The Role of Psychological and Educational Knowledge in Supporting Gifted Development
A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Educational Psychology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 April 2026 | Viewed by 71
Special Issue Editors
Interests: educational and developmental psychology; inclusive education; community psychology; psychology and social justice; difference and diversity in development
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
There is a generally accepted symbiotic relationship between the disciplines of psychology and education when considering how to best support the development and additional support needs of children and young people. This includes discussions about appropriate provision for gifted individuals (Sutherland & Stack, 2018). There is also tacit agreement within the gifted field that we must look holistically at the individual, considering not just academic strengths/needs but also social and emotional well-being. It has however been argued that we may not have yet fully succeeded in these holistic aims (Worrell, Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius & Dixon, 2019). We know from examples within neuroscience that in spite of the very best of intentions, the application of theory to practice and the melding of multidisciplinary perspectives can go astray (Howard-Jones, 2014). This had led to calls for better bridges of communication between psychology, neuroscience and education to make these discussions and their implications for provision more than a sum of their parts (cf. Wilcox, Morett, Hawes & Dommett, 2021).
For this Special Issue, we invite contributors to address current research in the areas of psychology, neuroscience and education in the support of gifted individuals. We are especially interested in research in which these disciplines come together to effectively enhance provision and support for gifted learners or research which demonstrates that the absence of dialogue between these disciplines has limited provision. Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do.
Through the articles in this Issue we hope to explore contemporary opportunities and challenges and to address what part each discipline has to play in harnessing multidisciplinary provision for highly able individuals to ensure it is meaningful and effective. We welcome papers which include a focus on inclusion and intersectionality and we actively seek international perspectives on these issues. The articles may be theoretical or empirical as long as they are informed by evidence.
References
- Sutherland, M. and Stack, N (2018) Building knowledge bridges: synthesising early years and gifted education research and practice to provide an optimal start for young gifted In: Wallace, B., Sisk, D.A. and Senior, J. (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Gifted and Talented Education. SAGE Publications Ltd.. ISBN 9781526431158.
- Worrell, F. C. and Subotnik, R. F. and Olszewski-Kubilius, P. and Dixson, D. D., (2019) Gifted Students Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 70, pp. 551-576, 2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3318187 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-102846.
- Howard-Jones, P. (2014) Neuroscience and education: myths and messages. Nat Rev Neurosci 15, 817–824 https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3817.
- Wilcox, G. Morett, L.M., Hawes, Z. & Dommett, E.J. (2021) Why Educational Neuroscience Needs Educational and School Psychology to Effectively Translate Neuroscience to Educational Practice. Front Psychol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.618449.
Prof. Dr. Niamh Stack
Prof. Dr. Margaret Sutherland
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- gifted development
- gifted education
- inclusive education
- educational psychology
- multiple exceptionalities
- intersectionality
- multidisciplinary
- highly able
- exceptional learners
- high potential learners
- psychology
- education
- neuroscience
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