07 Jun Gifted Kids Need Support Too: Why Some Bright Children Are Being Missed
Gifted children are often assumed to be the students who will “be fine”. But experts say many gifted children need targeted support — and without it, some can become bored, anxious, misunderstood or disengaged from school.
Gifted children are often thought of as the students who sail through school: the high achievers, the early readers, the ones who always know the answer.
But that picture is far too simple.
For Gifted Awareness Week Australia, 18–24 May 2026, education experts are calling for better recognition and support for gifted learners, arguing that many children with high potential are still being missed in classrooms. The 2026 theme is “Varied Voices, Shared Future”, highlighting that giftedness can appear across different cultures, learning profiles, personalities and postcodes.
When bright children switch off
UNSW student Dylan Freeman remembers being excited when his Year Two class began a unit on space. At home, he had been watching documentaries about black holes, nebulae and how stars form and die.
But at school, the topic was covered in just two lessons.
“I was a very sad little man,” he recalls.
Dylan was later identified as gifted and talented through the Maths Olympiad program at primary school. At age 10, he attended a school holiday program at GERRIC, the Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre at UNSW Sydney, where he found the kind of “how” and “why” learning he had been craving.
The experience improved not only his engagement with learning, but also his friendships. Being with peers who learned in similar ways helped him feel more understood.
Gifted does not always mean high-achieving
Professor Jae Jung, Director of GERRIC (UNSW), says one of the most damaging myths is that gifted children will automatically succeed without extra help.
Gifted students are generally described as children with potential in the top 10 per cent of their age peers across areas such as intellectual, creative, social or physical domains. But potential is not the same as performance.
Some gifted children are highly motivated and visibly advanced. Others may be bored, anxious, perfectionistic, disruptive, withdrawn or mistaken for being difficult.
Research into gifted underachievement has shown that identifying these students is complex. A 2022 paper by Rachel L. Jackson and Jae Yup Jung, published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, examined commonly used methods for identifying gifted underachievement and concluded that the “simple difference method” may be the most valid approach.
The broader concern is that a significant number of gifted students may underachieve when their learning needs are not recognised or supported.
Why teacher training matters
Professor Jung says classrooms are usually organised by age, but children in the same year level may be working across a very wide range of ability.
“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,” he says.
This makes teacher training critical. Teachers are often the first people outside the family who may notice that a child needs more challenge, extension or a different approach. But many teachers receive little or no specialist training in gifted education.
In NSW, teachers are expected to differentiate teaching for students across the full range of abilities, and gifted education is recognised as part of meeting diverse learner needs.
Yet gifted children can still be overlooked, especially if they do not fit the stereotype of the neat, compliant, high-scoring student.
What parents can watch for
Parents may notice that a child asks unusually deep questions, learns quickly, becomes intensely interested in particular topics, prefers older children or adults, or becomes frustrated when classroom work feels repetitive.
Other signs can be less obvious: refusing schoolwork, appearing distracted, arguing over details, masking ability to fit in, or becoming anxious about getting things wrong.
None of these signs automatically means a child is gifted, but they may be worth discussing with a teacher, school learning support team or educational psychologist.
What helps gifted children thrive?
Gifted children do not necessarily need more work. They need the right work.
That may mean curriculum extension, enrichment, acceleration in some subjects, access to like-minded peers, or support with confidence, motivation, perfectionism and emotional regulation.
Professor Jung says gifted children, like all children, have the right to an education that meets their learning needs.
For parents, the starting point can be simple: ask whether your child is being appropriately challenged, whether the school has a high-potential or gifted education policy, and what options exist for extension or enrichment.
Because gifted children are not always the children who put their hands up first. Sometimes, they are the ones quietly switching off.
Note For Parents: Gifted children can be curious, intense, creative, sensitive, distracted or frustrated — and they may not always be top of the class. If your child seems bored, disengaged or misunderstood at school, it may be worth asking whether their learning needs are being fully recognised.
