Exploring the Relationship Between Principal, Policy, and Gifted Program Scope and Quality

An exploratory qualitative case study of 10 government secondary schools (Grades 7-12) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, was conducted to investigate the extent to which the revised NSW gifted and talented policy (2004) has contributed to gifted program quality and scope. Findings from the qualitative analysis of in-depth interview data with principals (n = 10), gifted coordinators (n = 11), and teachers (n = 37) showed the following themes: (a) schools with a documented gifted policy were more likely to provide more substantially for their gifted students; (b) selective (all gifted) schools and schools with selective classes were more likely to provide distinctive gifted programs in line with state policy; (c) principals with a policy to follow were more likely to provide adequate resource support and professional development for teachers in the school; and (d) the desire of principals to meet policy mandate does not always equate to having the means to do so.