Every person has potentials. According to Children's Rights Article 29, education must "fully develop the personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of the child" (UNICEF, 1989). In the context of inclusion, the Salamanca Declaration (UNESCO 1994) calls for education in an inclusive setting in order to enable educational equity for all learners: "An inclusive approach to education means that each individual's needs are taken into account and that all learners participate and achieve together. It acknowledges that all children can learn and that every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs. Special focus is placed on learners who may be at risk of marginalisation, exclusion or underachievement."

However, it shows that the implementation of inclusive settings in the school context is insufficient in German-speaking countries. One possible reason for this could be the lack of a standardised definition of inclusion (Grosche, 2015; S. 17; Loreman, 2014; Resch et al, 2021). The situation is similar with the term "giftedness", which is associated with giftedness and high performance. These inconsistent definitions of the terms in turn lead to "exclusive" support measures that do not address every learner. The pedagogical attitude that every learner, regardless of their origin, their own physical and psychological learning prerequisites and their ethnic diversity, has potential within them that needs to be discovered and nurtured, is thus hardly done justice by educators (Schrittesser, 2019; 2021). For this reason, the term "inclusive gifted education" was coined. It not only supports pupils who have been able to demonstrate their talents through performance in the classroom, as has long been the case in gifted education. Inclusive gifted education assumes that everyone has potential and that this potential can be developed through suitable, individualised learning opportunities and settings. Support measures that are to be offered inclusively in the classroom should benefit all pupils. It is assumed that all learners have different potentials that become visible through individualised learning opportunities. Recognising and promoting this potential has a positive influence on the personal development of learners.

The realisation and implementation of inclusive gifted education requires systematic and systematic school development processes and the corresponding attitude of all teachers. They must observe their pupils in different learning settings and try to recognise potential at an early stage. The promotion of different potentials must not depend on individual teachers and thus be left to chance. Systemtic and systematic school development that involves the entire school staff is therefore essential (Rolff, 2018).

School management plays a special role in this school development process. They are considered the "driver for change" (Bryk, 2010). In their role of steering school development processes, they need a vision and a clear, uniform understanding of inclusive gifted education, which they live out together with their team at the school site and which they implement in their pedagogical work. 

Since 2021, the government of Lower Bavaria, in cooperation with the University of Passau and the Vienna/Krems University of Education, has been developing a certificate in the context of inclusive gifted education. The criteria were based on the Index for Inclusion (Ainsen & Booth, 2017). 

In the course of this project, the question of what influence the role of school management has on the implementation and realisation of inclusive gifted education in the classroom will be investigated. 

The aim is to further develop the specified criteria for the certificate based on the results of the study so that every learner benefits from the promotion of potential. Research is also being conducted into how science, politics and practice can cooperate successfully in the field of inclusive gifted education.

Methode The realisation of the criteria and the implementation processes at the schools are scientifically monitored. This gives those responsible for the project the opportunity to further develop criteria based on evidence. The implementation process is being analysed using a mixed methods study. In April 2022 and 2023, all teachers (N=400) from the participating pilot project schools were asked about their prior knowledge, understanding of terms, their teaching methods and the role of their school management in the context of inclusive gifted education using an online questionnaire (as-is analysis). This was analysed descriptively using SPSS. Subsequently, expert interviews were conducted with the nine head teachers and two members of the government responsible for the project in July 2022 and 2023. The focus was on the role of school management in the implementation process. They were asked about their understanding of the term, their vision of school and their definition of leadership. They were also asked questions about the school development process at their location, about cooperation within the teaching staff and about their expectations of the school authorities and school development consultants. They were also able to comment on the content and impact of the further education programmes offered by the university and the teacher training college. The headteachers were supported in the implementation process by teacher training courses organised by the University of Teacher Education, which were held online. Teachers from the participating schools were able to attend this training. These training courses were held for all participants prior to the measurements. The content was further developed based on evidence after the evaluation. The results of the teacher survey were also presented to the headteachers during the interviews. They were asked to comment on the results. From this, conditions for success and challenges for school development processes in the context of inclusive gifted education were identified. As the role of headteachers is the focus of the study, the evaluation will examine the question of how inclusive gifted education can be implemented and sustainably realised from the perspective of headteachers. Finally, in March 2024, a school development consultant and a project manager from the Lower Bavarian government will each be presented with the analysed data and asked about the further course of the project. The study will then be continued with a focus on lesson development.

As part of the pilot project, two talent centres are to be established in Lower Bavaria to support schools and, above all, their headteachers in the school development process. The assumption of a pedagogical attitude supporting that potential lies dormant in all learners, regardless of their own resources and prerequisites, and the willingness to allow all pupils to benefit from support programmes should become a matter of course for teachers at these certified schools. On the one hand, this requires further training programmes that are tailored to the interests and needs of teachers and whose effectiveness and sustainability are evaluated. On the other hand, close cooperation between science, practice and politics is required so that the theory of inclusive gifted education is actually implemented in the classroom by each individual teacher at a certified school and reaches the pupils. Although headteachers are the "drivers for change", the teachers have to go along for the ride. The research project will be continued from 2025 by recording and analysing teaching sequences from teachers at the certified schools. In turn, this will be used to identify "best practice examples" for teacher training programmes to support them in their work.

Booth, A., Ainscow, M (2016). Index für Inklusion. Ein Leitfaden für Schulentwicklung. Beltz. Kiso, C. J., Fränkel, S. (2021): Inklusive Begabungsförderung in den Fachdidaktiken. Diskurse, Forschungslinien und Praxisbeispiele. Klinkhardt. Meyers, D., Durlak, J.A., Wandersman, A. (2012). The Quality Implementation framework: A Synthesis of Critical Steps in the Implementation Process. American Journal of Community Psychology. 50(3-4), S. 462-480. DOI: 10.1007/s10464-012-9522-x Resch, K., Lindner, K.-T., Streese, B., Proyer, M., Schwab, S. (2021). Inklusive Schule und Schulentwicklung. Theoretische Grundlagen, empirische Befunde und Praxisbeispiele aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Waxmann. Rolff, H.G. (2023). Komprehensive Bildungsreform. Wie ein qualitätsorientiertes Gesamtsystem entwickelt werden kann. Beltz Juventa UNESCO (2023). What do you know about inclusion in education. Verfügbar unter: https://www.unesco.org/en/inclusion-education/need-know (14.01.2024)