heart of creative learning. Activities that foster creative thinking should challenge gifted learners to think laterally, be open-minded, inquire into possibilities, and kindle their imagination. Significantly, schools need to promote creativity across all areas of the curriculum. Practical strategies for implementing the framework in schools are shared.
There are relatively few research studies focusing on the understanding of teachers of gifted learners, though it is assumed that not all teachers should be assigned to teach the gifted. Most of the studies investigated this issue by examining the perceptions of teachers and students. In most of those studies the results show a preference to the social qualities of the teacher. The ability to respond to students as individuals is considered a central component of successful teaching. Yet, experimental studies show different results. Mills (2003) found that the characteristics of effective teachers of the gifted were similar to those typically ascribed to the gifted students. How important are the teaching skills of the teachers of the gifted? And how significant is his or her expertise in the field? Because the gifted population is not homogeneous, it seems that different students would have different preferences. Yet, it could be concluded that in order to be a successful mediator for gifted students, one would undoubtedly have to be intelligent enough to be able to understand their way of thinking, knowledgeable enough to be able to challenge them and, last but not least, emotionally intelligent.
In this reflective interview with Terry Friedrichs—a hands-on academic-learning specialist and researcher with gifted students with Asperger Syndrome—he defines these pupils, describes their "straightforward" and confusing traits, and recounts his initial and later instructional experiences with them over several decades. The piece proceeds to explain, for educators and parents, specific scholastic assets and challenges that high-potential young people with Asperger Syndrome may present within their hallmark definitional categories of social development, restrictive interests, and communication skills. The article also describes other frequently seen challenges for, and strengths of, these students in sensory and cognitive functioning. The interview closes with overall considerations for the contemporary schooling of these twice-exceptional pupils, and with the author's views on future educational possibilities for them.
This article is an interview with award-winning author and gifted children consultant, Deborah Ruf, PhD. In the interview, Ruf emphasizes the importance of parental planning for gifted children's growth and development. She speaks to children's social, emotional, and cognitive abilities and needs as factors in developing a balanced plan. She explains IQ tests and what they mean, discusses the role of mentors, access to true peers, and the importance of the arts and experiences outside of the classroom to augment children's development. Ruf explains that the pace and depth of daily learning experiences need to be matched to the child's ability and interests. She talks of her personal experience as a parent and teacher which guided her professional development and formed her perspectives. Ruf tells parents how to notice children's reactions to their experiences and provides parenting tips on how to use this information to provide appropriate support and guidance. She discusses her book, 5 Levels of Gifted: School Issues and Educational Options, her consultancy, Educational Options, her online business, Talent Igniter, and suggests additional references for parents.
A creative life is described with a dual perspective. Starting with the input of family and schools and crystallizing around the aspects of ‘spoken word’ and ‘need of/for novelty’, a scholarly career and research of new topics (in the country) developed on the one hand; on the other hand, creative activities and products in several domains of arts emerged, with particularly successful highlights in later life (poetry slamming). Finally, in expanding Urban’s components model of creativity, a capacious model structure is delineated to provide a foundation for creative education concerning the challenges, tasks and necessary competencies for the future: the model of Responsible Createlligence®.
Eminent individuals have made significant contributions to their fields that have impacted on fundamental knowledge and practices around the world, a description that aptly describes the world-known South African paleoanthropologist and scientist, Professor Phillip Tobias. This article presents evidence from his early childhood and schooling that demonstrated his creative writing, extensive independent study, advanced achievement, autonomous research and leadership positions that characterized his range of gifted abilities. It also describes characteristics typical of the family backgrounds of research on eminent individuals and core aspects of his personality, including his humor and humility. As a core scientist who sought to uncover fossil evidence for human evolution, he was instrumental in early studies of Khoisan and Tonga ethnic communities, investigations and documentation of Australopithecus africanus and early hominids. His academic and cultural legacies are depicted in his wide interests: his love of creative writing, teaching, and research and the search for truth and social justice.
