Abstract:

Caring for gifted children and pupils in institutions of early, pre-school and school education is of exceptional importance for the upbringing and education system of a country as well as the society as a whole. In regards to European and world standards, concerning this issue sufficiently developed consciousness does not exist in Croatian society, and even though the legal framework and a series of accompanying documents regulate the obligation of identifying gifted children and pupils by applying adequate forms of work and a differentiated curriculum, the fact is that in all kindergartens and schools children do not have equal possibilities to be able to satisfy specific upbringing and educational needs. Besides inadequate material and financial conditions in upbringing and education institutions, one of the difficulties in identifying and implementing systematic support to gifted children and pupils is represented by the lack or insufficient expert capacity of educators and teachers in working in such a field of professional activity. It is, therefore, the parents and rare experts who most often take upon themselves the care of satisfying specific upbringing and education needs and realizing the rights of identified individuals, while the potentials of the remaining children and pupils very often remain unrecognized until the end of their schooling. The key persons in the recognition and identification of gifted children and pupils, besides their parents, are educators and teachers who in daily contact through upbringing and education performance have the possibility of detecting potential giftedness. However, they very often feel uninvited to professionally step out in that field with the excuse of lacking in initial knowledge. In order for educators and teachers to be able to give an adequate support to gifted children and pupils, higher school curriculum should offer the possibility of acquiring basic competences in such a field during initial education whereby educators and teachers could offer an adequate support to gifted children and pupils. The present work analyses curricula of higher school institutions in Croatia and neighboring countries who educate future educators and teachers at pre-graduate and graduate level.

Keywords:

Higher school curriculum, gifted children and pupils, teacher and educator competences.