The answer to this question depends on the achievement definition and assessment procedure used in each community to identify the gifted. Some take the top 2%, others the top 5%, some the top 15%, and in some cases whomever teachers feel will particularly benefit. It is important to recognize that "giftedness" is more than a number on an IQ test, and that each and every individual possesses talents and abilities that they will use to further their purposes in the world. There are many individuals who have never made the "magic number" on these tests and who need similar stretching and enrichment in our education system. Success comes not only because of high ability, but more often because of the desire and perseverance to develop and apply one's talents, the desire to get along with others and make positive life choices. The Irish legislative position is outlined below.

The Education Act 1998 section 7 subsection (1) states that there should be made available to each person resident in the State, including a person with a disability or who has special educational needs, support services and a level and quality of education appropriate to meeting the needs and ability of that person.

In August 2000, the then Minister of Education, Dr. Michael Woods, in response to a letter regarding his position on the education of exceptionally able students, stated "in some cases where a pupil of exceptional ability may present with a special educational need, additional support is given by a remedial or resource teacher." This was viewed by many lobbyists as a great step forward in the education of the highly able in Ireland. However parents trying to implement this decision were met with opposition from various schools who believed that they did not have enough resources or facilities to allocate a special needs teacher to an academically talented student. In November 2001 the Minister put the emphasis on provision for the academically able back to the Board of Management of each school. "It is the duty of the Board of Management to ensure that appropriate education services are made available to such students." The Minister pointed to the international Olympiad competitions in science, information technology and maths where exceptionally able and highest achieving pupils can participate. He pointed that "there are no proposals at present to allocate time on the schedule of resource teachers to cater for gifted children."

This remark has caused much frustration for parents who were given hope by the Minister's previous statements. The policy seems to be now that it is to be dealt with on an individual school basis. If the school does not have the resources to provide adequate provision to the highly able student then there is little that can be done. If on the other hand the student is academically talented but also has a learning difficulty then a provision may be made. Equally if the high ability student is disruptive the resource teacher may be allocated.

In the UK, the schools inspectorate (HMI, 1977) also developed a definition of the “gifted child”. They were interested in investigating the situation of unusually-able youngsters in British schools. Their definition was a lot more specific than that of the USA or Ireland. According to this definition, gifted children are those:-

• who are generally recognised by their school as being of superior all-round intellectual ability, confirmed where possible by a reliable, individual intelligence test, giving an IQ of 130 or more; or
• who exhibit a markedly superior developmental level of performance and achievement, which has been reasonably consistent from earlier years; or
• of whom fairly confident predication are being made as to continual rapid progress towards outstanding achievement in either academic areas or in music, sport, dance or art and
• whose abilities are not primarily attributable to purely physical development.