Longitudinal studies done by the Gifted Education Branch, Singapore (Khong, 2008) and Vanderbilt University, USA (Park, Lubinski & Benbow, 2007) have indicated that the gifted are more likely to do better academically and be leaders in their respective fields. Chee (2006:225) argued that despite the widespread acceptance of leadership as a critical component of talent development, there are limited well-designed effectiveness studies of existing leadership development programs for gifted adolescents”. This study examines the leadership development programmes available in Hwa Chong Institution (HCI), a school for the gifted and talented in Singapore. In particular, the focus would be on the benefits of empowering student leaders.

HCI student leaders are given much latitude when it comes to the organisation and running of various school events. The Student Leaders Convention (SLC), an annual event whereby more than 500 high school students from the Asia-Pacific region congregate to discuss issues, would be used as an example to illustrate the empowerment of student leaders in the organisation of a regional conference.

This study was conducted with student leaders who were involved in the organisation of major school events in 2008. Data was collected through focus group discussions and a Likert scale survey. The initial findings indicate that the empowerment of student leaders bring about much benefit to students’ leadership development.


References:

Chee, A. L. (2006). Learning to Serve and to Lead. In VanTassel-Baska, J. (Eds), Serving Gifted Learners Beyond the Traditional Classroom: A Guide to Alternative Programs and Services (pp.213-240). Austin, TX: Prufrock Press Inc.

Khong, B. C. (2008). A Study of Gifted Education Programme Graduands. Paper presented at the 10th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness, Singapore.

Park, G., Lubinski, D. & Benbow C. P. (2007). Contrasting Intellectual Patterns Predict Creativity in the Arts and Sciences: Tracking Precocious Youth Over 25 Years. Psychological Science, vol. 18, no. 11, pp.948-952.