How students, parents and teachers observe and determine giftedness

Abstract

How giftedness is determined in everyday life and school practice is an important question to be considered given the complexity of giftedness phenomenon and diversity of its definitions in science. On the other hand, how educators determine giftedness more or less affects directly the attitude towards gifted children, their standing and possibilities of displaying, supporting and developing their giftedness at school. The paper presents the results of investigations on how students, parents and teachers observe, comprehend and determine giftedness. Opinions on nature of giftedness and features of gifted individuals have been gathered using questionnaire. Examination involved secondary-school students from second and third grades (N=294), their parents (N=179) and teachers (N=112). Descriptions obtained from students, parents and teachers were compared to each other as well as to the concepts of giftedness. There followed the examinations of the effect of a series of relevant features of examinees and their setting as to items given (type of school, parents' occupation and level of education, sex of students, parents and teachers, the subject the teacher leaches, teachers' years of service.

Kako se darovitost određuje u svakodnevnom životu i školskoj praksi predstavlja značajno pitanje za istraživanje s obzirom na složenost fenomena darovitosti i raznovrsnost u njegovom određivanju u nauci. S druge strane, kako učesnici vaspitno-obrazovnog procesa određuju darovitost više ili manje direktno utiče na odnos prema darovitim učenicima, njihov status i ukupne mogućnosti ispoljavanja, podsticanja i razvijanja dečijih talenata u školi. U radu su saopšteni rezultati istraživanja o tome kako učenici, roditelji i nastavnici opažaju, shvataju i određuju darovitost. Mišljenja o prirodi darovitosti i karakteristikama darovitih pojedinaca prikupljena su upitnikom. U ispitivanje su uključeni učenici drugog i trećeg razreda srednjih škola (N = 294), njihovi roditelji (N = 179) i nastavnici (N = 112). Opisi koji su dobijeni od učenika, roditelja i nastavnika upoređeni su međusobno i sa koncepcijama darovitosti. Usledilo je ispitivanje efekta niza relevantnih karakteristika ispitanika i njihovog okruženja na data određenja (tip i vrsta škole, zanimanje i obrazovanje roditelja, pol učenika, roditelja i nastavnika, predmet koji nastavnik predaje, dužina radnog staža nastavnika)