Australia, Gifted Education

Australia is an island continent comprising a federation of eight states and territories with a population in the region of 21 million; it has roughly the same land mass as the United States. The government school system is funded by both state and federal governments but centrally administered by the individual states; as a consequence, identification of, and catering for, gifted and talented children varies considerably throughout the country. Personal communications with gifted education managers within all state and territory departments of education have provided current information regarding the provisions for gifted and talented children throughout Australia.

At present there is no formal federal government legislation or policy addressing the education of these students, although there have been two small yet noteworthy funding initiatives at the national level. The first, a Senate inquiry in 1988 whose recommendations funded a few programs across states and territories in the early 1990s, and the second, in 2001, concluded that although there were some significant developments since the previous Senate review in 1988, a substantial amount remained to be achieved. This committee noted also a lack of acknowledgment by educators that giftedness occurs regardless of socioeconomic status. A further key finding, that teacher training [Page 79]was an essential element in the identification of, and catering for, gifted and talented students prompted a rise in the profile of the educational needs of the gifted, and subsequent funding was directed to the development and dissemination of a professional learning package for teachers.

The provision of funds enabled the package to be presented to trainee and serving teachers. In addition, parent workshops were held in targeted rural and remote areas, and extension of this work continued throughout 2008. Both teacher and parent programs were conducted by the successful tender, GERRIC (Gifted Education Research Resource and Information Center) at the University of New South Wales.