Competences of the 21st Century
Social-Emotional Competences of Gifted Accelerated Students in Indonesia
Eka Sakti Yudha, Sunaryo Kartadinata and Nandang Rusmana
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Social-Emotional Competences, Gifted Student, Accelerated Program.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine social-emotional competences of gifted accelerated students from
the perspectives of self, peer, and teacher. Social-emotional competences are related to self- awareness,
social-awareness, self-management, and relationship management. This study involved 148 participants
who were randomly chosen from senior high schools participating in accelerated program in Indonesia. The
social-emotional inventory (self-perspective, peer-perspective, and teacher-perspective) were administered
(75 items). The results show that there are no significant differences among the perspectives of self, peer,
and teacher on social-emotional competences of gifted accelerated-students. This study also reveals that
social-emotional competences of gifted accelerated-students are in the levels of competent and mastery. The
implication of this study includes important questions and the need of guidance and counselling services
especially for gifted accelerated-students.
1 INTRODUCTION
Gifted children are considered a minority group and
their number is not yet known. Theoretically, gifted
learners in a population are ranged from 3-7%
(Tannenbaum, 2000; Tapper, 2012; Marland, 1972;
Beranek, 1993). The population of Indonesian high
school students in the academic year 2016-2017 is
4,292,288 (BPS: 2016). Then, the number of gifted
learners is estimated to be 300,406.
Various studies have been done derived from
various aspects, levels, and dimensions of
giftedness. One of the interesting aspects to be
studied is the social-emotional competence of gifted
learners. Many people are concerned about the
socio-emotional competence of gifted learners,
especially for those who follow accelerated
education programs. Gifted children will learn and
associate with senior people, it triggers a question of
how they associate with their peers.
These concerns are corroborated by studies of
gifted education experts indicating how vulnerable
gifted children. For instance, a case study that was
conducted by Witty & Lehman (1929) describes that
gifted children are susceptible to emotional
problems. Another well-known research was
conducted by Terman (1961) who points out that
gifted children are problematic in their socio-
emotional adjustment. A series of other studies
reinforce the assumption that gifted children are
socially disruptive (Hollingworth, 1942, Gross,
2004; Grace & Booth, 1958; Freeman, 1979;
Ferguson & Maccoby, 1966; Dixon, 1998; Cross,
2007; Brody & Benbow, 1998; Janos & Robinson,
1985).
However, all the worries are caused by gifted
children who are not facilitated. It makes gifted
children to be known for a myriad of problems
compared with their achievements. Gifted children
who can actualize their giftedness tend to be more
productive and become a pride for their alma mater.
Recent studies indicate that gifted children who are
achievers have no social or emotional problems
(Gundersen, 2014; Han & Kemple, 2006; Hébert,
2011).
In the acceleration education setting, gifted
children will experience accelerated learning beyond
their peers. This makes gifted children have to
interact with senior students. Nevertheless, this is
not a problem. This issue has been examined by
many experts in various levels of education, from
basic, medium, to higher (Janos & Robinson, 1985;
Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee, 2000).
This study tried to reveal the socio- emotional
competence of gifted children who follow
Yudha, E., Kartadinata, S. and Rusmana, N.
Competences of the 21st Century - Social-Emotional Competences of Gifted Accelerated Students in Indonesia.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences (ICES 2017) - Volume 2, pages 231-234
ISBN: 978-989-758-314-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
231

acceleration program in Indonesia. This study is
important, given the accelerated education initiated
by the Indonesian government in regular schools put
gifted students are in public schools. They have
shorter study time that may affect their social
interaction.
Moreover, since 2015, the Indonesian
government has initiated inclusive education as a
substitution for accelerated education program.
Gifted children are in regular classes with peers to
result its own dynamics. As an early reference, the
socio-emotional competence of gifted students who
follow acceleration education program in Indonesia
needs to be described.
The terminology used in this paper is social-
emotional competence. Briefly, socio- emotional
competence is a set of individual abilities to interact
with themselves and their environment (Boyatzis,
2008). Competence is a concept formed by
performance theory (Boyatzis, 2008, p.6) because it
refers to the ability that can be seen and can be
measured quantitatively.
Emotional-social competence is very important
because it helps an individual to obtain the
fulfilment of individual development needs. Surya
(2003) states that an individual who finds it difficult
to deal with themselves, others, or both can
experience a disruption of need fulfilment. If it is not
considered, in the long run it can cause
psychological disturbances, since the social-
emotional competence becomes a stock that an
individual has in facing the life challenges in the
21st century, because an incompetent person will
have difficulty in living daily life.
2 METHODS
The approach of this study is quantitative with
survey design. A survey research is a research
method that focuses to get a picture of the
characteristics of a population by using a relatively
large number of samples (Fraenkel & Wallen, 1993;
Heppner, Wamol & Kivlinghan, 2008).
