Gifted Awareness Week - Aotearoa New Zealand

15-21 June 2026

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Download our Gifted Awareness Week Information Pack! 

Filled with lots of ideas you can run in your community. Download HERE.

Looking Back to Move Forward

Looking Back to Move Forward invites Aotearoa New Zealand to reflect on what we have learned about gifted learners - and how we use that knowledge to shape a better future.

Across generations, gifted learners have shown us that ability alone is not enough. When their learning, social, and emotional needs are recognised and supported, they thrive and contribute meaningfully. When they are misunderstood or overlooked, gifted children can experience failure, frustration and sustained self-doubt.

As a nation, we regularly pause to consider where we’ve come from and where we’re heading. Gifted Awareness Week is an opportunity to do the same for our learners - to honour decades of research, lived experience, and advocacy, and to ask how we move forward together.

Because nurturing gifted learners isn’t about privilege - it’s about responsibility.

And the future doesn’t start tomorrow. It starts now.

Legacy and contribution statement

Looking back, we see a community built by many hands.

For more than half a century, the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children has been shaped by educators, parents, advocates, and learners who noticed what others sometimes missed - children whose ways of thinking, feeling, and learning called for understanding rather than conformity.

Together, they questioned narrow definitions, challenged low expectations, and insisted that gifted children deserve

to belong.

Across decades, individuals like George Parkyn, along with many others, helped give this vision practical form - through early childhood programmes, parent support networks, enrichment groups, research, writing, conferences, and persistent advocacy. Some led nationally; others worked quietly in classrooms, community halls, and living rooms. All contributed to a growing body of knowledge, care, and courage.

Looking back, we recognise the importance of those who stood firm when giftedness was misunderstood, overlooked, or dismissed. Their work reminds us that progress rarely comes quickly, and that lasting change is built through relationships, shared learning, and sustained commitment.

Looking forward, we carry this legacy with responsibility and hope. The challenges facing gifted learners continue to evolve, shaped by changing systems, increasing diversity, and the need for greater equity and inclusion. What endures is the understanding that gifted education is not about privilege or labels, but about responding appropriately to difference - and doing so with humanity.

As we mark Gifted Awareness Week, we honour the past not as a fixed story, but as a foundation. By looking back, we strengthen our ability to move forward - guided by the wisdom, compassion, and collective effort of those who came before, and committed to creating a future where gifted children and young people across Aotearoa New Zealand are recognised, supported, and valued.

Honouring George Parkyn

As we look back at the origins of gifted education advocacy in Aotearoa New Zealand, George Parkyn stands as one of its most influential pioneers.

George Parkyn was a tireless advocate for children whose abilities placed them outside the expectations of the mainstream system. At a time when giftedness was poorly understood and often dismissed, he spoke clearly and persistently about the needs of gifted learners - not as elite or privileged, but as children deserving of appropriate

recognition, challenge, and support. His advocacy helped shift giftedness from the margins into national conversation.

Looking back, we see how Parkyn’s influence extended beyond individual families to the creation of enduring structures. As a founding figure of what would become the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children, his leadership helped establish a national voice for parents and educators, grounded in partnership, shared learning, and practical action. His work helped families feel less isolated and empowered communities to advocate collectively for change.

George Parkyn’s vision was not limited to his own time. He understood that progress in education requires persistence across generations - through organisations, shared knowledge, and the courage to keep asking difficult questions of systems not designed for difference.

Looking forward, his legacy challenges us to continue advocating with both conviction and care: to listen to families, to centre children’s lived experiences, and to ensure that gifted learners are recognised in all their diversity. His work reminds us that meaningful change begins with people willing to speak up - and continues when others choose to carry that work on.

During Gifted Awareness Week, Looking Back to Move Forward, we honour George Parkyn for helping ignite a movement that continues to shape understanding, advocacy, and support for gifted learners across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Gifted Awareness Week is almost upon us!

WE NEED YOU! 

You are well-known advocates for our awesome gifted young people and their whānau. Your voice, experience, and support help create understanding, belonging, and opportunities for learners whose needs are too often overlooked.

This year, we invite you to stand with us as we celebrate 50 years of advocacy, learning, and progress in gifted education in Aotearoa New Zealand and applaud those who have advocated for our gifted youth over many years.

There are many ways to be involved:

• Invite your members and their families to check the NZAGC website (www.giftedchildren.org.nz) regularly during Gifted Awareness Week

• Link your website to the NZAGC website.

• Share stories and experiences with others

• Start conversations in your community or workplace

• Help raise awareness in your local community

• Encourage schools and organisations in your area to participate

• Share with us! What actions have you taken (or are planning) with your parents, your local schools, or in your community?

Your contribution matters

Together, we can honour the past, recognise the present, and help shape a future where gifted learners are understood, supported, and able to flourish. 

Because when gifted learners thrive, Aotearoa thrives too.