Inspiring Teachers to Discern and Enrich Gifted Learners in a Disadvantaged Environment

Abstract

This article provides a platform for our voices, and the voices of the teachers with whom we are interacting, to be heard via our critical reflections on a project undertaken to assist teachers to discern gifted learners in a disadvantaged environment in the jurisdiction area of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela Bay). The article outlines how we systematically reflected on our work, forming educative relationships both with the teachers and one another, in order to generate our own living educational theories of practice. We tell the story of how we elicited critical awareness, both within ourselves and the teachers, and facilitated the development of competencies and confidence to deal with the specific challenges these educators face in their teaching.