Who Is Considered Gifted From a Teacher’s Perspective? A Representative Large-Scale Study

Abstract

Teachers play important roles in identifying and promoting gifted students. An open question is: Which student characteristics do teachers use to evaluate whether a student is gifted or not? We used data from a representative sample of Dutch primary school teachers ( N = 1,304) who were asked whether or not they thought the students ( N = 26,720) in their class were gifted. We investigated students’ cognitive and noncognitive attributes as well as demographic factors that might be relevant for this judgment. In sum, the findings revealed that teachers considered students to be gifted when, in comparison with their peers, students were superior in cognitive domains, especially with respect to academic achievement, scored higher on openness to experience and lower on agreeableness, were male, were younger, and came from families with higher parental education. These findings are discussed in relation to research on teacher nominations, teachers’ representations of giftedness and gifted students, and theoretical conceptions of giftedness.

A Comparison of Gifted Children and Children With Low, Average, and Above-Average Cognitive Abilities in Sensory Processing Sensitivity in the Primary School Context

“…The second explanation is related to the educational system. As described earlier, teacher nominations are often used to identify and enroll gifted children in special enrichment programs or pull-out classes (Rothenbusch et al, 2016; Sękowski & Łubianka, 2015), but their identifications may be biased by misconceptions about giftedness (e.g., Golle et al, 2023; Lavrijsen & Verschueren, 2020; Weyns et al, 2021). Possibly, gifted children who are also higher in SPS do benefit more from pull-out programs and teachers’ special support because of their emotional reactivity.…”

“…However, teachers may misidentify gifted children because they pay attention to children's everyday school performance rather than their cognitive abilities (Lavrijsen & Verschueren, 2020). In particular, underachieving children, children of lower socioeconomic status, Black children, and girls were found to be less likely to be identified as gifted by their teacher (Endepohls-Ulpe & Ruf, 2006;Golle et al, 2023;Grissom & Redding, 2016;Hamilton et al, 2018;Lavrijsen & Verschueren, 2020). In addition, teachers also have misconceptions about gifted children's personality.…”

“…In addition, teachers also have misconceptions about gifted children’s personality. They tend to regard gifted children as less agreeable, less emotionally stable, and more introverted than their peers (Baudson & Preckel, 2013; Golle et al, 2023; Weyns et al, 2021). In addition, Rothenbusch and colleagues (2016) showed that teacher nominations were influenced by class-average levels of intelligence: Children who were in a class with higher intelligence levels were less likely to be nominated for an enrichment program.…”

Gelijke kansen en aandacht voor begaafdheid: een (on)verenigbaar ideaal?

“…Het begaafdheidsdilemma (en groeperingsdilemma) is complex omdat het signaleren van begaafde leerlingen niet eenvoudig is. Een recente grootschalige studie (Golle et al, 2022) laat zien dat Nederlandse basisschoolleraren, jongens en kinderen met hoogopgeleide ouders eerder als begaafd inschatten dan meisjes en kinderen van minder geschoolde ouders, ondanks vergelijkbare persoonskenmerken, cognitieve capaciteiten en motivatie. Daarnaast blijkt dat onderpresteren vaker voorkomt bij leerlingen met laag-en middelbaar opgeleide ouders dan bij leerlingen met hoogopgeleide ouders (Bluemink et al, 2022).…”