Introduction

This chapter discusses the gifted education in the Australian and New Zealand contexts. It provides a historical overview and examining its place in an educational landscape of increasingly nationalised curriculum, assessment, and teacher education; greater accountability; a focus on innovation and 21st-century skills; and global trends towards more inclusive educational practices. Each classroom teacher in Australia and New Zealand has been, or is likely to be, faced with students whose intellectual abilities exceed age-based expectations. While more progress has been made in New Zealand in recent years than in Australia towards a unified national approach, there remains a lack of consistently enforced policy, funding, and practice in both contexts related to the education of highly able students. A significant challenge for the field of gifted education in Australia and New Zealand has been the lack of a coordinated local research base.