The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

From the Editor’s Desk:
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Taisir Subhi Yamin
Welcome to this volume [26(1) August, 2011; 26(2) December, 2011)] of Gifted and Talented
International. This volume appears after the 19 th Biennial World Conference: Making a World of
Difference for Gifted Children which was held in Prague - Czech Republic (August 8-12, 2011). This
conference was an excellent time for teachers, researchers, parents, and students from around the
world to share the most up-to-date information and the latest developments in gifted education. It
also provided the participants with the wonderful opportunity for interactions with lead speakers,
delegates, and participants from different parts of the world.
In this year’s volume of Gifted and Talented International (GTI) we welcome our newly
elected members of the WCGTC’s Executive Committee, including: Ken McCluskey (Winnipeg
University/ Canada), Vice President; and Ümit Davasligil (Maltepe University/ stanbul – Türkiye),
Member.
Upon the completion of their term in the Executive Committee, I have the honour and
pleasure to thank my friends and colleagues who served the WCGTC for several years. My warmest
thanks go to Edna McMillan for her contributions as a member of the Executive Committee and the
Vice President of the Council. Many thanks also go to Ngarmmars Kasemset, Member (Director, The
Gifted and Talented Foundation (TGT)/ Bangkok, Thailand) for her contribution. Your support over
the past four years has been remarkable.
In the first qualitative article, “Teachers’
Perceptions of the Socioemotional Development
of Intellectually Gifted Primary Aged Students
and their Attitudes towards Ability Grouping and
Acceleration”, Selena Gallagher, Susen R. Smith
and Peter Merrotsy (2011) reports the outcomes
of their qualitative multi-site case study which
sought to examine the current educational
provisions in place for intellectually gifted
primary school students in Queensland and to
consider how the beliefs and attitudes of
primary school stakeholders were reflected in
the production of their school gifted education
policies. According to Gallagher et al. (2011),
“there is recognition that schools also have a
responsibility to foster students’ social and
emotional development, in order that they may
be effective and well-functioning contributors to
society.” (p. 11). In addition, “there is a positive
correlation between children who are gifted and
children who are advanced socially and
emotionally” (p. 12). The current study found no
evidence of a relationship between teachers’
knowledge and awareness of the
socioemotional development of gifted students
and their attitudes towards ability grouping and
acceleration, and attitudes towards ability
grouping and acceleration were positive overall,
with part-time strategies being favoured over
full-time models of provision (Gallagher et al.,
2011).
In the second article, “How Does Moral
Judgment Change with Age and Giftedness?”,
Mousa Alnabhan (2011) asserts that moral
education is becoming an increasingly dominant
topic in the fields of psychology and education,
and he attempted to answer two questions:
Does moral judgment differ due to the
differences in giftedness and grade levels? Is it
possible to efficiently predict the moral
judgment for gifted and average female
students through non verbal intelligence,
creativity, and achievement? According to
Alnabhan, preschool teachers in Kuwait “should
be educated and heavily trained to promote
children’s moral development by dealing with
issues of fairness, justice, human rights, and
caring.” (Alnabhan, 2011, p. 28)
In the next article, “Learning to be a
Teacher of the Gifted: The Importance of
Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011. 7