Identifying and Nurturing Diversely Gifted and Talented Students: Part III Introduction

Gifted students and youth belong to diversely different student populations, with diversely different backgrounds, living and being educated within diversely different contexts. Such diversity is even more pronounced within diversely cultural regions of the world, such as the Asia-Pacific. One challenge of these accumulated diversities of gifted students may include underrepresentation in gifted education programs that contribute to the excellence gap. Additional challenges of identification and intervention programs for underrepresented gifted and talented children in some Asia-Pacific Rim countries are discussed in the 12 chapters in Part III, with authors from seven different countries: from South Korea to Sweden, involving Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Mexico, and the UK. The aim of the authors in this part of the handbook is to address some existing gaps in the current understanding of gifted students in the Asia-Pacific region, with the emphasis on those underrepresented gifted children and youth who are still beyond the limits of our understanding.