The Role of Social Context in the Talent Development Process at the Higher Education Level

This small-scale study addresses the limited research available on the lifeworld experiences of gifted tertiary level students. Whilst there is a wealth of research on the experiences of gifted students at the primary and secondary school level, not much is known about the learning experiences of gifted undergraduates. This study seeks to give a voice to gifted undergraduates through a phenomenological framework, which is a methodology that allows the perceptions of the participant rather than that of outside researchers to take precedence. Four gifted graduates (2 male and 2 female) who attended a small, urban university in New South Wales and had achieved in the top 2% of their cohort were selected for this study. Participants described the types of learning environments that had supported their talent development such as mentorship and cross level classes, as well as types of social contexts that impeded the talent development process. Different types of social coping strategies were also uncovered. One interesting outcome of this study was the finding that many of the social coping strategies used by gifted students at the high school level were still in operation at the tertiary level. The implications of this study should help educators at the tertiary level better understand how to support the talent development process and develop optimal learning environments for their gifted student populations.