The presentation is based on research from a current PhD project. It covers the conceptualisation of giftedness in educational policy in Sweden. In analysing such, Stephen J. Ball makes a distinction on the one hand between policy as text, and on the other policy as enactment. The way the thesis has approached these two components is by focusing on policy documents from 200 years of education and interviews with teachers from national eduction, the International Baccalaureate and the Peak Programmes, a version of national education based on accelerationa nd enrichment. Presence of giftedness has been analysed through the occurance of teaching strategies identified as relevant in supporting gifted students. In addition, the presence of giftedness has been identified as when refering to any of the denominators in a cluster concept constructed out of common criteria in categorising giftedness. 

The presentation covers how the teachers’ enactment should be thought of as a dialectic relationship, as the teachers respond to, re-formulate, or even ignore what have been formulated by the actors at the central formulation arena. In doing so, they are caught between a sense of equity where excellence is interpreted as elitism, and the inclusion of all students’ right to education.

The relevence of this reserch from a Nordic point of view is sprung, on the one hand out of a common cultural conception of excellence and elitism. On the other hand, the Nordic countries also apply different startegies in how to address the needs of students identified as gifted. More knowledge and research is needed concering these issues from a number of different stand points, such as in policy analysis, in developing teaching practices and research networks where reserchers from a varity of fields discuss these issues. At NERA 2022, we hope to initiate the beginning of such a discussion based on an exchange of experiences to generate possible future cooperation across the Nordic countries.