2.1 Participant
The participant in this study were 148 students aged
15 to 17 years (M = 15.8, SD = 0.72). They were
selected randomly from senior high schools
participating in accelerated program in Indonesia.
The sample was divided according to gender (males,
n = 72, females, n = 76) and grade (10th grade, n =
47, 11th grade = 110). The sample was taken
purposively from 8 (eight) schools of accelerated
education program organizers in Indonesia in
accordance with the aim of obtaining gifted students
with criteria (IQ> 130, having high creativity and
task commitment)
2.2 Data Analysis
Social-emotional competences were assessed with
the social-emotional inventory (self-perspective,
peer-perspective, and teacher- perspective). A self-
report that consists of 75 items was taken from the
social-emotional competences, proposed by
Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee (2000). The answers
were rated on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from
strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). In the
study, the overall social-emotional competences
scores only were used. To calculate the validity and
the reliability of the scale in the Indonesian
environment, the scale to a sample of 10th and 11th
grade students (N = 517) was performed. The
Cronbach’s α of the scale reached 0.86.
The data analysis in this research is done with
SPSS software ver.20. The descriptive statistics was
used in the data, while in the hypothesis testing, non-
parametric inferential statistics, such as Chi-Square
test, Mann-Whitney U-Test and Kruskal-Wallis test,
were employed.
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The survey of the socio-emotional competence on
the 148 gifted students result self- perception (N =
148), peer perceptions (N = 326), and teacher
perceptions (N = 48). The chi-square test obtained
χ2 = 1,125, p = 0,0554> 0,05. Thus, the null
hypothesis is not rejected, which means that there is
no difference in perceptions of emotional social
competence of gifted children, whether viewed from
the perspectives of self, peers, and teacher.
The results of this study show consistent
achievement of socio-emotional competence of
gifted learners. It means there is conducive and
mutually supportive environment especially for the
development of gifted children’s potentials. The
results mean that gifted children do not have
problems of social-emotional aspects with their
peers or teachers. This is very beneficial for learners
itself or for the school because the potential of
giftedness can be actualized into achievement.
It is in line with the opinion of Gundersen (2014)
that the process of emotional maturity in adolescents
will be influenced by the socio- emotional condition
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
232

of the environment, especially family and peer
groups. If the environment is conducive, such as a
harmonious environment, mutual trust, mutual
respect, and full responsibility, then adolescents tend
to achieve emotional maturity. In addition, it can be
realized that teenagers start entering the stage where
peer groups have high appeal. Davis & Leslie (2015)
mentions in a friendly relationship, teenagers will
choose a friend who has a psychological quality that
is relatively similar to them regarding values,
personality, and interest. For gifted learners, there
are typical characteristics that tend to like friendship
with older people. Therefore, it is not surprising that
gifted children have more insight and knowledge
compared to their peers (Dixon, 1998, Cross, 2007).
The following is the distribution of the socio-
emotional competence frequency of gifted learners.
Table 1: Social-emotional competencies.
Criterion Categorization Frequency %
x ≥ 141
Mastery 20 13,51
110 ≤ x <
141
Competent 115 77,70
x < 110
Develop 13 8,78
Threshol
d
TOTAL 148 100
Based on the table 1, it is known that the general
picture of emotional-social competence of gifted
learners based on the perceptions of self, peers, and
teachers reach 20 respondents (13.51%) in the
mastery category and 115 (77.70%) in the competent
category. The results indicate that the socio-
emotional competence of gifted children is not
problematic. It shows a very positive trend in line
with the research (Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee,
2000) mentioning nothing to worry about from the
social skills of gifted children.
The aspects measured in this social- emotional
competence include self-understanding, self-control,
achievement-oriented, positive thinking,
adaptability, empathy, organizational awareness,
ability to influence, ability to mentor, conflict
resolution skills, and ability to work together in a
team. Achievement of every aspect in social-
emotional competence is shown in the following
Figure 1.
Figure 1: Achievement of socio-emotional competence of
gifted learners.
Based on Figure 1 above, there are three most
powerful aspects of gifted learners: achievement
orientation, empathy, and ability to be a coach or
mentor. These three strengths become a separate
consideration for educators in providing educational
services for gifted children. Teachers can utilize
gifted learners to become assistants and engage them
in activities that demand high achievement e.g.
chemistry/physics Olympics etc.
The strength of the achievement orientation
aspect of gifted learners has been formulated by
Davis & Leslie (2015), in their research entitled A
Comparison of Emotional Intelligence Levels
between Students in Experiential and Didactic
College Programs. It demonstrates that the
achievement motivation of gifted learners is like two
sides of a coin that are inherent and cannot be
separated.
The empathetic aspect of gifted learners is a
distinctive force that makes it unique: gifted learners
have high sensitivity to the environment. This can be
both advantages and disadvantages because, as
Borland (2005) recalls, their high empathy make
gifted learners failed to be detected as gifted
learners, especially by using a classical test system.
