Teachers' attitudes towards gifted students

Abstract

The article deals with the notion of giftedness. The authors proceed from an assumption that the notion of giftedness could be related to elite social theory. The relationship between the elite and giftedness has become current in modern society, primarily in market economy, as a concept that develops from individual entrepreneurial abilities. In the second part of the article, the notion of giftedness is discussed in the context of school and teachers' role in teaching gifted children. The article presents and analysis the research results obtained in several primary schools, secondary vocational schools and grammar schools in Serbia. The basic research questions are the following: how teachers differentiate between gifted and inept students, and what sort of attitudes exists towards gifted ones. The results show that teachers mainly recognize and evaluate gifted students through their aptitude for certain school subjects. The teachers mainly rely on children's natural gift and fail to stimulate them. Our research shows that teachers fail to emphasize cognitive, intellectual, artistic and social aspects of gifted students.

U radu se razmatra pojam darovitosti. Autori polaze od teze da se pojam darovitosti može dovesti u vezu sa elitističkom teorijom društva. Problem elite i darovitosti aktuelizovan je u modernom društvu, pre svega u tržišnoj privredi, konceptu koji polazi od preduzetničkih sposobnosti pojedinca. U drugom delu rada pojam darovitosti razmatra se u kontekstu škole i uloga nastavnika u radu sa darovitom decom. Dat je prikaz i analiza rezultata dobijenih istraživanjem u osnovnim, srednjim stručnim školama i gimnazijama u Srbiji. Osnovna istraživačka pitanja od kojih autori polaze su: kako nastavnici razlikuju darovite učenike od nedarovitih i kakav odnos nastavnici imaju prema darovitoj deci. Rezultati ukazuju na to da nastavnici uglavnom opažaju i ocenjuju darovite učenike kroz talenat za pojedine predmete. Nastavnici i učitelji se više oslanjaju na prirodni dar dece nego što se bave podsticanjem darovitih učenika. Naše istraživanje pokazuje da nastavnici ne ističu dovoljno kognitivne, intelektualne, umetničke, i socijalne aspekte darovitosti učenika.