Shifting discourses on giftedness in Swedish newspaper media – what’s the problem represented to be?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore how public discussions on giftedness and gifted students are framed in two of Sweden’s leading newspapers over a 25-year period (1995-2019). We explored discourse within 72 articles, using a time-sensitive analysis combined with a ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ approach. The results show that the concept of giftedness became established during the period, although there were also counter-discourses questioning what ‘giftedness’ means and how schools should be organised. There is a lack of more in-depth discussions about how social class, ethnicity, or gender can affect how students are regarded in school, or how teaching can affect intellectual development. Instead, there is a strong stance in favour of individualised teaching.