The role of school counsellors in fostering giftedness: The Australian experience.

An African proverb that resonates strongly with educators is that "it takes a whole village to raise a child". The proverb has been the inspiration for at least two books (Cowen-Fletcher 1994; Rodham Clinton, 1996) and countless t-shirt and greeting card designs, but, more importantly, its sentiment acknowledges the collective responsibility we bear for educating our children. Franz Monks has dedicated his long academic career to the field of gifted education and his wide-ranging contributions have epitomized this shared responsibility for ensuring that the gifts and talents of our young people are nurtured. Like many educators who have interacted with him over the course of his career, I have appreciated the countless conversations that I have had with Franz on the developmental needs of young people. In particular, he stimulated my research on the characteristics of effective teaching according to the perspectives of young people identified as gifted. Subsequently, that work has led to an interest in the role of school counsellors in fostering giftedness, which is the topic of this contribution.