A Lack of Awareness and Emphasis in Preservice Teacher Training

Abstract

Gifted and talented (GT) learners in most classroom settings endure unchallenging curriculum, a slow pace of instruction, and a state of ignorance by many of their general education teachers. The authors wanted to know how in-service teachers, preservice teacher candidates, and preservice education students viewed GT learners. The authors also wanted to know how their respondents felt about teacher training specific to the nature and needs of GT learners. Information was gathered via pre/postcourse questionnaires to describe existing beliefs and assumptions that individuals in various phases of teacher development held regarding GT learners. Findings suggest that the preconceived beliefs held by individuals about GT learners guide the willingness and approaches used to teach children more so than specific training in the nature/needs of learners.

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“…This result doesn't indicate agreement with the findings of Banfield (2005), Dimitriadis (2012), andVan Tassel -Baska andStambaugh (2005) studies, where teachers appreciated that co-education is beneficial for all students and helps the educator to regulate a modified teaching curriculum. It also reveals a disagreement with other studies, where it seems that the teachers' views are not based on worried considerations of elitism appearance on behalf of gifted students (Gallagher et al, 2011) or beliefs that teaching gifted and non-gifted students in the same class constitute a problem (Berman et al, 2012).…”

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“…For instance, Kagan (1992) indicates that undertaking specialised education can challenge teachers' beliefs (e.g., the common misconceptions about gifted and talented students). Rowley's (2012) analysis of inservice professional learning policy and practices in Australia and America found similarly positive effects of teacher education on moulding teachers' attitudes, perceptions and practices (see also Adams & Pierce, 2004;Berman, Schultz & Weber, 2012;Gallagher, 2007;Hativa, Barak & Simi, 2001;Kronborg & Plunkett, 2012;Lassig, 2009). Similarly, Lassig's (2009) survey of 126 Australian primary school teachers found that professional development had positive impacts on teacher attitudes toward gifted and talented education, with flow-on effects for classroom practices and gifted and talented student outcomes.…”

Working toward equitable gifted programming: The school psychologist's role

“…This means that most teachers of students yet to be identified as gifted are unlikely to receive training in gifted education and in the needs of diverse gifted students. Because teacher nomination is the most widely required criteria for formal consideration (NAGC, 2015), the gatekeepers of gifted programming often have limited to no knowledge of gifted education—confounding the nomination process with bias and a reliance on ill‐formed and stereotypic beliefs of giftedness (Bain, Bliss, Choate, & Brown, 2007; Berman, Schultz, & Weber, 2012; Carman, 2011; Siegle, Moore, Mann, & Wilson, 2010; Speirs Neumeister, Adams, Pierce, Cassady, & Dixon, 2007). These stereotypic beliefs regarding giftedness are shaped by traditional conceptions of gifted individuals as male (Bianco, Harris, Garrison‐Wade, & Leech, 2009; Carman, 2011), White or Asian (Carman, 2011; Ford et al, 2008), as displaying academic characteristics valued by the dominant Eurocentric culture which rewards behaviors like leadership (Siegle et al, 2010) and the intrinsic motivation to learn (Speirs Neumeister et al, 2007), and the false notion that gifted students are a homogenous group with the ability to thrive in the absence of targeted academic interventions (Reis & Renzulli, 2009).…”

“…Speirs Neumeister et al (2007) found that potential characteristics of giftedness suggested to be more prevalent in certain minority groups (e.g., “oral tradition, movement and verve, communalism” in African‐American students) are less likely to be associated with giftedness by educators (p. 486). Unfortunately, preconceived ideas about giftedness shape what educators expect to see in the classroom (Berman et al, 2012; Carman, 2011). Research suggests that race and ethnicity inform the expectations of preservice and in‐service teachers who lack gifted‐specific training (Carman, 2011).…”

“…The disproportionate nomination of White students for gifted identification (Harris et al, 2009; McBee, 2006; Plucker & Peters, 2018; Siegle et al, 2015) mirrors preservice teachers’ stereotypic expectations of giftedness (Carman, 2011). Several studies exploring preservice teachers’ preconceptions of gifted students indicate that stereotypic thinking and misinformation largely informs beliefs and expectations (Bain et al, 2007; Berman et al, 2012; Carman, 2011, Siegle et al, 2010; Speirs Neumeister et al, 2007). Carman's (2011) study exploring gifted stereotypes among preservice and current teachers required participants to imagine and describe a gifted person; over 85% of the sample imagined a White person.…”