Meeting the Educational Needs of Gifted and Talented English-Language Learners in Australian Secondary Schools

Abstract

Australia is the only OECD country where first- and second-generation refugee and migrant children score above the average on international PISA Reading test scores. These positive results have been explained not only by the socio-economic status of Australian immigrants but also by the teaching support that is provided in the Australian education system. Students in Australian schools for whom English is an additional language or dialect are entitled to assistance in the form of ESL provisions. These provisions have gone some way towards providing support but often take a universal approach to meeting students' learning needs. The students themselves do not form a homogeneous group but rather come from a range of backgrounds and present with a wide range of abilities and experiences, and include gifted and talented students (referred to as gifted English-language learners, or gifted ELLs). Gifted ELLs have received sparse attention in the research, with the majority of studies focused on Latino populations in the United States. My inquiry expands the research by focusing on gifted ELLs from Australian secondary schools.