Identification of gifted students from diverse and underserved communities is traditionally low; however, there are ways to expand identification methods in order to make access to gifted education programs more equitable. Creation and implementation of multi-faceted and multi-dimensional assessments as well as tiered access into gifted education programs would allow students from underserved and diverse populations to apply their problem-solving abilities and propensity for creative thinking to their learning. This approach would allow these students the time needed to enhance and refine their academic vocabulary as well as gain greater exposure to environmental activities that they are lacking at home. However, improved identification and placement into gifted education programs represents only half of the issue. Once identified, gifted students from diverse backgrounds require differentiation of curriculum and infusion of their culture in order to fully meet their needs and enhance their path through education. This article provides insight and reflection into the approach used by a teacher of diverse gifted students in an underserved elementary school in Orlando, Florida.
The gifted remain an often misunderstood and underserved population. In this interview, Dr. Pfeiffer discusses these concerns and provides practitioners with timely information on who exactly the gifted are and the various ways in which they are unique. In this reflective conversation, Dr. Pfeiffer, a noted authority on gifted and talented students, explores practical, evidence-based techniques and guidelines for working with the gifted, their teachers, and their families. He responds to questions about how best to assist the gifted population in various realms, including home, school, and interpersonal relationships.
This article chronicles the creative life of Ken McCluskey, the Dean of Education at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. He looks beyond the ivory tower and, indeed, reshapes the tower. Fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration are evident throughout the life and work of Dean McCluskey. He creates an innovative environment and uses humor in all aspects of his life. McCluskey recognizes the importance of "idea time" and guards against "group think." His creative life can be described as a spirit of service, engaged in leveling the playing field for unengaged students and marginalized children. His work with aboriginal peoples is highlighted. For McCluskey, success will be measured in the quality of the society left behind for our grandchildren. He models a life lived through creativity.
Transforming education or business starts with transforming one’s mind, and that inner transformation starts with opening up to—indeed welcoming—the inevitable bursts of creativity available to everyone. Sidney J Parnes, one of the world’s leading experts on creative problem-solving (CPSI), innovation and creativity, said, "I dream a dream, a vision great...my world will appreciate" (Parnes, 2004). Parnes’s life is the theme for this issue of Gifted International: Creativity Through Life. He is a lifelong researcher, author, and world-class educator who has presented thousands of seminars and courses on creativity and CPS for leaders in business, education, and government on five continents. For over 50 years, Parnes has worked in the "living laboratory" of the Creative Problem-solving Institutes sponsored by the Creative Education Foundation (CEF), which was established in Buffalo, New York.
This article discusses the role of creation and thought in contemporary life, education and, in particular, gifted education. Beginning with traditional approaches to creativity, some implications of diverse ways of understanding these two human activities in education are discussed, and reflections upon ways in which the particular concepts of educators could favor (or not) the thinking and creating patterns of students. Based on Marion Milner’s theory and highlights from the philosophy of Heidegger, ideas around activities offered to students enrolled in special programs for the gifted, which possibly foster thinking and creation for life are provided.
Many parents of gifted, talented and high-ability children seek counseling in the belief that a diagnosis of their child as ‘gifted’ will solve the problems they and their child are encountering. In Israel, most children are screened for giftedness using the Szold examinations in grade 2 or 3 between the ages of 7 and 9 years. The Szold test screens for mathematical–logical and verbal abilities, but it does not screen for creativity. In the letter of ‘acceptance/rejection’, the only information given is whether or not the child is entitled to participate in the local program for the gifted. In this article I will endeavor to explain why it is not always desirable or necessary to seek an additional clinical diagnosis of potential ability because the problems expressed by both parents and children derive from emotional causes, particular learning disabilities or a mismatch between the child’s potential and the level of curricula provision.
Annemarie Roeper is a luminary in the field of gifted education. Her many contributions provide a window into the depth and breadth of her curious and creative nature. Along with her husband George, she envisioned and developed a child-centered and holistic approach to education which resulted in The Roeper School, a legendary school for gifted children. The parent letters they would send home eventually led to a premier research journal, The Roeper Review. Annemarie Roeper’s life journey was represented by her publications, which included a myriad of articles as well as several books. She was a founding member of the global awareness committees for the National Association for Gifted Children and the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children. The legacy she leaves is her life story and the manner by which she transformed the challenges in her life and created opportunities for growth—she modeled wisdom in action.
