GERRIC: Advancing teaching and learning in gifted education supports broader social impact
School of Education
Published on the 18 December 2025
More targeted gifted education programs and teacher training helps ensure our gifted potential does not go untapped.
Dylan Freeman did not watch cartoons as a kid, he preferred documentaries. So, when he found out he’d be learning about space in Year Two, he was “very excited.”
“I’d been watching lots of documentaries with my parents about black holes, nebulae, a lot of Brian Cox [features], learning how stars form and die,” says the UNSW Bachelor of Advanced Science student, majoring in Biotechnology and Chemistry.
“To my great disappointment, the entire [space] unit was two lessons where we learnt the planets and that the Earth goes around the Sun and the Moon goes around the Earth ... I was a very sad little man.”
It wasn’t until Dylan participated in the Maths Olympiad program at his primary school that he was identified as gifted and talented. At ten years old, he attended a school holiday program on Earth’s changing climate at GERRIC at UNSW.
While primary school was more focused on the ‘what’, “the GERRIC program satisfied my desire to know about the ‘how’ and the ‘why’,” he says.
The experience, as well as his subsequent placement in an opportunity class, demonstrated a marked improvement in his engagement in learning and his friendships. “It was a whole lot better for me personally. My peers were very similar to me, so I was making a lot more friends.”
GERRIC is one of only a small number of education hubs worldwide – and the only one of its kind in Australia – dedicated to supporting, nurturing and advancing high-ability students.
“GERRIC is committed to improving learning and teaching for gifted students to build stronger educational communities,” says Professor Jae Jung, Director of GERRIC. “Supporting gifted and talented students has cumulative positive social impact.”
The centre, located in UNSW’s School of Education in the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, was established by Emeritus Professor Miraca Gross AM in 1991. More than 400 gifted students attend GERRIC’s school holiday programs every year. The centre also provides teacher professional development and award-winning research in gifted education.
Gifted students are those who have the potential – across intellectual, creative, social and/or physical domains – in the top 10% of their age peers.
“We group students together by age in education, and we expect all students of the same age to be working at the same level. But that’s simply not the case,” Prof. Jung says. “In fact, research studies suggest that in a typical mixed ability classroom, the range of abilities may span six or more year groups.”
A common misconception is that gifted children are guaranteed academic achievement and success, he says. “Unfortunately, without targeted assistance and interventions, gifted students may stagnate, disengage and even disrupt the classroom environment.”
Of note, research has shown that up to 50 per cent of gifted students are underachieving; 20% drop out of high school, and 40% fail to complete tertiary education.
Gifted students’ untapped potential equates to a cost for all Australians, he says. “We’re missing out on their contributions to broader society.”
Expanding impact through targeted education
In GERRIC’s Student Programs, experts in various fields work with students to extend them within a fun environment, says Ms Joanna Walsh, Project Officer at GERRIC. “The curriculum is reviewed internally to ensure that it offers adequate differentiation. It’s inclusive and interesting – and has the spark you may not get in a normal curriculum.”
Students explore topics outside standard curricula – language study through the lens of manga, cosmology, ethics and the law, introductory psychology, the brain in health and disease, design for virtual reality – pitched around two years above grade level.
Early exposure to university (and specifically, UNSW) through the GERRIC program also helps promote lifelong learning and expand students’ options for further study at the university.
Dr Marion Mateos, a paediatric oncologist and researcher at UNSW who attended GERRIC in her mid-teens, remembers being struck by the vast university campus – “so different from the school I was attending” – and this “new [self-driven] way of learning”.
An all-rounder with an aptitude for sport, music and languages as well as academics, Dr Mateos would go on to receive a University Admission Rank (UAR) of 100 (when such a score was possible). A sense of familiarity with the university, in addition to the strength of its Medicine Program and a significant scholarship helped ground her decision to study at UNSW.
“[The GERRIC program] helps students continue with their love of learning, trying to look beyond what they get taught in the classroom,” she says. “It helps to foster a sense of self and normalise some of their achievements.”
Today, her clinical practice focuses on the treatment of childhood brain tumours and leukaemia; her research is on improving outcomes in high-risk childhood cancer, including through biomarker and clinical trial development, liquid biopsy application and reducing treatment-related toxicities.
“[It’s about] looking at the hope rather than just the situations where you can't change the outcome.”
Gifted education is a gap in teacher training
Gifted students may be identified from as young as two years old. Research has shown that the earlier we intervene, the better students will perform in the long term.
“Most often we rely on teachers to identify gifted and talented children,” Prof. Jung says.
Unfortunately, for teachers, an absence of specialised training means many are ill-equipped to identify and cater for gifted students.
“Most teachers entering the profession have no training in gifted education,” Prof. Jung says. “While they’re usually well-intentioned, they may rely on myths and stereotypes about gifted students that are not helpful in promoting student development.”
Dr Mateos experienced this with her son who is also gifted. His curiosity and drive to better understand topics being discussed were misunderstood as argumentative behaviour.
“Without a doubt, there needs to be better teaching for teachers [so they are] equipped to recognise and support gifted and talented children,” she says.
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers require teachers to be able to differentiate their teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities. Yet today’s teacher training in NSW does not enable this, says Prof. Jung.
Teachers in NSW must complete compulsory units in working with students who have special needs, such as those living with disabilities, learning difficulties and/or autism, but most preservice teacher training programs in Australia do not incorporate a unit in gifted education.
This is despite the recognition in the NSW High Potential and Gifted Education Policy that gifted students need to be supported through effective school environments, including quality teaching, learning and leadership, to reach their potential.
Enabling teachers through targeted education training
GERRIC trains more than 3000 Australian and international teachers in gifted education every year. The Mini-COGE (Certificate of Gifted Education) is a non-award short course delivered flexibly: on site at UNSW, in schools (across Australia or around the world), or online. It is given over two days full time, four weeks part-time or tailored to accommodate teachers’ work demands.
Creating a learning environment that is conducive to the educational needs of gifted students requires additional support, Prof. Jung says.
“Gifted students can require support to manage their self-perceptions, confidence and motivation or self-efficacy, their attitudes towards teachers and school, as well as their anxiety, emotional engagement and goal orientations.”
Teachers need guidance in identifying ways to enrich or extend the curriculum and learning opportunities for gifted students. Highly gifted students, for example, may require specific and significant curriculum adjustments to meet their learning and wellbeing needs.
UNSW’s School of Education offers undergraduate courses and postgraduate programs in gifted education, including the Graduate Certificate in Education (Gifted Education), Master of Education (Gifted Education), and PhD and EdD studies in gifted education.
“All students, regardless of their circumstances, have the right to an education that meets their learning needs,” Prof. Jung says. “This includes providing appropriate support to help gifted children aspire to and achieve excellence.”
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