Respecting the invisible: Transactional and transformational approaches to giftedness

ABSTRACT

We live in a world shaken by a pandemic and the subsequent (currently ongoing) lockdown. The COVID-19 virus is invisible yet has been the dominant topic since 2020. This increasing awareness (and respect) for the invisible may, we hope, transfer to how gifted programs perceive the new conception of transformational giftedness. In this chapter, we contrast the transactional, easily detectable approach with the transformational, not-as-easily-detectable conception. We debate how to best move toward transformational giftedness;do we aim to teach transactionally gifted people how to be transformationally gifted? Or do we continue to pursue ways to assess transformational giftedness? We ultimately propose a fluid approach which follows the adage of transformational giftedness for all. We then discuss the subsequent emphasis on collaboration that can emerge from this fluid approach and potential roadblocks that may arise. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reserved.