World
Council for Gifted and Talented Children, Odense Denmark10-14
August 2015Gavin
Smith-Pill, VAGTC Committee member
This
wide-ranging and very engaging conference was held for the first time in
Denmark this year. Throughout a week punctuated with fine, warm weather
compared to Melbourne’s winter delegates from around the globe enjoyed the
exceptional opportunity to hear world-class educators and researchers talk
about a range of subjects.
Odense
is located two hours by train north-west of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. It
is a noted Viking village, fishing port and more proudly for the Danes, the
birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, whose statues dominate the city and
whose plays are performed every two hours in the park close to his original house,
metres from the conference venue. During the conference Odense was also
celebrating a flower festival, the beginnings of a poetry festival and
commemorations for the birthday of famous Danish composter, Carl Nielsen.
Odense is a vibrant city where the locals prefer to ride bicycles to work than
drive cars, enjoy starting the day later rather than first-thing in the morning
and seem to have an enjoyable lifestyle.
The
2015 World Council for Gifted and Talented Children formally opened on Monday
10 August by Dr Ken Hinckley and thereafter with a series of pre-conference
workshops across the gamut of Gifted and talented Educational theory and
practice. Presentations by Dr Leonie Kronborg (“Providing Optimal Learning
Environments to Motivate Teachers and Gifted Students”) led a chorus of
workshops by Dr Dorothy Sisk (“Nurturing and Developing Spiritual
Intelligence”), Dr Ann Robinson (International Coaching for Gifted
Adolescents”), Dr Sylvia Rimm (“Why Bright Kids get Poor Grades”) and other
notable educational theorists and practitioners.
The
primary keynote address by Dr. Shirley Kokot, ‘Planting a Garden’ began the
first afternoon of the conference. Dr Kokot’s work for more than thirty years
centred on the development of South Africa’s first school for gifted students,
Radford House. She talked openly regarding the challenges of providing an
educational focal point for underprivileged South African children and the
political and social obstacles she and her staff endured on that journey.
Following this fascinating speech were presentations from Dr Henry Tirri
examining the technological shift needed to guide the teaching of gifted and
talented children in the twenty-first century and finally, a rousing
performance from the Danish National Ballet Company to round out the day.
During
the week presenters from Australia, the USA, UK, Arabia and other nations
continued workshops, keynotes and casual discussion sessions in the foyer and
break-out areas of the accompanying Radisson hotel. Highlights included;
- ·
Dr
Sylvia Rimm “From Underachievement to Wondrous Achievement”, examining
practical strategies for motivating and nurturing gifted students
- ·
Dr
Ching-Chih Kuo “Gifted Brain”, studying the gender differences of gifted
children, their comparable perceptual capabilities and keys for teacher
education with this knowledge
- ·
Dr
Jonathan Plucker examining “Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education”
- ·
Dr
Ann Robinson discussing “What makes a practice ‘Best’?” Evidence-based
recommendations in Gifted Education
Separating
the Keynote presentations were workshops from around the world, where delegates
were invited to negotiate intricate and confusing timetables and room locations
in order to learn more about a wide range of subjects. These subjects ranged
from presenters talking about their journey developing Danish schools for the
Gifted (Pernille Buch-Romer), to fascinating seminars on factors guiding
creativity and intelligence identification in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and China. A
presentation led by Dr Faisal Alamiri, formerly of Latrobe University, Bendigo
and now working with Dr June Maker (USA) shared the growth of differentiation
identification in Arabic states and pathways for the future. A Chinese
delegation led by _____ shared the story of Beijing No.8 High School,
comprising three hundred staff for three thousand students leading Chinese
efforts in Gifted and Talented education that sees students completing eight
years of formal education in a four year timespan. Currently working
professionally in schools in Melbourne’s East, I found the information brought
by these educators enlightening, as there has been a surge in Chinese and
Arabic immigration into schools in those areas in recent years. Issues such as
social intelligence, the speed of information recall and the signs of
‘classroom confidence’ as an indicator of creativity and talent, presented by
practitioners and researchers from educational cultures very different from our
own was fascinating.
Another
rewarding session was the presentation led by Carmel Meehan, President of the
VAGTC and Dr Susan Nikakis, Vice President of the VAGTC, with their findings on
“Developing Identification Tools for Creatively Gifted Students”. Dauntingly,
this session was held in the 2000-seat auditorium after the previous presenter
used far more than her allocated time. This presentation examined common
conceptions of the nature of creativity, how it is identified, understood and
nurtured by educators. Using the ‘Four C’ model these presenters encouraged
teachers to provide opportunities for gifted and talented learners to question
facts and social norms, and to wonder, develop and test ideas before evaluating
their findings. An audience from Australia, South Africa, Kenya and the UK to
name a few were not only educated but entertained by Carmel and Susan as they
engaged the audience in conversation and their insights.
Dr
Katie McClarty, Head, Center for College & Career Success (USA) presented a
fascinating study of PISA results identifying global trends according to the labeling
of Gifted and Talented curricula in OECD countries. This study aligned OECD
countries participating in PISA testing with the degree to which they provided
for exceptional students, as nations catering for either ‘Gifted’, ‘Talented or
Talent Development’, ‘Differentiation systems’ or had ‘No Provision’ for these
students in their educational systems. Interestingly, Israel hosts the only
special governmental division to cater specifically for gifted students, whilst
Australia was recognized for its efforts to identify indigenous students in its
population.
A
common theme during the WCGTC conference was the models used to identify and
illuminate gifted behaviours in children. Renzulii’s Triad Enrichment Model
(1976) featured in as many presentations as Gagne’s Differentiated Model of
Giftedness and Talent (2008). However, many other speakers offered research,
models and tests for consideration, such as; the VAST online creativity test by
Guzik and Goff, an online application for iPad called the Reisman Diagnostic
Creativity Assessment Tool (RDCA), the Alencar Pentagonal Model of Creativity
and Ian Warwick’s ten-part Culture of Excellence model. Each of these elements
created interesting and wide-ranging discussion as delegates deconstructed the
models looking for ways to incorporate them into their domestic strategies.
Finally,
on Thursday 13 August the conference was brought to a close by the WCGTC
Denmark Conference Chair, Ole Kyed before the final evening’s festivities.
Delegates were shuttled to the riverside marina and from there the collection
of educators and researchers from around the world enjoyed a riverboat ride
through Odense, followed by a walk through the local forest to enjoy a
wonderful meal with new friends and colleagues in a 17th century
restaurant. In front of most of the Australian delegation was more than thirty
hours of flying and transferring through airports in Europe, Arabia and Asia on
our way home. In little more than twenty-or-so months’ time the WCGTC
conference will come to the University of New South Wales for the 2017 World
Conference. I hope to see you there.
Gavin
Smith-Pill
