Teaching for Minority Students in Gifted Education:

With an increasing number of ethnically and culturally diverse populations, the integration of multicultural perspectives into education has received much attention in South Korea. The number of foreign residents passed one million in 2009, and it grew to be two million in 2016. From 2010 to 2015, the number of children of the “multicultural families,” which refer to culturally and ethnicalㄴly different groups in Korea, increased from 31,788 (0.44%) to 82,536 (1.35%). Starting 2006, multicultural education has become one of the major policy issues in Korea. Currently, the members of multicultural families in Korea are exposed to prejudice and discrimination from the workplace and the community. Many of their children suffer from low-achievement and alienation at school. Multicultural education advocates educational equality for “all” students (Banks, 2008). However, the increase of minority students in the school population has not been reflected in gifted education. The identification and recruitment relies heavily upon teacher referral in South Korea. Their parents have lower expectations toward their children and lack information regarding gifted education. Without appropriate services, their gifted traits may be lost or not fully developed. Compared to special education, multicultural gifted education is a small field and leaves much room for its definitions, dentification, and programming. Out of a total of 793 journal articles on gifted education found in the KERIS (Korea Education & Research Information Service) database, only 12 articles (0.15%) have focused on ‘multicultural.’ This limited number of studies makes it difficult for educators to develop effective strategies for culturally diverse students in gifted education. Further, there is a paucity of literature on gifted education that is multicultural in South Korea. This essay explores the issues and challenges of multicultural gifted education in Korea and provides suggestions to help educators of gifted students become more culturally responsive and competent.