Talent and the development of talent have become dominant topics and important objectives in the Danish education policies (Ministry of Education in Denmark 2006; 2011). Various set ups, including science programmes for talents, annual talent camps and competitions, and not least resources and funding, are provided as part of this ‘new’ priority in education. The paper reports from an ethnographic field study of a “talent class”, a special teaching programme for talented pupils, established in a Danish municipality. The study was especially aimed at describing and analysing the student backgrounds and motives for joining this talent class, which is seen in relation to ordinary schooling activities in Denmark.

It draws primarily on the conceptual framework of Bourdieu in relation to the connection between capital resources and success in school. In this approach and supported by the concepts of habitus and capital (Bourdieu 1997), talent is seen as a product of an investment of time and cultural capital, which is easily accumulated, without delay and wasted time, only for the offspring of families endowed with strong cultural capital; thus the accumulation period covers the whole period of socialization and therefore is no doubt the best hidden form of hereditary transmission of capital (Bourdieu 1997, 49).

The concept of talent is also discussed in relation to other theoretical distinctions (Feldhusen 2002; Winstanly 2004; Campbell & Eyre 2007; Gardner 1999; Ferrari 2003; Philipson & McCann 2007).  Thus, one conceptual distinction concerns the origin of talent, whether emphasis is given to nature or nurture. Often talent is used synonymously with giftedness, but this might communicate the ‘false conception’ that certain children have ‘it’ while others do not, that it was given as a gift, and that it is not something to be worked for (Feldhusen 2002). Winstanly (2004) writes that the words gifted and talented may sometimes be understood respectively as raw ability and developed power, but also maintains, that sometimes it is the reverse. Another distinction concerns whether the conception of talent is multimodal or one-dimensional. It has been argued that a multidimensional concept allowing for cultural differences is more appropriate than a one-dimensional measure (Campbell and Eyre 2007) and is also advocated in Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner 1999). Thirdly an important distinction that concerns the identification of talent is whether it is conceptualised as individual performance or individual potential. In other words can talent be subject to objective measurement or, as conceptualised by Ferrari (2003), should it be judged against a normative standard shaped by the cultural-normative dynamic? As the environment changes by definition from culture to culture, it is argued that the criteria for talent will also change (Philipson and McCann 2007).

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