1 Identity Development for Gifted and“Finding a Fit” Identity Development for Gifted and Talented Adolescents Dr Louise Tapper
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3 Outline of presentationContext of the study Some Aotearoa New Zealand cultural views arising from the study Adolescent identity development and being gifted Some broad New Zealand identity profiles of gifted adolescents based on the findings Implications and discussion
4 My Research Questions What is it like to be gifted and talented in the cultural milieu of the Aotearoa New Zealand school? What are the understandings that gifted and talented students, their parents and teachers have about the achievement and underachievement of gifted and talented learners in Aotearoa New Zealand schools?
5 Findings based around three main themesCulture and context matter Complexities of identities The enigma of potential
6 Broad New Zealand socio-cultural understandingsTall Poppy Syndrome The “intellectual cringe”?? (Austin and Hastwell, 2010) Anti-arrogance discourse (Tapper,2014)
7 Adolescent identity development and being giftedAll adolescents searching for “Who am I?’ and “What am I going to be?” (Tanti et al., 2011) Search for identity can be exacerbated by being gifted and talented (Vialle et al., 2007) Heightened multifaceted sensitivity (HMS) – “an intense awareness of behaviours, thinking and emotions of self and others” (Mendaglio, 2003).
8 Gifted and talented adolescent identity profilesA preferred New Zealand adolescent identity Successfully merges academic abilities with sporting, cultural and social competencies Reclaims the negative discourse as a positive one Strength of groupism found within the 'other' group Selective consumer Strong belief in own agency Stands up for principles; early protester/activist Rebels against acceptance of blame for not doing well Two faces of conformist identity 1) 'Fitting in' socially is most important; may 'code switch' in effort to fit in with peers 2) Works to conform to school or society's expectations Conformist Identity Rebel Identity All-rounder Identity Nerd Identity (Tapper, 2014)
9 Conformist Identity
10 Conformist Fitting in socially is paramount.Doesn’t want to stand out; wants to be ‘normal’. The strength of ‘groupism’. Changes behaviours in order to conform with the group fit = code switching. “The process of deliberately changing behaviours to accommodate the expectations of an environment” (Neihart, 2006). Forced choice dilemma for highly able learners (Gross, 1989) – a Conformist Identity chooses mediocrity.
11 Conformist Identity – boys “Rugby boys”“…he’s, he, um is not seen as one of the cool guys, and I think that’s the thing that obviously most teenagers wanna be, accepted.” (Parent of Kurt) “Oh yeah, these guys were pretty horrid, at rugby. And I don’t know if the whole – you know, what the other people are like, but these half a dozen boys who were at rugby, that was the only person they took the mickey out of, all day. Yeah. ‘Oh God, Kurt won’t know’ ‘Oh yeah here we go, Kurt’s going to get the ball – don’t touch it, Kurt.’ And then when he ran, they were all imitating the way he ran.”
12 Rugby boys “I think it’s part of that whole boys’ school testosterone, New Zealand culture rugby playing mindset and Jura High School is unfortunately – I mean most boys’ schools are – it’s rugby, the, it’s a big culture at it. And I think that was part of Kurt wanting to try and be accepted as ‘one of the lads.’ But there’s also been a significant drop-off. Kurt doesn’t hang out with friends anymore – cos he doesn’t get many texts anymore, the phone doesn’t ring anymore, and on the weekend he’s not, doesn’t go out with anyone. He’s just round home.” (Parent of Kurt)
13 Conformist Identity – girls “Bubbleheads”Girls code switch too – adjust their behaviour – to conform with feminine gender stereotypes. “I sit here, and I have like little bubblehead, bubblehead, bubblehead, bubblehead, bubblehead, bubblehead, bubblehead all around me and I’m, like, right in the middle. And I get all the gossip and I get the notes and the cell phones, like, being lent and thrown across my head. The girl sitting across from me always asked to borrow my stuff and she never remembers my name. It’s a bit bad.” (Autumn Ashes)
14 Another kind of Conformist IdentityConform to fit in with expectations of school hierarchy or expectations of other adults (parents, teachers, coaches, tutors). High achievers who strive to fit in with accepted culture of school or group as it conforms to adults’ values.
15 “I really want to do really well”“All the tests that we’re doing, are gonna matter at the end of the year and if I can do well now, it’s going to help me at the end of the year. Like, when we sit all the big exams for the year.” (April) “They want us to have a really good work ethic, which lots of us do, um like I’ll come home, have a break, do homework, do music, do more homework, go to bed.”
16 Rebel Identity
17 The Rebel Identity Some degree of non-conformity towards expectations of adults. Selective consumer (Delisle and Galbraith, 2002) Grades and extrinsic rewards not always valued by these adolescents – the non-Dux?? (Tapper, 2014) Will stand up for their principles – the early protester/activist??
18 The Rebel Identity “It’s not their driving force in life to get 7 out of 10; their interest is in other areas.” (Bruce Wayne’s parent) “I really can’t be bothered at the moment; I’ve got, you know, social stuff going on and I’m just distracted.” (Autumn Ashes) “But I saw him, that no one else had asked him to do it, but he started picking things up. Like, you know, self-conscious, but the fact that there was rubbish there and he didn’t care whether all his mates were going on but he did it. Very few boys will do that of their own accord really and that struck me.” (Teacher of Lewis)
19 Nerd Identity
20 The Nerd Identity Reclaims the negative discourse as a positive one – ‘reclaim the nerd’. Strength of ‘groupism’ that they are looking for is found within this ‘other’ group - “big little community of little weird kids.” A Nerd Identity re-positions the ‘popular’ group as negative. Elements of the Conformist Identity - are high achievers but interests more eclectic or alternative.
