Teachers' Experience in Working with Gifted Students

Paper

The aim of the paper is to analyze the experience of teachers in working with gifted students in the Republic of Serbia. Equitable or inclusive education is a process that helps overcoming barriers that limit the attendance, learning, and achievement of all students, and thus gifted students. According to researchers' findings, the success of such education depends on several factors, including the experience of teachers working with different groups of students and students with different abilities. The research was carried out by interviewing teachers about experiences in working with gifted students. For the purpose of the research, a Questionnaire for Teachers on working with gifted students was constructed, which consisted of two parts: socio-demographic data, and part of the questionnaires on the experiences, competencies, and work of teachers with gifted students. The sample of respondents were teachers from the ten selected schools in Serbia (N = 208). The questionnaire was created in the Google forms and distributed in March this year in the electronic form to the email address of the respondents. 59.6% of respondents answered that they believe that there are no gifted students in their classroom; in those classes where teachers consider that there are gifted students their presence is on average for 2.47 gifted students per class. Most examined teachers did not work with gifted students in the past ten years (82.7%). Even 199 (95.7%) of respondents never participated in the development of an Individual education plan no. three which is predicted for students with exceptional abilities. Most respondents (97.1%) testify that no student from their class has so far been educated with acceleration. To the direct question "Do you think that you have enough experience working with gifted students?" of the most questioned teachers, 166 of them (79.8%) answered that they have not enough such experiences. The results of the survey show that teachers have insufficient experience in working with gifted students because gifted students are noticed and recognized in a small number; it is, therefore, necessary to provide more opportunities for the training of teachers on detecting, identifying and working with gifted students, the qualities of gifted students and their needs for special support in education, in order for teachers to recognize gifted students and provide them with adequate educational support. Teachers did not acquire enough of this kind of knowledge either through their studies, or through training during their work, and because of that, they could not have gained experience in working with gifted students.