There's a gifted student in my class – what can I do? - Main problems and challenges of Slovenian teachers

Paper

<p style="text-align: justify;">he purpose of the study is in identification of main problems and challenges of Slovenian primary teachers regarding to gifted and talented education. Gifted students have the right to adequate educational opportunities, which will challenge and stimulate the optimal development of their potentials.  In order to achieve the latter, we need to provide appropriately qualified teachers. The purpose of the differentiated instruction for gifted students is optimizing and streamlining the education process in the individual and social prospect. The Slovenian school system is in general not the most receptive to such students, it often happens that their potentials are overlooked.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">The results of the empirical research show the following problems:  (i) teachers are inadequately informed about the issues concerning discovering and working with gifted students; (ii) they tend to have low self-esteem in the effective classroom provision and appropriate use of teaching strategies; (iii) they stress the necessity for further didactic material and other effective classroom resources. The results of the research that was carried out among primary school teachers (N=378) indicate that the most important differentiated educational elements in working with gifted students are: educational objectives (M=4.15; SD=0.830); didactic procedures or methods (M=4.08; SD=0.886) and didactic material (M=4.05; SD=0.842). According to primary school teachers it is best to perform work with gifted students together with other students in regular classes, where the gifted ones are assigned extra tasks or obligations (41.8 %) or in the framework of additional lessons with the teacher (33.3%). Evaluating the need for differentiation of individual educational elements for gifted students, teachers highlighted didactic questions and tasks (SDmin=0.781), didactic material, homework and other student’s assignments (SDmin=0,806) as the most important; and the syllabus of the subject, teacher’s preparation, and knowledge assessment as the least important (SDmax=1,036).</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">In addition to various possibilities of further education, there are some issues that should be arranged on the national level, e. g.:  empowering teachers by the help of  appropriately qualified  inclusive pedagogues and supervisors; providing teaching materials, teaching aids and special - didactic recommendations teachers would be able to use when working with gifted students; shorter training workshops which would give teachers the opportunity to gain the appropriate national certificate acknowledging the competence of identifying and working with gifted children.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">The challenge for gifted and talented teachers remains, all over the world, the same – how to challenge those students and how to make the effective classroom provision for them. The broad and complex interdisciplinary issue of education for the gifted and talented is still inadequately considered, although we have already presented a theoretical and developmental platform for further conceptualization in Slovenia (Kukanja 2006; 2008; Kukanja Gabrijelčič, 2015). Early identification of gifted young students would enable a new educational model and individual educational plan to be integrated into the school curriculum which would include a wide range of conceptual and methodological approaches to teaching different subjects. An identification model and further content-methodological education with gifted students would contribute to the necessity of acceleration strategies balanced with complementary skills and curriculum subject areas in elementary school. The paper looks at effective provision for gifted students in Slovenian primary school through research analysis and some examples provided – informing professional development opportunities for teachers. So, the main research question is how to develop more effective teaching in innovative learning environments?<br>
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