Teaching implications of gifted and talented learners within the mainstream classroom

The purpose of this paper is to present the key implications for New South Wales classroom teachers that arise from the New South Wales gifted and talented policy, in conjunction with associated implementation documents and guidelines. Standards outlined within the policy and supporting documents show that it is the responsibility of teachers to identify gifted and talented learners in the mainstream classroom, establish and develop communicative and collaborative home–school partnerships and, further, implement appropriately differentiated curricula to adequately challenge gifted and talented learners. Through these actions, gifted and talented students will be more able to successfully develop their skills and abilities, as well as decreasing the risk of underachievement.