Almost all gifted children attend regular early childhood education services or schools and so meeting the needs of gifted children is part of the everyday work of all early childhood teachers (Margrain, Murphy & Dean, 2015). Early childhood education in New Zealand recognises children’s right to quality learning opportunities and has a long-standing discourse around valuing diversity. Therefore, in a situation where early childhood teachers intend to make a positive difference for all, how is it that application of quality practice for gifted children remains elusive to many teachers? Part of the answer lies in the fact that teachers say they have received little explicit pre-service or in-service education on giftedness (Margain & Farquhar, 2012). Another part of the puzzle is the continuation of common myths and misunderstandings (Margrain, et al., 2015). A third influence is the lack of explicit attention given to giftedness (or any synonyms) within Te Whāriki, the early childhood curriculum framework. This article focuses on the latter issue, but takes the stance that although there is little explicit statement about giftedness, there is a large body of implicit discourse which provides a clear mandate for gifted education. Evidencing this implicit mandate is the aim of this article. The following sections provide: a brief introduction to giftedness; the approach to textual analysis used in this study; an integrated presentation of the Te Whāriki textual analysis findings and discussion; and some practical application