Drawing on a variety of research domains and traditions, this article presents a contemporary and evidence-led model for understanding the development of gifts and talents. In so doing and arguing largely--but not exclusively--from within the stance of social-constructivism, it is suggested that accounts of gift-development that emphasise the role of innate capacities lead frequently to tired debates around identification, labelling and resourcing, and away from the more vital discourses around gifted provision and gift-creation. The implications for classroom practice deriving from traditional and emerging ontological and epistemological conceptualisations of giftedness are presented. (Contains 1 table and 8 notes.)