Talent - Why do we do it?
Talent - Why do we do it? [0,7 MB]
IND's studenterserie nr. 38. Kandidatspeciale. Fysik.
Jeppe Willads Petersen, August 2014
Vejleder: Bjørn Friis Johannsen
Abstract
In 2005 three reasons were given for why talent development should be done in Denmark. With a basis in these reasons this thesis asks four questions about talent development: what should we do, who should we do it for, what are we doing and who are we doing it for?
These questions are sought to be answered through a review on the literature of talent, giftedness and expertise, a study of the aims and formats of current talent activities in Denmark and a longitudinal study of a new talent activity in Ordrup, Denmark.
The literature review reveals a long history of research on the subject that points in many directions and has difficulties agreeing on a common definition of the target group. The study of talent activities leads to a classification of the talent activities into three groups based on the aim of the activities. The longitudinal study uses a concept called the implied students to analyse how the image of the future students evolves during the initiation of the activity.
The results indicate that the concept of talent in a Danish context relies on motivation and high performance as key identifiers. The talent activities are primarily of a competitive format and focus mostly on only one of the three reasons for doing talent activities.