Developing teacher capacity to create inclusive classrooms for high-ability students using Non-Traditional Research Outputs: The Victorian Department of Education’s High-ability toolkit

In 2019, the Victorian Government announced $60.2m funding to establish the Student Excellence Program, aimed at better supporting high-ability students in Victorian schools. In 2022, the Government renewed its commitment to the program by improving the educational experience for this cohort by allocating an additional $37m. The High-ability toolkit (the toolkit) is an online collection of resources designed to support in-service teachers to create learning environments that are inclusive of high ability. The toolkit was designed and developed through a partnership between the Victorian Department of Education and the University of New England, and is structured using an ecological approach to learning. As part of the toolkit’s development, we conducted 106 interviews with Victorian school leaders, teachers, students and parents, which formed the basis of 37 videos that are featured on the Department’s website. These videos constitute Non-Traditional Research Outputs as they contribute new knowledge to the field of high-ability studies by providing insight into the practices and processes used by Victorian teachers and leaders to respond to high ability. Our presentation will introduce the toolkit, and demonstrate the value of this type of research in educational research for fostering connection between researchers and industry, and in turn, for informing in-service teacher education.