Critical Talent Development: A Framework for Change

Scholars in the fields of gifted education and talent development have echoed society’s need for transformative leaders and innovators. Service learning has been proposed as a means for meeting this goal. However, traditional frameworks fall short. Students use existing curriculum and often fail to examine the structural issues of inequity. In this conceptual article, a theoretical framework for Critical Talent Development (CTD) is proposed. CTD creates a path for critically developing talent such that students recognize their talents and interests as tools for social change. This occurs by bringing together research and theory from social justice education and conceptions of talent development. CTD includes three central components: talent-focused problem solving, transformative identity, and critical engagement. Reflection is contextualized here through Paulo Freire’s and Donald A. Schön’s conceptions of reflective practices and is conceived as the driver for the frameworks’ components. A curricular example is provided at the end to further support the conceptualization of CTD.