| Abstract [eng] |
"The traits of gifted children from the perspective of kindergarten teachers". Liucija Ašmantavičiūtė. Vilnius university, Vilnius, 2020. 61 pages. Research problem: Gifted children have exceptional needs, so it is important to take those needs into consideration in the educational process, offer adjusted education, which serves in developing gifts and personality further. At first it is needed to understand what does gifted child mean and be able to identify those children. Kindergarten teachers are one of the first people, who have a chance to notice the giftedness, so it is important to understand their opinions about gifted children, which traits help them identify giftedness, what difficulties do they face in educational process. Research aim: to reveal the opinions of kindergarten teachers about the traits of gifted children, identification, education and difficulties. The research. The participants were kindergarten teachers. In the qualitative part during semi-structured interviews information was obtained from 11 teachers, with experience from 5 to 34 years; qualification categories of participants: 1 teacher expert, 2 teachers methodologists, 7 senior teachers, 1 without any category. 7 interview questions were pre-arranged. Also a quantitative survey with qualitative features was carried out, 81 teachers participated. Participants were given a questionnaire with 36 traits and possibility to add comments, they were asked to indicate, which traits could help their recognize giftedness in different aged children. Conclusions. According to teachers, gifted children exhibit specific cognitive traits and better cognitive functioning, as well as emotional, psychological, social and physical traits. Teachers think that physical, emotional, social and psychological traits might be ambiguous, so it is important to look at the whole picture, when identifying a gifted child. Keywords: gifted children, preschool education, adjusted education, identification of a gifted child. |
