Draft review of highlights of the 2015 WCGTC conference, Odense, August

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 17^th 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