Nurturing students' hidden talents
Gabriele is a researcher based in Oxford. He studies how children growing up in challenging environments may develop specific cognitive or behavioral skills that allow them to better cope with their environment, sometimes called hidden talents. These stress-adapted skills, like quick decision-making or being highly attuned to social cues, are not often measured in educational assessments but are essential in children’s real lives. Gabriele believes that shifting from a deficit perspective to an adaptive one encourages us to see potential strengths in differences. This does not deny the difficulties or traumas children may have experienced.
Listen to Gabriele
“Shifting from a deficit perspective to an adaptive one encourages educators to see potential strengths in differences.”
Gabriele Paone
Gabriele Paone
Gabriele Paone’s research focuses on children growing up in difficult environments. After studying child soldiers in Africa, he spent six months in a Rio de Janeiro favela investigating how Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu may offer children an alternative to drug trafficking. He explores how children may develop stress-adapted skills—hidden talents emerging from exposure to harsh environments—challenging the traditional deficit model and contributing to both theory and future intervention programs.