Regardless of how teachers and friends treat
gifted learners, they are empirically able to lead and
more actively participate in social life. This makes
gifted learners sometimes known as significant other
(Ferguson & Maccoby, 1966). Gifted learners that
are open and active are able to assess themselves
realistically and can take into account the interests
and will of friends around him. Although
Competences of the 21st Century - Social-Emotional Competences of Gifted Accelerated Students in Indonesia
233

hierarchically gifted learners rarely become formal
leaders, their influence is greatly felt by peers.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The superior ability of gifted learners tends to be
feared to make them experiencing social- emotional
problems, especially when interacting with peers.
However, the concern was refuted by the existence
of various studies that show anomalous conditions.
The achievement of gifted learners’ social-emotional
competence is generally at the competent and
mastery levels. A prominent aspect of social-
emotional competence is achievement orientation,
empathy, and the ability to be a coach or mentor.
With this power, teachers should optimize their
giftedness to develop as expected and ultimately
result achievements. Some roles that may be given
to gifted learners are to be teacher assistants in
delivering lessons and to be involved in
competitions and contests at both local and national
levels.
Perceptions of teachers and peers to gifted
learners of the emotional-social competence of
gifted learners can influence the perception of gifted
learners of their emotional-social competence.
Expectations of the surrounding environment to
gifted learners can be a challenge for gifted learners,
to face all the challenges faced, gifted learners need
self-awareness to always develop themselves and
increase emotional-social competence as a social
capital with the surrounding environment.
REFERENCES
Beranek, J., 1993. An international survey of definition of
giftedness and procedures to identify and select
student for gifted program.
Borland, J. H., 2005. Gifed education without gifted
children. In R. J. Sternberg, & J. E. Davidson,
Conception of giftedness (pp. 1-19). US: Cambridge
University Press.
Boyatzis, R. E., Saatcioglu, A., 2007. A 20-year view of
trying to develop emotional, social and cognitive
intelligence competencies in graduate management
education. 27.
Boyatzis, R., Goleman, D., Rhee, K., 2000. Clustering
competence in emotional intelligence: Insight from the
emotional cmpetence inventory. In J. Parker, The
handbook of emotional intelligence: Theory,
development assessment, and aplication at home,
school and in the workplace (pp. 343-362). San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.
Brody, L., Benbow, C., 1998. Social and emotional
adjustment of adolescents extremely talented in verbal
or mathematical reasoning. Journal of Youth and
Adolesences, 1-18.
Cross, T., 2007. Social and emotional issues of gifted
adolescents, Talent Development, 1-27.
Davis, W. L., Leslie, P. J., 2015. A Comparison of
Emotional Intelligence Levels between Students in
Experiential and Didactic College Programs, The
International Journal of Emotional Education, pp. 63-
65.
Deci, L., Ryan, M., 1985. Intrinsic motivation and self-
determination in human behavior. Ney York: Plenum.
Dixon, F., 1998. Social and acadmic self-concept of gifte
adolesence, Journal for the education of the gifted, 80-
94.
Ferguson, L., Maccoby, E., 1966. Interpersonal correlates
of differential abilities, Child Development, 549-571.
Freeman, J., 1979. Emotional problems of the gifted child,
Journal of child Psychology and Psychiatry, 481-485.
Grace, H., Booth, N., 1958. Is the gifted child a social
isolate? Peabody Journal of Education, 195-196.
Gross, M., 2004. In Exceptionally Gifted children.
Psychosocial development, 176-199.
Gundersen, K. K., 2014. Social Emotional Competence –
too much or too little, The International Journal of
Emotional Education, pp. 4-13.
Han, H., Kemple, K., 2006. Components of social
competences and strategies of support, Early
Childhood educational journal, 241-246.
Hébert, T., 2011. Understanding the social and emotional
lives of gifted students. USA: Pruforck.
Hollingworth, L., 1942. Children above 180 IQ Stanford-
Binet. New York: World Book.
Janos, P., Robinson. 1985. Psychosocial development in
intellectually gifted children. In F. Horowitz, & M.
O'Brien, The Gifted and Talented: Development
Perspectives (pp. 149-195). Wasington: APA.
Marland, S., 1972. Eudcation of the gifted and talented.
US: Goverment Printing Office.
Tannenbaum, A. T., 2000. A history of giftedness in
school and society. In K. A. Heller, F. J.Monks, R. J.
Sternberg, & R. F. Subotnik, International handbook
of giftedness and talent (pp. 23-54). USA: Pergamon.
Tapper, L., 2012. Conceptions of Giftedness in a Global,
Modern World:. The New Zealand Journal of Gifted
Education, 1.
Terman, L. M., 1961. The Measurement of Intelligence.
USA: Cambridge.
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
234