ABSTRACT
This chapter develops the argument that the practical application of the construct of giftedness in educational practice, leading to the creation of gifted programs, especially pull-out enrichment programs, has not resulted in beneficial educational outcomes. The Gifted Child Paradigm was a product of the early twentieth century and is the source of the ideas and educational practices that shaped the field of gifted education at its birth. There are alternatives to the Gifted Child Paradigm that hold great promise, alternatives that, perhaps collectively or as a hybrid, could coalesce into a new paradigm for gifted education and prompt a paradigm shift in the field. One alternative to the Gifted Child Paradigm is what Dai and Chen have identified as the "Talent Development Paradigm", which is characterized by a pluralist and developmental view of human potential. Whereas enrichment is an educational practice and gifted programs are educational structural arrangements, giftedness as applied to students in schools is a social construct.
