Legal definition of a gifted and talented person

Korea enacted 'Gifted Education Promotion Law' as a main statute on the education for gifted and talented children. According to the clause 1, Article 2 of the applicable law, "gifted and talented person" is defined as an individual who requires special education to develop innate potential with an outstanding talent.

Article 5.1 specifies that the person who is considered to have potential ability or superior in one of the items in the following is selected as candidates for gifted and talented education.

• 1. General intelligence
• 2. Specific academic aptitude
• 3. Creative thinking ability
• 4. Artistic ability
• 5. Physical talent
• 6. Special talents

That is, a wide variety of abilities and talents are all recognized in the Gifted Education Promotion Law.

Purpose of gifted education

According to the definition in Article 1 of the Gifted Education Promotion Law, the purpose of gifted education is to promote self-actualization of individuals and have them contribute to development of society and nation by scouting for gifted and talented persons and carrying out education suitable for ability and aptitude in accordance with regulations of Article 12 and 19 in the Fundamentals of Education Act so that they can develop innate potential.

In addition, the gifted education is aimed at helping gifted and talented persons to acquire expertise, creativity, leadership, morality and self-directed learning attitude in accordance with spirit of the Constitution (Article 31.1) and the Fundamentals of Education Act (Article 3 and 19), which say that all members of a nation shall have right to education according to ability and aptitude to promote self-actualization and contribute to development of society and nation.