Educating the gifted & talented in Malaysia: a narrative review from an educational and learning-capital perspective

Gifted and talented education is an important focus of national education policy, particularly in knowledge-based economies. This narrative review synthesises policy, empirical and theoretical literature on gifted education in Malaysia using two complementary frameworks: Educational Capital (economic, cultural, social, infrastructural and didactic) and Learning Capital (actional, organismic, telic, episodical and attentional). The review suggests Malaysia has achieved success cultivating a small cohort of gifted students through flagship programmes such as PERMATA Pintar and PERMATA Insan, but that these gains coexist with persistent constraints in teacher preparation, curriculum flexibility, equitable access and a cultural conception of giftedness weighted toward STEM achievement, an elite-versus-mass gap reflected in Malaysia’s below-average PISA and TIMSS performance. Comparisons with Singapore and with Korea’s acceleration-centered model at the Seoul Science High School and Korean Science Academy suggest Malaysia occupies an intermediate international position, having institutionalized gifted education without comparable acceleration pathways or broader systemic integration. The paper concludes with recommendations spanning policy development, teacher training, curriculum flexibility, equitable access and identification and assessment practices, including a shift toward depth over breadth in curricular design and measurable short-term, medium-term and long-term objectives, to support more inclusive talent development.