An act of GRACE? What do contemporary understandings in psychology have to contribute to the future of gifted education?

Abstract

Drawing on a variety of research domains and traditions, this article presents a contemporary and evidence-led model for understanding the development of gifts and talents. In so doing and arguing largely -but not exclusively -from within the stance of social-constructivism, it is suggested that accounts of gift-development that emphasise the role of innate capacities lead frequently to tired debates around identification, labelling and resourcing, and away from the more vital discourses around gifted provision and gift-creation. The implications for classroom practice deriving from traditional and emerging ontological and epistemological conceptualisations of giftedness are presented.

Creating a profession of educators with the living-theories of master and doctor educators

“…It is consistent with the leading edge work of educationalists such as Hymer (2007Hymer ( , 2013 and Wallace (2008); of academic psychologists such as Deci and Ryan (2000), and Dweck (2006); and that of philosophers such as White (2007) and Biesta (2006).…”

Giftedness in the Making: A Transactional Perspective

“…Echoing a sociocultural perspective, transactional gifted education addresses the context-dependency of talent development and recognizes the diverse human potentials that have shaped our evolving society today (Barab & Plucker, 2002;Hymer, 2009Hymer, , 2012Kornhaber, Krechevsky, & Gardner, 1990;McWilliams & Plucker, 2014;Plucker, McWilliams, et al, 2017). Thus, transactional gifted education endorses an inclusive thinking that values and celebrates the diverse and varied human potentials in dispositions, abilities, intelligences, and talents.…”

Paradigm Shifts in Gifted Education: An Examination Vis-à-Vis Its Historical Situatedness and Pedagogical Sensibilities

“… Hymer (2012) proposed the GRACE model of gift creation (a reincarnated version of Hymer’s G-T CReATe model proposed in 2009). While Hymer (2009 , 2012 ) and his colleagues ( Hymer et al, 2009 ) did not generate an account of ontological discourse, the GRACE model of gift creation highlights the complex and dynamic process of gift transaction in a given social context and sees giftedness as a shared nonnormative quality among pupils. To capture the essence of gift transaction, Hymer composed his GRACE model with five verb form imperatives: Grow, Relate, Act, Challenge, and Exert.…”

“…In other words, giftedness becomes a pedagogical goal achievable by all rather than measurable predictions for some. This transaction-based paradigm (e.g., Barab & Plucker, 2002 ; Eyre, 2011 ; Hymer, 2009 , 2012 ; Hymer, Whitehead, & Huxtable, 2009 ; Lupart, 2012 ) conceptualizes giftedness as functional conditionality (that should be locally realized) rather than possessed conditions (to be identified). This new wave of thinking corresponds to systemism 2 (see Bunge, 1996 , 2000 ; Capra & Luisi, 2014 ; Choi, 2011 ; B. Davis et al, 2015 ; Pickel, 2011 ; von Bertalanffy, 1968 ; Wan, 2011 ) that abandons the reductionist worldview (i.e., seeing the world in mechanical components) and discerns the (dys)functional relation between environment, agent, and embedded sociocultural structures.…”

“…In other words, giftedness becomes a pedagogical goal achievable by all rather than measurable predictions for some. This transaction-based paradigm (e.g., Barab & Plucker, 2002;Eyre, 2011;Hymer, 2009Hymer, , 2012Hymer, Whitehead, & Huxtable, 2009;Lupart, 2012) conceptualizes giftedness as functional conditionality (that should be locally realized) rather than possessed conditions (to be identified). This new wave of thinking corresponds to systemism 2 (see Bunge, 1996Bunge, , 2000Capra & Luisi, 2014;Choi, 2011;B.…”