Abstract

The article considers the challenge to the educational system, which arises from the sociocultural context and the conditions of the global world. The emphasis is on the cultural and historical nature of the emergence and development of the institution of education. The specifics of its current state consists in the transition from the state of "universal education" characteristic of the modern time to the localization of education in specialized groups and communities as a characteristic trend of global reality (the phenomenon of "educational archipelago"). In these conditions, school education receives a special purpose. It becomes a prerequisite for an individual’s ability to self-determination in a changing world devoid of objective unity. Accordingly, giftedness as a potential for personality development comes to the fore. The shortcomings of the common understanding of giftedness are analyzed, its relationship with the essence of man is shown. The meaning of giftedness as a negative and positive educational task is revealed. The most important result of the development of giftedness in the school is the discovery by the student of his vocation. In the form of a vocation, a person opens the semantic perspective of his life and determines the scenario of life in an adult state.