Policy Perceptions of Talent Activities Among Local Teachers

In this chapter, we analyse and discuss views on talent development among school teachers from different public schools in the local municipal context. The empirical data include interviews with public school teachers who teach regular classes, that is, not talent classes, and who recommended the students for the talent classes. Thus, we aim to bring into the analysis the point from which they see the talent activities and how they become comprehensible and justified to the teachers (Bourdieu 1999, p. 615). We outline the substance in both their supportive and sceptical opinions of the talent classes, on what experiences this is based, and how this has led the teachers to very different views on the talent project. The teachers often refer to debates in local media and to their students’ experiences. Finally, we discuss the discourses of public school teachers with those on talent development expressed in policy proposals on talent at the national level.