In view of expanding globalization, worldwide competition and economic crisis gifted and talented education is increasingly promoted as a means to secure any society´s competitive strength. ”Nations which have the expertise to succeed in helping their talents to tap their full potential […] insure not only prosperity but also social, cultural, scientific as well as economic progress”, Albert Ziegler recently stated (Ziegler 2009).

In Sweden, a country with a social democratic and egalitarian tradition, giftedness and talented education were long taboo (Persson 2010, Persson 2011). In 2009, however, advanced placement tracks for theoretical subjects were introduced also at Swedish high schools. The Swedish government did hardly give any reasons for introducing talented education, which can be regarded as an expression of a decreased collaboration between researchers and decision makers. When education policy is influenced by international agreements, school development is to an increasing extent determined by education ministers and administrators in the Council of Europe and other international fora (Wahlström). This paper will address the need for a thorough scientific discussion of the motives and ideas behind advanced placement tracks in Sweden.

The project has a threefold purpose. It will

1)   examine the ideas behind Swedish advanced placement tracks

2)   conduct comparative historical analyses of scientific discussions relevant for gifted education in Sweden, the GDR and West Germany

3)   use the results of these historical analyses to discuss current trends in gifted education and advanced placement tracks

As gifted and talented education has been taboo in Sweden during several decades, Swedish educational researchers usually have a limited knowledge about this field. This paper also starts a discussion about gifted and talented research in Sweden and explains the Swedish taboo for an international audience.

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