Abstract:

Although one of the biggest roles in the identification and education of gifted students is assigned to teachers, research shows that teachers do not have enough knowledge about the process of identifying gifted students or their education. The aim of the research was to examine the opinions of biology teachers about giftedness in the educational system. The research sample consisted of 130 biology teachers. The largest number of participants work in the City of Zagreb and are employed in an elementary school. The research instrument consisted of 30 items divided into 3 categories:
(1) Legal regulations and specifics of working with gifted students,
(2) identification of gifted students and
(3) procedures for supporting gifted students within the school or county of employment.

Biology teachers generally believe that in Croatian educational system, the education of gifted students is mandated by law. Most of them believe that identifying and supporting gifted students is their responsibility, but most of them also think that giftedness is not clearly defined, that there are no clear guidelines for identifying gifted students, and that they need special education for working with gifted students. Out of all support procedures, biology teachers are the most familiar with content expansion, and the least familiar with special schools for gifted students. When identifying gifted students, academic success is not that important to teachers working in secondary vocational schools, but it’s the most important thing to teachers in gymnasiums. That is, it is more important for teachers in Osijek and Split macro-regions, while IQ is most important for teachers in Rijeka and Split macro-regions. Teachers are generally not familiar with types of support that are available to gifted students within their county, and most of them are only aware of support in the forms of summer or winter schools, festivals, or workshops, and in the form of a centre of excellence. Teachers at secondary vocational schools receive the lowest amount of support from professional service providers at school, and they mostly do not recognize and/or do not work with gifted students.

Keywords:

Giftedness, teacher assessment, education of gifted students.