A study of leadership development programme for gifted primary school students in South Korea

Abstract

This thesis investigates leadership development in the gifted primary school students of South Korea. It ultimately aims to make suggestions toward the formulation and implementation of a model leadership gifted curriculum and programme specific to the Korean cultural and educational setting. The bases of the suggestions were assembled from three sources: literature pertaining to the relevant topics of the thesis, available leadership gifted curricula and programmes, and the perspectives of Korean gifted educators. The views of the Korean gifted teachers were investigated using mixed methods or methodological triangulation; the measurement instruments employed in this study were a tripartite questionnaire survey and complementary semi-structured interviews. Fifty Korean gifted teachers teaching at mainstream national and state primary schools, Centres for the Gifted, and specialised gifted schools partook in the questionnaire survey. Two Korean gifted teachers from mainstream state primary schools and the director of the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) were interviewed to supplement the data collected through the questionnaires. The results illuminated the Korean gifted educational context and highlighted the lack and the need for leadership development for the gifted. Through the comprehensive review of the literature review, available curricula/programmes, and results of this study, final suggestions for a prospective leadership gifted curriculum and programme were made. Three main guidelines were proposed; firstly, a model of the prospective contents of leadership gifted education, named the Four Areas Leadership Model (FALM); secondly, the suggestions for the implementation of the FALM in a curriculum format; finally, the suggestions for the implementation of the FALM in a programme format. The FALM adopted the framework of Parker's (1983) Leadership Training Model, and its implementation as a programme was adapted from Renzulli's (1976, 1986) Enrichment Triad Model's implementation scheme which was considered appropriate to the Korean context.