WORDS FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Jean Paul Sartre once said, “There may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours.” In these weeks during which the corona virus may cost millions of lives, we are painfully aware of how quickly Sartre’s words can ring true.
In the Corona era, the phrase that dominates our daily lives is social distancing. At first glance it seems to be directed against everything our ETSN stands for. After all, our aim is to bring people together and encourage them to cooperate. We stand for levelling distances between people and connecting them. And just as we follow the precept of social distancing and move away from each other, we become aware of what we are losing. To that end, we have become painfully aware that the virus infects not just individuals, but whole societies in the ways we have to live with and around it. The term social distancing conceals the fact that only a joint effort – the joint consensual action of each and every person – is required to piece back together our social networks. In other words, individuals alone cannot defeat the virus; but the spirit of cooperation, the communal effort, the proverbial village certainly can.
Let us therefore regard this sad occasion as an opportunity to learn, so that together we can create hope for shaping the future. I have heard of Talent Points and Talent Centers that can no longer perform their normal activities. Talents cannot attend courses; counseling centers have closed; mentors cannot meet their mentees; some institutions are even temporarily closed. But at the same time, I also observe a resurgence. Several Talent Points and Talent Centers have succeeded in adapting at least some activities to the situation by offering digital learning formats to reach educators, teachers and talents. Mentors are continuing to provide guidance and support by switching to e-mentoring where possible.
Such positive examples inspired calls-to-action from the ETSN Council. As Jean Paul Sartre said “there may be more beautiful times, but this one is ours” and we have to deal with this situation now. Our first request: If you have managed to foster good practice strategies with your Talent Point or Talent Center that you would like to share with the network, we encourage you to submit a report, no-matter how long or short, for our newsletter. Our second request: we encourage you to familiarize yourselves with our ETSN Map: https://etsn.eu/map-of-etsn/. Browse through the list of European Talent Centers, Associated European Talent Centers, European Talent Points and Associated European Talent Points. Maybe you will find a partner for cooperation. What a wonderful occasion that, in these dark times, active cooperation could open the door to something new.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Albert Ziegler, Chairman of the ETSN
In this issue:
Talent Point in Focus: Pfiffikus
Talent Point in Action: Rhetorical games
Inclusive Education: Succesfull Conference at Baroda, India
Talent Center in Action: The importance of Educational Policies
Talent Point in Focus: Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium
Talent Center in Focus: Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Centre for Giftedness and Creativity
Upcoming Event: 17th International ECHA Conference 2021,
Research Echoes: A Piece of PISA
The ETSN Youth Platform and Youth Summit Guidelines
Upcoming Event: “High Capacities and Giftedness: Shared Responsibilities”, New DATES: 3-5 December 2020, Braga, Portugal
Invitation for News and Talent Web contributions
