What Factors Facilitate High Talent Perceptions for High-Achieving Girls?
High-achieving girls with commensurate talent perceptions tended to base this mostly on objective indicators, such as high marks and being in a high stream. This was also true of the parallel boys’ group, with the only notable difference being that the girls also attributed their talent to their parents being good at maths. This was an unexpected response, perhaps indicating these girls saw maths talent as reflecting an inherited ability. Most girls were able to identify a point in time at which their talent perceptions had changed, as were the boys, these being upon exerting more effort and performing better as a consequence, and in the case of the Asian student moving to Australia, due to finding maths easier here. The two instances of declines in perceptions were attributed to external factors such as Year 9 maths being objectively harder for everyone, and disruptions to schooling. These attributions were similar to those of boys. Both girls and boys whose perceptions had remained s
