Gifted Education in Asia

Conceptions of Giftedness

Conceptions of giftedness in Asian countries are generally based on Western conceptions, which have undergone tremendous changes in recent years. The traditional notion of intelligence as a single quality that is manifested throughout a person's intellectual performance—measurable by a single quantifiable index called intelligence quotient (IQ) score and present as a potential early in life or not at all—is now viewed as an inadequate measure of giftedness. Consequently, a broadened notion of giftedness is increasingly accepted in Western and Asian countries, where general intelligence and academic aptitudes are now regarded as representing domains of intellectual and academic giftedness along with many other domains of giftedness.

The multidimensional conception or classification of giftedness used in the U.S. Marland Report, published in 1972, has appeared in different adapted forms in official policy documents or education laws in Asian countries and regions. The Hong Kong Education Commission reproduced these same domains of giftedness in its fourth report in 1990 by defining gifted children as those with exceptional achievement or potential in one or more areas of general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude, creative or productive thinking, leadership ability, visual and performing arts, and psychomotor ability. The Singapore Ministry of Education defined giftedness by referring to these domains as manifestations of students' strengths. In Korea and Taiwan, there is a commitment at the national or regional level to provide for gifted education, and giftedness has been explicitly defined by modifying this same classification in the Korean Gifted Education Promotion Act in 2003 and the Taiwan Special Education Law in 1984 and in its 1997 revision.

In Mainland China and in Japan, giftedness is left undefined. The Chinese psychologists who started the development of gifted education in 1978 preferred to use the term supernormal (chao-chang) because it does not have a nature-over-nurture connotation. Supernormal children were defined as children whose performance is two standard deviations above average children on IQ and cognitive ability tests developed for screening and identification purposes. However, the focus has been always on students' abilities in mathematics, science, and technology. Similar emphasis has been made in Japan to promote [Page 1002]students' abilities in science and technology and in sports under “individualized” education because gifted education is officially nonexistent because of public sentiments that gifted education might perpetuate inequality in educational opportunities.

...