Abstract
In this chapter some challenges currently facing gifted education in Australia will be identified, and we will outline what we believe are its future prospects. To better understand these challenges, however, it is important to place gifted education within a broader educational context, including a discussion of Australian gifted education policy and Australian research into gifted education. We argue that, at best, the relevance of gifted education is being undermined by what can be described as a ‘crowded classroom’. We conclude that in order to ensure that the needs of Australian students with the potential for exceptional achievement are met, gifted education must evolve in the way it defines giftedness and implements gifted education. This evolution must take advantage of the current regulatory environment, beginning with a National Policy that focuses on the development of exceptionality, supported by a systems-based model of talent development, that is, the actiotope model.
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Appendix
Appendix
The policy documents used in the valuation are:
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Australian Government
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Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (n.d.). Australian curriculum, v8.3 F-10 curriculum: Student diversity: Gifted and talented students. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/student-diversity/gifted-and-talented-students/
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Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2011). Australian professional standards for teachers. Melbourne, Vic: Education Services Australia. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australianprofessional-standards-for- teachers/standards/list
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New South Wales
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State of New South Wales, Department of Education. (2006). Gifted and Talented Policy. Sydney, NSW: Author. Retrieved from https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/gifted-and-talented-policy. Last updated 2016.
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State of New South Wales, Department of Education. (2004). Policy and implementation strategies for the education of gifted and talented students. NSW Department of Education and Training. https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/gifted-and-talented-policy
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State of New South Wales, Department of Education. (2004). Guidelines for the use of strategies to support gifted and talented students. NSW Department of Education and Training. https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/gifted-and-talented-policy
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4.
State of New South Wales, Department of Education. (2019). High Potential and Gifted Education Policy. Sydney, NSW: Author. Retrieved from https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/high-potential-and-gifted-students/high-potential-and-gifted-education-policy. Last updated 7 June 2019.
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North, B., & Griffiths, K. (2019) Revisiting Gifted Education, Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, NSW Department of Education. Retrieved from https://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/publications-filter/revisiting-gifted-education
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Victoria
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State Government Victoria, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2014). Aiming high: A strategy for gifted and talented children and young people, 2014–2019. Melbourne, VIC: Author.
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Phillipson, S.N., Ziegler, A. (2021). Towards Exceptionality: The Current Status and Future Prospects of Australian Gifted Education. In: Smith, S.R. (eds) Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3041-4_2
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