The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

Two students answered that they were more self-directed at school. One said he needed to
set his own tasks and this meant that he could not rely on other people. The other student explained
that he was more self-directed at school because at home he played around. One student answered
that he was self-directed both at home and at school. Well I’m sort of both because at school we
normally, I normally don’t need help on some work and at home I like doing activities by myself
because its actually quite fun.
All of the gifted students said that self-directed learning is important both at home and at
school and three students explained that self-directed learning would be important for them in the
future. Both, it just makes you better educated so when you’re an adult you can learn. You can be
self-directed when you’re young and when you’re an adult when you want to find out about things
you can do that. When you’re an adult you know the skill.
Attitudes towards self-directed learning
All of the gifted students said that they believed that they could get better at being selfdirected.
Yeah you just need to encourage yourself more and say I can do this instead of saying I
can’t. I have improved. Nine of the students expressed the view that they had improved in being selfdirected
since the beginning of the year (interviews were done in November toward the end of the
Australian school year). Experience in being self-directed was mentioned as a way of improving. You
can get better by starting to do things by yourself and once you’ve done one thing try another one
and then a few more and then after that you definitely become a self-director. I’m much better than at
the beginning of the year.
Seven of the ten gifted students said that they believed that self-directed learning was
important. Six of the students mentioned a future orientation in their answers by saying that selfdirected
learning would be important when they were older. Yes because later on in life say at Uni.
You have to rely on yourself a lot. If you just ask everyone when you’re younger in primary school it
will teach you to be less independent when you are older. Four of the students mentioned that selfdirected
learning is important in being independent. Yes because you need to be able to do it later.
Five students made further comments about self-directed learning suggesting that it is
important for life in the future. I think it’s a good idea because once you leave school you’re
independent and you need to know what to do. One gifted student showed a discriminated view of
self-directed learning in comments suggesting an awareness of the need for self-direction in some
situations and a different approach in other situations. Um just that I think that it’s really important in
some places. You don’t have to be self-directed all the time yeah.
Preferred way of learning
Most of the gifted students said that they would prefer to find out about something by asking
friends. Two students mentioned that they would ask friends after trying to do it on their own. Well I
usually work stuff out for myself at home and friends help me. The reasons given for students
preferring to find out about things with friends were that friends have more knowledge, they can give
advice, they have more ideas and they can give help. Two students answered that they would prefer
to find out about things on their own because they could get more ideas alone, and they can use
their own ideas. All but one of the students expressed positive views about their attitude to learning.
The students gave a variety of explanations of their favorite way of learning about things. Half of the
students included reading in their explanation and three added that they liked learning. I actually like
to read books and learn stuff.
Discussion
Answers given by gifted elementary
students showed that they knew about SDL and
that they recognised that motivation was
important, that help could be sought from
others, and that they had knowledge of the
process of planning time, checking, and
reflecting on SDL processes. As a group the
gifted students expressed positive attitudes to
SDL and the possibility of improving as selfdirected
learners.
The responses indicatedt this group of
gifted students viewed SDL differently at school
from the way it was viewed out-of school. The
answers given implied most of the gifted
Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011. 117