Primary School Teachers' Attitudes toward Gifted Students

The aim of this study was to examine primary school teachers' attitudes toward gifted students and toward some approaches to their education (acceleration and ability grouping) as well as their relationship to the expressed interest and perceived knowledge of specific topics concerning giftedness acquired during the studies, at teachers' professional conferences and in the course of individual professional improvement. Furthermore, the relationship between the teachers' attitudes and some of the teachers' socio-demographic characteristics were investigated. A total of 209 primary school teachers of the Brod-Posavina county participated in the study. The respondents' attitudes were assessed using the Gagne and Nadeau attitude survey (1991) about gifted students and gifted education (which was translated into Croatian and subjected to metric validation to meet the needs of this study). The results show that teachers generally have a neutral attitude toward the gifted, meaning that teachers recognize the needs, support and social value of the gifted, but lack a clearly defined attitude toward special provisions for the gifted and toward the consequences special support of the gifted might have. The study revealed differences in attitudes toward the gifted, interest and perceived knowledge of giftedness with regard to the years of teaching experience, education level and workplace. Hierarchical regression analyses proved interest and individual professional improvement, in topics concerning giftedness, to be significant predictors of attitudes toward the needs, support and value of the gifted. The opinion about elitism of gifted education is significantly predicted by the place of work and interest.