From 'the Genius' to 'the Gifted' : The Conceptualisations of Giftedness in Educational Discourse in Sweden

Abstract: The aim of the current thesis is to investigate the conceptualisation of giftedness in educational discourse within Sweden. In the thesis, this is studied through an account of giftedness and the ’formation of the gifted subject’. The study is set in the context of educational reform history, a retracing back to points where certain routes rather than others became travelled, and an analysis of the development from there on. In the centre of the investigation are teachers and the roles they play in relation to teaching gifted students, defining, and identifying them.In the study, the conceptualisations are traced through two sources of data. The first focuses on giftedness as formulated in the policy documents regulating Swedish education from 1820 until 2022. During this time, education was restructured from two parallel school systems to become integrated into one shared system based on ideals of democracy, equity, and inclusion. The second source of data consists in interviews with teachers who enact these policies. These teachers teach in Swedish national education and have a focus specifically on giftedness, or teach in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, or in three versions of Peak Programme (spetsutbildning). The text analysis follows the transition from a situation where aspects of giftedness are explicitly mentioned in policy to a situation in which they are invisible, or possibly hidden inside other categories. When giftedness is reintroduced in policy it is done so with a strong focus on shortcomings and by the use of a terminology similar to that of diagnosis. The enacted policy analysis shows how teachers find enabling factors in their teaching while being constrained by other factors.  The results reveal that giftedness is conceptualised against the background of different rationalities at different points in history. Of the more dominant is a rationality based on quantification and psychological measures which has direct implications on how gifted students are treated by the system. This is also where tension is identified between giftedness in relation to a sense of normality or deviance, between expectations on collectivism and individualism, and between equity and excellence.