Key information

Delivery Fully Online
Next Intake 2 March 2020
Duration 5 weeks (approximately 23 hours)
Registrations close 13 March 2020

About this course

Across Australia, gifted people make up approximately 10% of our population - whether it be within your own family, a school, university, the workplace, or elsewhere in the community. You may not even realise they're there! This fully online 5-week short course will broaden your understanding of what it means to be gifted and help shape the way you interact with the gifted learners who may be in your world. You will explore the unique characteristics, and other highly relevant aspects of gifted learners, and discover why there is not 'one size fits all' as you debunk some of the most common related myths and misconceptions.


Who should do this course?

This course is for anyone who would like to improve their knowledge and understanding of gifted learners and is particularly suitable for parents, teachers, and those who work with and/or support gifted learners.


Completing the Understanding Gifted Learners short course will contribute 23 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Registered PD addressing 6.2.2, 6.3.2, 6.4.2 and 7.4.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.


What you will learn

  • Explain some of the characteristics of giftedness

  • Interpret and explain myths and misunderstandings around giftedness

  • Identify and explain models of giftedness and ways in which giftedness may be hidden.

  • Explain the importance of cultural understanding and context when considering giftedness.

Dr Amanda J. Harper

Dr Amanda J. Harper is an experienced educator having taught in schools, worked in regional gifted education, and coordinated state-wide curricula, before moving into academia. In addition to leading the Understanding Gifted Learners short course, Amanda coordinates the Bachelor of Philosophy, a companion degree for gifted students at the University of Tasmania. Amanda has presented her research and been published internationally. Her PhD examined the place of gifted education pedagogy in undergraduate healthcare, focusing on the development of empathy and Dąbrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration. She was honoured to have received the Australian John Geake Outstanding Thesis Award (2018).