Giftedness In Australia Essay

The Australian National Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2012) states that like EAL learners and students with disability, students with gifts and talents also have the right to engage in learning activities and opportunities that challenge students and facilitate their learning through a curriculum tailored to support their individual learning needs, strengths, interests and goals. In order to cater to students’ needs and promote potential achievement, it is important for teachers have an awareness of the various characteristic that has the potential to strengthen or limit student learning (Jarvis, 2010). Regardless of these complexities, consideration of these characteristics is fundamental in the design and planning
of the curriculum for gifted and talented learners (VanTassel-Baska, 2011). It is critical that educators address the variability in the development of gifted behaviour and be prepared to support a broad range of developmental stages and individual characteristics (Houssand, 2015).
While there is no universally accepted definition of giftedness, there is a general consensus among academics within the field of education that giftedness is a multifaceted construct in that the characteristics of gifted learners are not consistently static across time (Renzulli, 2005, Treffinger et al., 2002 cited in Housand, 2015).
That being said, a shared understanding of giftedness is important to address students’ needs. Though there are many theoretical conceptions regarding giftedness, in Australia, Francois Gagne’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DGMGT) is the most generally accepted definition/model of giftedness and talent in Australia (aus curriculum site). In his model, Gange makes the distinction between gifts and talents when he likens giftedness to be ‘the possession and use of natural abilities or aptitudes in at least one ability domain that places them in the top ten percentile of their age peers’. On the other hand, Gagne defines talent to be the superior mastery and development of those abilities and aptitudes that places the individual in the top 10% of their age peers active in their field(Gange 2010). According to Gagne (2010), gifted students are those whose potential is distinctly above average in the following domains: intellectual, creative, social and
perceptual.
As the diagram below illustrated, a student may be gifted in one, several, or all of the domains (Gerric mod 1 2004). However, McCoach and Seigle (2009) posits that not all giftedness is not demonstrated by, or manifested as high performance. The differentiation between the terms gifts and talent is important as it recognises that some students may have high potential that is not yet transformed into high performance. While talent is dependent on gifted potential, being gifted is not a guarantee of developing talent (gagne, 2010). Therefore, it is critical that the learning needs are addressed so that giftedness has an increased likelihood of being demonstated as high performance or talent (Gange 2010). Gagne makes it clear that adequate school support is necessary if students are to develop their gifts or high abilities into talents of high achievements.
Within the mainstream classroom, gifted learners typically learn faster than some of their age-peers and in turn, require differentiated educational opportunities for advanced levels, depth and pacing curriculum (VanTassel-Baska, 2011).