This article describes the characteristics and accomplishments of Maria Helena Novaes, one of the most creative school psychologists of Brazil. It identifies the people who influenced her and some of the factors that may have contributed to her achievements and rise to eminence. It highlights the numerous opportunities she received during her life for learning and personal growth, her enjoyment of reading and writing, as well as her leadership qualities and personal values. This article also illustrates the diversity of elements that led to the development of her talents throughout her life.
This article unfolds the personal creative characteristics of an educator in the field of gifted education, and examines creativity as expressed in childhood and its transformation into adulthood. Dr. Erika Landau is a pioneer of gifted education in Israel, an internationally renowned scholar and educator, and the founder of the Young Persons’ Institute for the Promotion of Creativity and Excellence. The Personal Creative Characteristics Model of Treffinger and colleagues was used as a framework to analyze her creativity. The creative characteristics of openness and courage to explore ideas and listening to one’s inner voice were detected in her in childhood from her descriptions of the hardship she faced surviving in concentration camps during the Second World War. A full range of categories of creative characteristics, including generating ideas and digging into ideas, were detected in her in adulthood. Her creative characteristics in childhood were transformed in adulthood, making meaning of suffering and focusing on giving back to society, especially teaching gifted and talented children how to be creative and productive.
The study was conducted during the Easter holidays of 2010 at Rawmarsh City Learning Centre with 16 students from school years 8 to 11 who had participated, during their infant years, in a gifted and talented Key Stage One Enrichment Cluster. The students represented a wide range of backgrounds, and five were identified as being on the autistic spectrum. The Enrichment Cluster was known as original ways of learning through enrichment technology and socialisation (OWLETS). OWLETS aimed to address the lack of provision for exceptionally able young children, while supporting them in overcoming any weaknesses in relation to socialisation or engagement. The cluster design was inspired by Renzulli’s Schoolwide Enrichment Model. The study investigated the students’ perspective of key features of their experiences at OWLETS and throughout their subsequent education, examining their views on learning and teaching, and was facilitated by the production of a video with student voices spoken by avatars. Findings showed that those with additional special needs preferred primary school and described struggles in secondary; the other 11 students were more positive about secondary education than primary. All the students viewed opportunities for personalised learning and effective teacher–student relationships as key, and they suggested that children who demonstrate exceptional ability benefit from opportunities to socialise and work collaboratively with similarly gifted peers throughout all stages of education. The study indicated that Renzulli’s model, in this simple format, has the potential to enrich a whole-school approach, meeting the needs of all children including the exceptionally able.
David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), the first Prime Minister of Israel, is included in Pasternak’s (2001) list of the nine most memorable leaders of the twentieth century. All of them are remembered for the reforms they initiated. Roosevelt (USA), Stalin (Russia), Castro (Cuba), and Thatcher (England) focused on social–economical changes, whereas Gandhi (India), Abdullah (Jordan), Ben-Gurion, Begin and Rabin (Israel), Nasser (Egypt), and DeGaulle (France) achieved political changes. Moreover, Ben-Gurion was assigned two titles: "one of the greatest politicians" as well as "one of the greatest Jewish leaders" (Sheffer, 1997: 583).
This article is an attempt at a systematic presentation of the knowledge of problems related to the value system of gifted persons. Psychological literature was reviewed to make the reader familiar with the concept of the value system and to present the current state of research. The problem of the value system of gifted persons was discussed from the perspective of its relationship with intelligence, abilities and school achievement. From a theoretical point of view, a multi-dimensional description of those issues allows readers to get acquainted with the problem of value preferences in gifted persons. On the educational plane, it allows psychologists, educationalists and teachers to avail themselves of the findings from the research review in their work with schoolchildren and young people with outstanding achievements.
