Selective schools and gifted education programs should be seen as equivalent to elite sports opportunities and teachers need better training to identify gifted students, experts say.

Principal research officer at the Department of Education's centre for education statistics and evaluation Ben North said cultural issues such as tall poppy syndrome have "long been a challenge" for gifted education. He was speaking during a panel discussion at The Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit.

Jordan Baker, Jennie Quinn, Ben North, Mark Long and Rosalind Walsh at the SMH Schools Summit. Credit:Janie Barrett

"Things like curriculum acceleration – helping a student move through the curriculum at a faster rate or pace to help meet where they are at developmentally – have a really strong support base [in evidence], yet it is something we see very rarely in Australia," Dr North said.

"In sport or creative arts it happens all the time. Some of our top sportspeople will go onto representative programs; it’s not uncommon to see teenage boys and girls, talented young athletes, training and playing with adults because that’s the level of competition they require to develop.