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Baghajati, Salma (2024) Gifted education and social justice: a qualitative case study of teachers and students’ experiences of gifted and talented interventions in an Austrian primary school. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
This doctoral thesis critically investigates the intersection of gifted education and social justice within Austrian gifted education. It examines how the concept of giftedness is constructed, implemented, and experienced in one public Austrian primary school. Situated within a broader critique of how meritocracy shapes educational opportunities, the study explores whether the school’s gifted practices genuinely promote equitable access—or instead reproduce existing social and linguistic inequalities.
Although Austria has implemented national gifted education policies that emphasise inclusivity, little empirical research exists on how these ideals are enacted in practice—particularly in relation to underrepresented student groups. Framed by a social justice lens, this research contributes to the growing international literature on equity and representation in gifted education. In Austria, there is a significant research gap in terms of both qualitative studies on gifted education and investigations into equity and representation in this field. This thesis aims to fill in this gap by exploring whether inequities exist in the identification and nurture of gifted students. By applying a qualitative case study approach, gifted education is explored holistically—which is a unique and valuable contribution to knowledge, considering that the Austrian Gifted Policy formulates gifted education as a teaching principle that every Austrian teacher should implement.
The case under investigation is an Austrian primary school where I work as a teacher, positioning me as an insider researcher. The boundaries of the case include the school’s gifted interventions, namely: (1) pull-out programmes in Maths, (2) pull-out programmes in German, and (3) STEM-based Leonardino classes. Data was gathered from 24 children, 11 teachers, and the head principal through a combination of focus groups and interviews. Moreover, each gifted programme has been observed, and archival records have also been considered. Data was analysed using the six steps of thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2021), namely: familiarising with the data; generating initial codes, generating initial themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes and writing up.
The theoretical framework used to analyse the data was social constructionism. Additionally, Foucauldian discourse theory and the concept of meritocracy were employed to deepen the analysis. Together, these frameworks allowed for an in-depth analysis of participants' perspectives, not as objective truths but as reflections of broader societal and historical discourses. Social constructionism facilitated an understanding of giftedness as a fluid and context-dependent construct, varying across social, cultural, and institutional settings, rather than a fixed trait. Moreover, a thorough review of the past 150 years of giftedness research, ranging from viewing giftedness as merely inherited to a perspective that allows for gifts to be developed – if adequately nurtured. Understanding past paradigms in giftedness research was key to understanding present developments in the field.
Additionally, Foucauldian discourse theory deepened the analysis by highlighting how power and discourse shape the ways in which teachers and students internalise and reproduce constructions of giftedness. Through this lens, teachers' perspectives could be viewed as products of the dominant meritocratic discourse in Austrian education, which frames access to educational opportunities as "earned" based on individual merit. This analysis was essential for understanding the ways in which teachers—despite their critiques of the system—unconsciously perpetuate the very discourses they question, thereby reinforcing the status quo.
The empirical findings of the study reveal that the pull-out programmes in Maths and German, designed exclusively for identified gifted students, primarily reinforce high academic achievement. Moreover, the registration lists indicate a significant underrepresentation of multilingual learners and students from diverse backgrounds, while their peers without a migration background are overrepresented. Both findings complement international research that shows a general underrepresentation of ethnic minority students in gifted education programmes as well as the focus on cognitive abilities – ignoring other dimensions of giftedness. In contrast, the STEM-based Leonardino Class—a more inclusive gifted intervention where all students can participate in classroom experiments without needing prior identification—received positive evaluations from both students and teachers, highlighting its potential as a more equitable approach to gifted education.
This study makes a distinctive contribution to academic knowledge by demonstrating how societal discourses shape educators' and students' constructions of giftedness. Three primary discourses emerged from the findings, shaping how giftedness is constructed and implemented: the equation of high achievement in subjects like maths and German with giftedness, the perception of giftedness as an innate trait, and the strategic positioning of gifted programmes as mechanisms that attract privileged students. These discourses collectively highlight how gifted education, as currently framed, may serve to reinforce rather than challenge existing inequities. Together, these findings suggest that the current framing of gifted education may inadvertently privilege high-achieving, well-supported students from Austrian backgrounds, while overlooking other forms of potential. However, this study identified the Leonardino STEM intervention as a promising counter-example to the prevailing trend. This inclusive model of gifted education, which integrates STEM-focused activities for all classroom students without requiring formal identification as "gifted", demonstrates the potential for broader, equitable access. As such, this thesis argues for a rethinking of gifted education through a social justice lens—one that moves beyond narrow cognitive measures for a few and seeks to nurture potential for all children.
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