Abstract
In this writing it is my intention to show how using philosophy and creative thinking with junior school children has enabled me to identify gifts and talents of which I might otherwise have been unaware and to show the impact this has had on the children concerned in terms of their own awareness of themselves as learners. I will also question where this fits into current policies on gifted and talented education. The article will demonstrate how I have used an action research method based on my own values and embodied professional knowledge in that I have identified and sought to improve an area of concern in my teaching, and in generating my own living theory of how I teach, I have made my ideas available for public scrutiny, therefore testing them for validity against the critical responses of a wider audience (Whitehead and McNiff, 2006: 13). Using notes from my personal journal, sharing video evidence with colleagues and in discussion with the Tuesday Master’s group at Bath University, I intend to comply with Habermas’s (1976) criteria for validity in that what I say will be understandable to another person, understood by him or her and a common understanding reached, enabling me to add my own living theory contribution to the wider body of professional knowledge.
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