Gifted amongst Preschool Children: An Analysis on How Teachers Recognize Giftedness

• Autor(a) principal: Dal Forno, Letícia
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Bahia, Sara, Veiga, Feliciano Henriques
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/19883
• topic: Giftedness; Preschool children; Teachers perceptions

The aim of this research is to expose what teachers from two different cultures observe as characteristics of giftedness in preschool children. The research also depicts the teachers’ conception of inclusive gifted education. The applied qualitative methodology is based in an interview, which focuses on understanding teachers’ difficulties and perceptions in identifying and recognizing a gifted preschool child. Eight teachers, from Brazil and Portugal, participated in this study. Teachers' answers were analyzed through a formal content analysis procedure. The results indicate that teachers acknowledge the concept of giftedness; they analyze the engagement and the behavior of the children through the characteristics most present in literature. However, understanding what the gifted child needs is still difficult for teachers. This study indicates that teacher training needs to be more specific about the concept and the identification of the gifted children during the preschool years.