What is Talent? What is Giftedness? How can we Build talents on the foundations of giftedness? Nobody can answer these questions better than Prof. Gagné. For those not familiar with him, Professor Françoys Gagné is a French Canadian from Montreal, Quebec. He obtained his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Montreal. Dr. Gagné has spent most of his professional career in the department of Psychology, at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).
In over a decade of research on student evaluations of teaching, he became interested in talent development in the late 1970s. Although his research further brought him to study variety of subjects within the field of gifted education (e.g., attitudes toward the gifted and their education, peer nominations, developmental profiles), he is best known internationally for his theory of talent development, the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT), which has been endorsed by various educational authorities as their framework to define their target population and plan intervention provisions. Professor Gagné has won major awards in the field of gifted education, among them NAGC’s prestigious Distinguished Scholar Award (1996), and two awards from the Mensa Society. Although retired from his UQAM professorship since 2001, Dr. Gagné maintains international publishing and keynoting activities. He was given a Title : Honorary professor of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal. This month of October, we are happy to note that the guru of giftedness, Francoys Gagne, will be in Manila for the ASEAN giftedness summit. Gagne is best known for his Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). Promil Pre-School supports Gagne’s model and asserts that gifts must be cultivated in order to develop into fully-formed talents.
The Non-profit group Philippine Center for Gifted Education Inc. (PCGE), led by Dr. Leticia Ho, is working towards creating standards for ASEAN member countries to ensure robust criteria for identification, development and nurturing of gifted children. It's posed to spearhead the establishment of an (ASEAN) Association for Giftedness to leverage economic growth through human capital development.
“While the ASEAN integration aims to unite the ten member countries into one economic, multi-cultural community, development of its human capital is definitely a vital component,” says Dr. Ho.
The ASEAN Association for Giftedness will provide a platform for regular meetings, joint researches, exchange programs and other innovations in gifted education that can help boost economies, including the Philippines’.
“Modern growth theory has explained the vital contribution of human capital development in a country’s economic growth. Improvements are closely related to the level of cognitive skills of the population. This emphasizes the need to identify, develop and nurture gifted talents for the benefit of the country,” adds Dr. Ho.
An ASEAN Summit on Giftedness sponsored by PCGE is scheduled in October. Dr. Ho hopes that this will stir interest and encourage parents, teachers, psychologists, guidance counselors and the gifted themselves to converse and exchange ideas about how to leverage on excellence for growth.
The summit will feature global expert Françoys Gagné, Ph. D. and his Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent. Professor Gagné, supported by Promil Pre-School, will share his belief in the need for natural abilities to be nurtured in order for one to excel.
With its long-standing thrust of encouraging excellence, Promil Pre-School has always worked hand-in-hand with parents’ support and proper care through the right learning environment to nurture gifts into exceptional talents that can benefit a larger community.
Promil Pre-School's proven heritage of success is backed up by its long list of exceptionally talented children who have brought fame, encouragement, and positive influence to their communities and the country in one way or another.
“Nurturing the gifted is not limited to ensuring that their gifts and talents are properly addressed through education, training, cognitive stimulation and other programs. Part of their nurture is to infuse values of maka-Diyos, makabayan, makatao (being God-fearing, patriotism, compassion). In this manner, the gifted themselves become gifts to others,” says Dr. Ho.
“The vital link between the gift of generations of Filipinos and the country’s success is something that we recognize and value,” says Dian Yu, product manager, Promil Pre-School. “As a long-term advocate in encouraging children to reach their full potential, Promil Pre-School will continually support efforts that allow for exceptional talents to turn into outstanding achievements for our nation.”
According to the Department of Education (DepEd), there are 1.27 million gifted children in the country (2010 data) who may be in possession of exceptional abilities that, unfortunately, aren’t fully developed for lack of proper guidance and support.
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