Some children are completing 15-page portfolios of extracurricular activities and submitting psychometric test results, while others are just being asked for their NAPLAN scores, to apply for the state’s new gifted education year 7 classes.
The state government has made universal access to gifted programs one of its signature education policies, but comprehensive schools – unlike the selective system – are using a patchwork of different rules and methods to decide exactly who is gifted.
Epping Boys High School asks prospective gifted students to sit an external exam, while Model Farms High School wants NAPLAN results, with parents given the option to submit documents which “demonstrate the student’s interests, passions and signs of high potential”.
Northern Beaches Secondary College Cromer Campus asks for a portfolio of up to 15 pages, which must include a handwritten statement of no more than 500 words. Psychometric and IQ assessments are optional inclusions.
It is the third time in 25 years that a state government has said public schools will offer universal gifted education in some form.
This time, $100 million in funding has been provided for classroom upgrades at 33 schools. But it is unclear how much money, if any, the rest of the state’s schools have received to run the program called “Inspire – High Potential and Gifted Education”.
A NSW Department of Education spokesman said gifted education was embedded in teaching practices and co-curricular activities as part of the Inspire program, tailored to each school to reflect their community’s needs, priorities and interests.
“All our schools follow a shared policy and our teaching staff have received mandatory training in high potential and gifted education delivery as part of a mandatory school development day held in 2025. This includes training in identifying students with potential to benefit from Inspire programs,” the spokesman said.
The program spans academic, sporting, creative and leadership domains, with offerings taking different forms beyond enrichment streams, including extension opportunities and STEM programs.
A gifted education team in the department’s head office provides schools with tools to identify students in each of the four domains.
Before the latest NSW program was announced, a 2024 report estimated that half of the state’s 2200 public schools had some sort of gifted program.
Gifted education consultant Bronwyn MacLeod welcomed the public schools’ use of multiple criteria to identify gifted students, which she said was international best practice, but said NAPLAN results were a poor measure of aptitude.
“NAPLAN is not a particularly effective tool for the identification of gifted students for a myriad of reasons, and personal statements are subjective and will depend both on the perspective of the parent or student writing it and the educator interpreting it,” MacLeod said.
New York City this year axed part of its gifted program amid concerns that certain groups of children were underrepresented.
A 2019 report by the NSW Department of Education warned that families and teachers nominating gifted students was a “major factor” in accounting for differences in student representation, with universal screening identifying more students from minority groups as gifted.
Are you gifted, highly gifted, or just high potential?
- High potential students are those whose ability is higher than students of the same age, and they can benefit from being challenged more.
- Gifted students have very high ability compared to students of the same age and can develop their talent quickly and easily when given opportunities.
- Highly gifted students have exceptional ability and may need significant adjustments to meet their advanced learning needs.
Source: Department of Education
Central Coast P&C District Council president Sharryn Brownlee said parents wanted to know what the new policy actually was beyond the simple aspiration to have gifted education.
“It makes good sense and we want to see it delivered,” she said.
“We, and other district councils, have said it remains to be seen how it’s being implemented and how it is going to work. It has been an ongoing issue when it comes to how we are identifying these students.”
Dr Greg Ashman, deputy principal at Ballarat Clarendon College in Victoria, said intelligence was made up of “raw processing power” alongside the “fund of knowledge” available to an individual.
Advantaged children typically had more knowledge, he said, which meant they could outperform those with better processing skills on gifted assessments.
“So, there will always be a bias towards the more advantaged. However, at least an objective, pencil and paper assessment that everyone sits, represents an attempt at a level playing field,” Ashman said.
“If you start to factor in things like extracurricular activities, you really are selecting for privilege.”
Gifted education expert University of NSW Professor Jae Jung said universal screening was one of the ways to identify gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“We also need to place greater attention on the identification of high ability rather than high achievement,” he said.
Sydney Catholic Schools has been running its Newman program for gifted students, which triangulates ability, achievement and aptitude data, for the past 15 years.
Students are formally assessed in year 2, again in year 4, and then in year 6 for high school entry.
“It’s not about labelling the students, but … supporting them to reach their full potential,” Sydney Catholic Schools’ officer for gifted education Jennifer Fenech said.
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