Families, Education and Giftedness : Case Studies in the Construction of High Achievement / by Jim Campbell, Laura Mazzoli Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Laura Mazzoli.

Contributor:

Campbell, Jim.

Series:

Advances in Creativity and Giftedness ; 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education.

Local Subjects:

Education.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (196 p.)

Edition:

1st ed. 2012.

Place of Publication:

Rotterdam : SensePublishers : Imprint: SensePublishers, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

What is it like to be YOUNG, GIFTED AND WORKING CLASS in contemporary England? How do working class family values support high educational achievement? What do researchers and policy makers have to learn about giftedness from working class families? These provocative questions are explored in this ground-breaking book. Most studies of giftedness focus on the characteristics of individuals, and draw upon psychological frameworks to understand them. Participants in most gifted education programmes are recruited disproportionately from the higher social classes. Sceptical of the concept of giftedness, Mazzoli Smith and Campbell question conventional methodologies, using a narrative approach to understand how four families of working class origins, each with a gifted child, construct their values in relation to education and social class. They explore the influence of their family histories, cultural values and life styles upon educational engagement and achievement. The authors show that gifted education policies are poorly matched to the values of these families and argue that much research into giftedness has been flawed by social and cultural discrimination. They propose an agenda for change in research paradigms in the giftedness field, which should be characterized by interdisciplinarity and more culturally relative conceptions of giftedness.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

The Social Construction of Giftedness

Studying the Family

Methodology: An Approach through Narrative

Introduction to the Case Studies

The Booths’ Tale: Pursuing the Protestant Work Ethic

The Breakwells’ Tale: Creating Cultural Capital

The Newlands’ Tale: Going for Room at the Top

The Desmonds’ Tale: Discovering School as a Liberating Force

Interpreting the Families’ Narratives

Implications for Policy and Theory

Towards Cultural Relativism and Interdisciplinarity in Researching Giftedness

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-175) and index.

ISBN:

9789460919916

946091991X

OCLC:

828920480