Developing the gifted and talented potential of Malaysian youngsters via ‘Potentia Project’
List of Authors
  • Airil Haimi Mohd Adnan , Wan Faizatul Azirah Ismayatim

Keyword
  • school students. gifted education, summer camp, SRBCSS, qualitative study

Abstract
  • Before the global pandemic, ‘Potentia Project’ was carried out involving more than 200 youngsters from primary and secondary schools in the state of Perak, Malaysia. The participants were selected from various schools based mainly on the recommendations of their teachers; the participants were not typical ‘straight-A’ students nor were they high achievers in co-curricular activities. Based on the precept that “genius is made, not born,” Potentia’s overarching objective was to help youngsters with latent potential to identify their own characteristics of intelligence, and to train them to ‘become’ gifted and talented. Based partly on the curriculum of BAKA Program for the Gifted and Talented, widely recognised as the earliest after-school and summer camp program for gifted and talented education in Malaysia, and partly on the philosophy behind the Scales for Rating the Behavioural Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS), Potentia Project became an overall positive experience for all its participants. Based on narrative frames collected during the program and focus group discussions with the participants, this empirical paper illustrates the positive outcome when different stakeholders work together for the good of young people in society. The paper also demonstrates how the United Nation’s SDG-4 ‘quality education’ agenda could be realised with the assistance of parents, teachers, the state and higher education providers. What is also clear at this juncture is that after-school and summer camp programs can play a crucial role in helping young people to learn about themselves and to be, for all intents and purposes, all they could be.

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