Contact person: Caroline Sims, University of Gävle, Sweden.
Email: caroline.sims@hig.se
High Ability in Policy and Practice
The intention behind the group is to study policy relating to high ability and education. Such policy is framed in terms of concepts such as equity, inclusion, differentiation and, naturally, in the conceptualisation of high ability itself.
The focus will be both on text documents produced by the relevant authorities and also on how such policy is manifested in practice for example in the classroom. A useful approach here might be the analysis of policy as text, policy as practice and policy as discourse, that is, retracing the arguments and interactions that account for the coming into being of policy (c.f. Ball 1993).
The intention is that the group functions as a hub, bringing together researchers with an interest in high ability, policy and practice. Regular meetings will be held in which pre-selected readings will be discussed. The group will be transdisciplinary, exploring ideas from areas such as education, psychology, history, philosophy, or political science. As constellations can form within the group, a second aim is to inspire to the production of research papers.
In the first instance the target audience is internal to the organisation in an attempt to widen our understanding of the issues around policy relating to high ability through systematic exploration of selected questions. In the long term, other external audiences may emerge such as specific policy makers, for example, those associated with the European Council where the group could act as a representative of policy research from the high ability perspective.
Caroline Sims, coordinator.