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Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 30 > No. 7 (2025)

 

Abstract

The concept of giftedness is complex, contested and evolving and may be thus frustratingly challenging to apply in practice. One area of emerging research is understanding the personal experiences of those who identify as gifted in order to better represent the myriad culturally diverse conceptions of giftedness that evolve over a lifetime. In this article, I employ an autoethnographic approach to explore aspects of my adult identity as an atypical learner. This journey unfolds in crafted vignettes that reveal the complexities and multi-dimensionality of my learning and are analysed using Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). As I investigate my journey as a gifted lifelong learner at school, then as a teacher, teacher educator and corporate executive, three critical friends, the other authors of this paper, offer an etic perspective about my experiences of giftedness. The aim of the article is to illuminate the importance of examining personal experiences, stories and voice as a way of conceptualising giftedness, and to position giftedness as an evolving lifelong experience. In the article we offer several implications for the normalisation of giftedness in education which resonates into adulthood.

Keywords

gifted education, autoethnography, gifted learner, adult giftedness, lifelong learning

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Katrina Reynen-Woodward (ORCiD: 0000-0003-1896-808X) has been a teacher of gifted students and a provider of professional development in leadership and gifted education over a period of 35 years. Her research interest is the factors that support and inspire culturally diverse gifted young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to complete their education and enter their career of choice. Her current work at Melbourne Business School focuses on leadership development of culturally diverse, gifted emerging leaders. Please direct correspondence to Katrina.reynen@monash.edu

Dr. Penny Round (ORCiD: 0000-0001-9683-6144X) has been working in students with special needs for 30 years. Penny has qualifications in both special education and gifted education. Her primary research has revolved around students with special needs in regular secondary schools, with a particular focus on students at the senior secondary level.

Dr. Pearl Subban (ORCiD: 0000-0002-2904-976X) is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University who currently teaches in the post graduate programs embracing contemporary educational issues and inclusive teaching. Her research interests are shaped by many years as a secondary school teacher and a school leader over two continents and currently include differentiated instruction, attitudinal studies, and accommodating learner diversity.

Dr. Edwin (Ed) Creely (ORCiD: 0000-0002-5009-4047) is a writer, ethnographer and senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. He has a particular an interest in poetry, literacy, creativity, philosophy, digital pedagogy, inclusion and lifelong learning.

Publication Date

7-27-2025

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7827

ORCID ID

ORCiD: 0000-0003-1896-808X

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