Talent or Talents: Intellectual Exceptionality Approaches and their Implications in the Educational Process

<p class="p1">This paper points out the importance that, in the practice, the educational system gives to the academic talent, leaving in a second place other forms of talent, for example, those comprised in the multiple intelligence or emotional intelligence theories. The purpose of this paper is to present different underlying approaches of talent coexisting in education at various levels, demonstrating some of their potential implications in the educational practice and in the academic achievement of students. In this regard, the emergence of recent theories –as the multiple intelligence <span class="s1">Gardner (2001),</span> and the emotional intelligence <span class="s1">Mayer and Salovey (1997) </span>theories– has put into question the traditional intelligence approaches, which have influenced the concept and practice of teachers concerning a successful formal education. All of this tends to increase the gap between “smart” and “normal”, perpetuating the segregation culture through academic means. Based on this, this paper exposes the need to take into consideration the students’ different skills and talents when planning and evaluating the teaching-learning process, and enhance teaching training through didactic and evaluation methodologies to achieve such integration. For this, the present study provides some evaluation and classroom methodologies. The study also highlights the need to develop, systematize, and validate a broader range of teaching-learning methodologies that can be transmitted to the faculty, in order to gradually move towards a more inclusive, higher quality education.