Acceleration for Gifted Students in Inclusive Education: Finnish and Swedish Physics and Chemistry Teachers’ Experience

This exploratory survey study examines the use of accelerative practices among lower secondary physics and chemistry teachers in Finland and Sweden (N = 160), where a longstanding emphasis on educational equality and inclusion has limited attention to the needs of gifted students. Although international research demonstrates strong academic and socio-emotional benefits of acceleration for gifted students, evidence suggests that Nordic schools rarely implement such practices systematically. The present study investigates teachers’ experiences with four accelerative approaches relevant to the Nordic context—early entrance, grade skipping, subject-based acceleration, and curriculum compacting—and analyses how these practices shape instructional decision-making in science classrooms. Using a mixed-methods design combining descriptive and inferential statistics with inductive content analysis, the study reveals that acceleration is infrequently used in both countries, though Swedish teachers report higher implementation rates than Finnish teachers. Teachers with prior knowledge of gifted education were more likely to employ accelerative practices across all categories. Teachers reported limited time and material resources as barriers to implementation. The findings illustrate a persistent gap between policy-permitted accelerative opportunities and actual inclusive science education classroom practice, highlighting that meeting the learning needs of gifted students requires strengthened teacher education, policy support, and resource allocation.