World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children was founded in 1975. Its core purpose is to:

‘focus world attention on gifted and talented children and ensure the realization of their valuable potential to the benefit of humankind’.

Activities include:

  • facilitating the worldwide communication of information, ideas, and experiences through a biennial assembly;
  • creating an atmosphere of acceptance and recognition of G&T children from any background in any country;
  • supporting and disseminating research into the nature of giftedness, talents, creativity, and the education of G&T children and their teachers;
  • establishing opportunties for the worldwide exchange of ideas, experiences, and teacher training;
  • supporting and enhancing national groups in recognizing and providing for the G&T children in their countries;
  • supporting international programs and activities for children; and
  • supporting and enhancing parent and family education regarding the development of the potential of all children.

The Council publishes a newsletter and a journal Gifted and Talented International (the latter only available to members, though some older editions can be accessed from the online archive).

The 2009 World Conference was in Vancouver. The next Conference will be in Seoul, South Korea, in August 2011.

A public and independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the World Council in addressing the priorities above is not available. The author’s impression is that the Council has limited impact and might improve by:

  • updating its approach to communication to encompass social networking and other online tools;
  • reaching out to parents and educators rather than focusing predominantly on meeting the needs of academics in the field; and
  • raising its profile and its reach as an advocacy organisation, rather than operating as a ‘closed shop’ for its members.

But this is the partial perspective of a non-member. What do readers think?

One thought on “World Council for Gifted and Talented Children”

  1. I tend to agree. I looked at the site, and the substantial fee to join, and decided I had enough other resources available to me as a parent and homeschool educator of gifted children. Even though I could certainly afford the fee, I didn’t get the sense that there was any real value to be had in joining that couldn’t be obtained elsewhere.

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