Françoys Gagné

Abstract

Françoys Gagné is one of the leading figures in educational psychology and giftedness in the past 50 years. Born October 6, 1940 in Montreal, Canada, Françoys Gagné completed his B.A. in Psychology and his master’s degree in 1962 and then his Ph.D. in psychology at the Université de Montreal. Dr. Gagné devoted the first decade of his career to setting up and directed a major research/ intervention program within the bilingual Quebec system of colleges. He joined the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in 1978 and began to study talent development (gifted education) as his new teaching/ research focus. Dr. Gagné devoted over two decades to his main research interests which included his theoretical work on the development of gifts and talents, the measurement of attitudes , and on the screening of students’ gifts and talents by their peers and teachers.He has gained international renown and is mostly known by his theory of talent development: the Differentiating Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). Professor Gagné has received many professional prizes, including the prestigious Distinguished Scholar Award (1996) from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC – USA).
In this interview, Professor Gagné shares with us his current work and reflects on the field of gifted education and his contributions to the field over several decades.