21 Autumn’s story “I tried to go into the classroom at lunchtime to practise, and a girl who’d always hated me because I was smart and better than her at things, like music, um, she actually slammed my finger in the door, when I tried to come in. Yeah. And I will never forget the names of those people. I think when I’m you know, 60, 90, I will still be able to say that M.C hated me at primary school. J.D bullied me at primary school. I’d still be able to say the names. Like, they’re just names you never forget. My mum forgot his name but I haven’t, it kind of sticks.”
22 The Nerd Identity – reclaiming the nerd“Like – but I try not to care what others think because I’ve always kind of been the weird kid, but now I fit in with all the other weird kids. M calls us the misfits, it’s like our little friendship group where all the – you know, we’ve got the little wee nerdy Doctor Who fans and we’ve got all the little guys and their Rubik’s Cubes and we’ve got people with weird interests in things like Shakespeare – we’re all similar in little ways and we all have, like, similar music taste and stuff. But M calls us the misfits just because we’re all so weird, like, we’ve all – managed to become this big, community of little weird kids.”
23 All-rounder Identity
24 All-rounder Identity The “have-it-all” student (Roeser et al, 2008)Successfully merges competencies in academic, sporting, cultural and social fields. Achieves highly across a variety of areas and still remains popular with peers.
25 The All-rounder “I think that people see him as you know ah a boy with a ball in many different, different things. And he’s not someone who’s labelled as other boys could be because they are sort of more one-dimensional, which he isn’t at all, ah which is great to see and he’s a great swimmer as well, so he’s got to Athletics finals, swimming finals. He’s – I mean, you know, the perfect all-rounder.” (Teacher of Lewis) “I don’t think anybody has ever called him a nerd, possibly because he’s one of those people who seems to be an all-rounder.” (Parent of Bruce Wayne).
26 Gifted and talented adolescent identity profilesA preferred New Zealand adolescent identity Successfully merges academic abilities with sporting, cultural and social competencies Reclaims the negative discourse as a positive one Strength of groupism found within the 'other' group Selective consumer Strong belief in own agency Stands up for principles; early protester/activist Rebels against acceptance of blame for not doing well Two faces of conformist identity 1) 'Fitting in' socially is most important; may 'code switch' in effort to fit in with peers 2) Works to conform to school or society's expectations Conformist Identity Rebel Identity All-rounder Identity Nerd Identity (Tapper, 2014)
27 Important Points to Note re this ModelProfiles developed from stories of ONE group of gifted and talented adolescents in NZ. Not meant to be seen as only identities. Forming of identity is fluid as identities are constantly being negotiated and re-negotiated. Identities are all inter-connected and an individual may at any time display elements of one or more of these identity profiles.
28 Implications 94% schools = teacher identification most common therefore understanding of diverse identity negotiations paramount. Usefulness of generic checklists and characteristics developed outside NZ context? Versus richer contextually appropriate understandings?
29 References [email protected]Tapper, L., & Abbiss, J. (2015). Finding a “fit”: Gifted and talented adolescents’ identity negotiations. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 50(2), Austin, R., & Hastwell, A. (2010). Max your marks. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. Cohen, L. M., Ambrose, D., & Powell, W. (2000). Conceptual foundations and theoretical lenses for the diversity of giftedness and talent. In K. A. Heller, F. J. Monks, R. J. Sternberg & R. F. Subotnik (Eds.), International handbook of giftedness and talent (2nd ed., pp ). Oxford: Elsevier Science Dai, D. Y. (2010). The nature and nurture of giftedness: a new framework for understanding gifted education. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University. Ellsworth, J. (1998). Adolescence and gifted: Addressing existential dread. Retrieved from Gross, M. U. M. (1989). The pursuit of excellence or the search for intimacy? The forced-choice dilemma of gifted youth. Roeper Review, 11, Kaufman, S. B., & Sternberg, R. J. (2008). Conceptions of giftedness. In S. I. Pfeiffer (Ed.), Handbook of giftedness in children; Psycho-educational theory, research and best practices (pp ). New York: Springer
30 References Mendaglio, S. (2003). Heightened multifaceted sensitivity of gifted students: Implications for counseling. The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, XIV(2), Monceaux, D. A., & Jewell, P. (2007). Social influences on the underachievement of gifted male adolescents. The Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 16(1), Phillipson, S. N., & McCann, M. (2007). Meta-theoretical conceptions of giftedness. In S. Phillipson & M. McCann (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness: Socio-cultural perspectives (pp ). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Roeser, R., Galloway, M., Casey-Cannon, S., Watson, C., & Tan, L. (2008). Identity representations in patterns of school achievement and well-being among early adolescent girls. Journal of Early Adolescence, 28(1), Tapper, L. (2014). 'Being in the world of school'. A phenomenological exploration of experiences for gifted and talented adolescents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Tanti, C., Stukas, A., Halloran, M., & Foddy, M. (2011). Social identity change: Shifts in social identity during adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 34(3), van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. London, Ontario: State University of New York Press.