This conversation was prompted by a blog entry posted by Tim Dracup in January 2012. The subsequent e-exchange between Tim and Barry Hymer explored a number of issues central to the nature and aetiology of giftedness, confronting these issues from contrasting ontological and epistemological stances. As a result, their conversation includes arguments over the value of social constructivism and the nature of ‘empirical evidence’, equity and incidence, and related socio-political factors. Areas of agreement and continuing disagreement are provided. The subsequent exchange has been lightly edited and abridged for the purposes of this journal. Barry’s contributions are italicised.
In this reflective conversation, Dr. Joe Renzulli and Dr. Sally Reis respond to questions about the newly developed Renzulli Learning System. They discuss the system in light of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) and provide information regarding it's use with curriculum compacting and Renzulli's "Three Ring Conceptualization of Giftedness". Lastly, the "new literacies" in gifted education are discussed.
This article summarises the actions taken by a Catholic secondary school in England to improve the learning, motivation and well-being of its students. It describes the theories of mindset, as proposed by Dweck (2006); aspects of self-determination, as described by Kasser and Ryan (1993); and intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, as detailed by Vansteenkiste et al. (2006). This paper also refers to the theory of visible learning by John Hattie (2012) and describes the actions taken by the school to embed the principles of mindset and the outcomes of this intervention. The implementation of mindset was a gradual process, in which the headteacher targeted two year groups in the school to launch the ideas. In parallel, he trialled the principles in the maths classes that he taught. His experience is described in the evaluation 2009–10 (see Addendum 1). Furthermore, the school carried out much work on the nature of praise and how this can improve students’ motivation and encourage a ‘growth mindset’. This led to the grade descriptors for interim school reports being changed to reflect this new emphasis. Students themselves revised these descriptors to make them more student-friendly and to provide them with clear statements about how to improve.
I write this article in an attempt to establish my own view upon gifted and talented education and as an attempt to review and analyse the perspectives and opinions of others in the field of education. I will examine how people believe gifts and talents are created in an attempt to establish and affirm my own viewpoint. I will look at what I believe are my own gifts and talents and how I nurture these and offer them to others. I will look reflectively at how I draw out gifts and talents in the children I teach in my role as Foundation Stage teacher.
This is a response as to how my involvement with the Gifted and Talented Programme initiated by Bath and North East Somerset made me reassess my living educational values and beliefs, thus influencing my delivery and provision for the students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties with whom I work. As I consider the issues implicit within this statement I am aware that many will be bewildered by any connection between gifted and talented students and students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). I, too, find it hard to think in terms of highly motivated able, gifted and talented students when I look around the SEBD provision within which I spend on average 10 hours five days a week! However, ‘Higher Standards, Better Schools for all’ (White Paper, 2005) clearly sets out the government’s ambition for every student – they should have the right personalised support to reach the limits of their capabilities – and later states, ‘We will legislate to prescribe curriculum entitlements for learners aged 14–19.’ My methodology for this enquiry is a narrative style of methodology (Clandinin, 2007) I feel strongly that in shaping and telling my story I am continuing to understand and learn from my own educational journey as well as clarifying it to readers.
Constructing the story turns tension into attention, and telling the recognised narrative expresses intention. –(Maree,2007: 2)
Continuing professional development (CPD) living educational theory offers an approach to CPD that enables educators to enhance their own professional practice and enable them to offer as gifts the knowledge, expertise and talents they develop to extend the knowledge base of the profession. In this paper we briefly introduce living theory research and the international CPD project, ‘Living Values Improving Practice Cooperatively’, that began in the process of supporting educators through a Master’s programme.
In this account I explore and clarify my responsibility as I explain how I have come to my current understanding of talent creation, and why I feel it is so important to develop an inclusive approach to talent creation which provides opportunities for all the children to develop talents through their time at school, and to have them recognised and be able to give them as gifts to the school community.
