Gifted Awareness Week Australia 2022

On Saturday 21st May 2022, the Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented (AAEGT) will launch the 8th annual Gifted Awareness Week Australia. Many events will take place around Australia to celebrate gifted and high potential learners and raise awareness of their diverse learning needs.

"In 2022, we have grown our international Gifted Awareness Week collaboration to include New Zealand, Malaysia and Jamaica," AAEGT President Melinda Gindy stated. "This year, we have conjointly launched the theme Like Minds, acknowledging that like minds are found throughout diverse backgrounds, domains, and areas and are not always aged peers. Furthermore, this theme raises the importance of gifted individuals' social and emotional health and wellbeing."

Gifted Awareness Week Australia 2022 comes as Australia is striving to maintain its educational integrity two years into the COVID-19 pandemic. Like their neurotypical peers, gifted and talented students have experienced varied responses to learning during these unprecedented times. However, for some gifted students, time away from the classroom has led to isolation from likeminded peers and the escalation of social and emotional health challenges. With social and emotional wellbeing being one of the major focuses in education today, our national community needs to make sure gifted individuals are included and supported with opportunities to connect with each other.

"Research shows us that gifted children learn best when they are appropriately challenged based on their readiness to learn. The most effective learning environment includes pairing with others of similar ability”, Mrs Gindy continued. "What we also learn from the research literature is that flourishing academically, socially and emotionally is supported by fostering a sense of belonging alongside like minds. When gifted and high potential students are valued, understood, and nurtured, they are healthy and happy".

Nina Thomas, Chair of the Gifted Awareness Week Australia Committee, reflects: "It is so very important for gifted individuals' intellectual, social and emotional health to be given opportunities to connect with like minds in various domains with different aged peers." "Gifted Awareness Week Australia is an opportunity to highlight and raise awareness that many of our gifted children should be given the opportunity to connect with each other, particularly with varying age ranges", Ms Thomas stated.

Gifted Awareness Week Australia 2022 is an opportunity to highlight and raise awareness of the need for education to include equitable gifted identification and diverse programming practices that include provision for gifted education.

Gifted Awareness Week Australia was founded in 2015 by the Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented (AAEGT) to raise awareness of the identification, support and learning needs of gifted children and to celebrate the dedication of individuals and educational bodies who are making a positive difference in the lives of gifted children and their families. Resources, including articles, blogs and event details are located at Gifted Awareness Week. The AAEGT is the peak national body for gifted and talented education in Australia.