The Routledge International Companion to Gifted Education

The Routledge International Companion to Gifted Education is a ground-breaking collection of fully-referenced chapters written by many of the most highly-respected authorities on the subject from around the world. These fifty contributors include distinguished scholars who have produced many of the most significant advances to the field over the past few decades, like Joseph Renzulli and Robert Sternberg, alongside authorities who ask questions about the very concepts and terminology embodied in the field – scholars such as Carol Dweck and Guy Claxton.

This multi-faceted volume:

• highlights strategies to support giftedness in children, providing ideas that work and weeding out those that don’t;
• is written in jargon-free language in an easy-to use themed format;
• is the most authoritative collection of future-focused views, ideas and reflections, practices and evaluations yet produced;
• includes chapters dealing with the major controversies and concerns in the field today, from the problems of identification to changing understandings of giftedness and creativity.

The international aspect of the Companion, and its juxtaposition of points of view – whereby chapters are deliberately positioned and accompanied by editorial commentary to highlight the contrasts with each other – ensures that different views are addressed, allowing the reader to absorb and reflect upon the many perspectives on each issue.

The Companion is a guide to the new ideas and controversies that are informing gifted education discussion and policy-making around the world. It is a first class resource to students and researchers alike.

Tom Balchin is a Research Fellow and Lecturer in gifted education, based in the Brunel Able Children’s Education Centre at Brunel University, UK. He is also a Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of Education, Reading University, UK.

Barry Hymer is a Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University's Centre for Teaching and Learning in the UK. He is a freelance educator, chartered psychologist, trainer and writer, specialising in the fields of thinking skills, creativity and gifted education.

Dona Matthews is a Visiting Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto and, until recently, the Director of the Center for Gifted Studies and Education at the Hunter College, City University of New York, working with the New York City Department of Education on gifted education policies and practices.