My most vivid childhood memories of learning at school were not what the teachers taught me but what I found out for myself. I remember at junior school completing a project on childhood games and feeling important when I discovered there was a museum devoted to the topic. In Year 9 in geography a project on industry led me to interview a manager from a local company. In all these projects I remember the emotional engagement with the work because it was unique to me, but what I did not appreciate was the research and thinking processes that underpinned my endeavours. Working individually and independently I lacked the constructive criticism of peers. It is these omissions that have led me to me value not only the TASC framework (Wallace, 2008) and the work of Bognar and Zovko (2008), but also the idea of a research community, as shown by Whitehead and Huxtable (2008) in their University of Bath seminars. Through employment of these strategies in answering the question ‘How can I enable the gifts and talents of my students to be in the driving seat of their learning?’, I have discovered new opportunities for these students. Concurrently I have also been given the confidence through working in a non-judgemental seminar environment to start to recognise that I too have gifts and talents as a teacher. Into this narrative I pull together strands that have been woven together, to form an exciting tapestry for both the student and teacher to develop their gifts and talents. For the student there is a new qualification from the English Examination Board (AQA) called the Extended Project Qualification (AQA, 2007), which appears to meet a need to develop the skills of independent and interdependent learning. For the teacher there is the opportunity afforded by the concept of an educational living theory (Whitehead, 2008).
I am in the unique position as headteacher to develop policy in my school, influencing the experiences of staff, parents and children, as well as a wider audience through my essays and published work (Mounter, 2008). This essay will be in the form of a narrative using the living theory action research approach (Whitehead and McNiff, 2006). It will weave together my previous work, relating my own ontological living values and the development of my talents as an educator, in relation to creating an enriching learning ‘space’ that responds and helps to develop the talents of my pupils as they produce their own gifts. Rayner (2008: 8) explores the ‘space’ we create and discusses inclusionality, the flow form of dynamic inclusion, a fluid continuum within a co-creative energy flow. My intention through this article is to contribute to the professional knowledge-base of education by exploring my relational and responsive talents as an educator (which form my ontological values) and the educational relationships I have with my pupils. The voice of my pupils will also form part of this exploration, helping to examine and demonstrate my educational influence on the pupils’ development and understanding of their own gifts and talents as ‘knowledge creators’ and ‘proactive learners’. Through the Master’s group, led by Jack Whitehead and Marie Huxtable, and my accounts being available on the Internet as well as presentations to colleagues, I have shared my writings, video extracts and work by the children, as well as my living values and developing living theory. I have considered comprehensibility, truth, rightness and authenticity of my accounts, testing the criteria for validity (Habermas, 1976) of my research and findings through the understanding of another person and developing a shared understanding by the discussions, developing and enriching my own embodied living theory and values. As Habermas says, ‘Moreover, communicative action can continue undisturbed only as long as participants suppose that the validity claims they reciprocally raise are justified.’ (Habermas, 1976: 2–3)
In this writing it is my intention to show how using philosophy and creative thinking with junior school children has enabled me to identify gifts and talents of which I might otherwise have been unaware and to show the impact this has had on the children concerned in terms of their own awareness of themselves as learners. I will also question where this fits into current policies on gifted and talented education. The article will demonstrate how I have used an action research method based on my own values and embodied professional knowledge in that I have identified and sought to improve an area of concern in my teaching, and in generating my own living theory of how I teach, I have made my ideas available for public scrutiny, therefore testing them for validity against the critical responses of a wider audience (Whitehead and McNiff, 2006: 13). Using notes from my personal journal, sharing video evidence with colleagues and in discussion with the Tuesday Master’s group at Bath University, I intend to comply with Habermas’s (1976) criteria for validity in that what I say will be understandable to another person, understood by him or her and a common understanding reached, enabling me to add my own living theory contribution to the wider body of professional knowledge.
A number of characteristics are shared between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and gifted populations. They include issues with sustaining attention, following directions, and completing tasks. When an individual is both gifted and has ADHD (gifted–ADHD) he has unique educational needs that may put him at risk for underachievement. To date the literature largely addresses how to remediate perceived deficits. Less has been written about how to develop the talent of these twice-exceptional individuals. The present semi-autobiographical narrative proposes that inquiry-based instruction within an authentic community of practice can play an integral role in talent development for gifted–ADHD undergraduate students.