4.4.8 Giftedness and Gifted Education: Teachers’ Conception and Practice in the Indonesian Context

Vast studies on how teachers conceive giftedness have been conducted in many countries such as in the USA, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, Africa, and the Middle East (Pfeiffer, 2018). However, little is known about giftedness in the Indonesian context particularly from the teacher’s perspective.

Indonesia is home to 1.3 million gifted students, and the number increases continuously. Currently, more than 60 schools have a special education program for gifted students. The schools are under the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA), and the Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC). Accordingly, this study aimed to examine Indonesian teachers’ conception of giftedness, which further influenced how they provided their educational program to enhance the natural abilities of the gifted students.

By using a sequential mixed methods design, 206 teachers of gifted students throughout Indonesia were surveyed in the quantitative phase, subsequently, in the qualitative phase eight surveyed teachers were interviewed and observed in the classroom. The distribution of participants was selected by province; Java, Sumatera, and Kalimantan as well as by the school management umbrella; MoRA and MoEC.

The findings illustrated, first Indonesian teachers tend to conceive that giftedness is realized and achieved (84%). It is innate potential that needs to be developed (93%). Second, they considered that general intelligence testing (IQ) combined with other psychological testing was most appropriate to identify giftedness (82%). Third, concerning gifted individual characteristics, Indonesian teachers agreed highly, that a gifted individual has a high level of cognitive (99%), creative (84%), social abilities (75%), but a moderate level of motivation (68%).

Fourth, regarding the way teachers develop gifted education, high ability grouping is one of the tangible models implemented within gifted education in Indonesia. It is considered as the environmental catalyst to promote a transformation of raw ability into talent. In this regard, there are four types of homogeneous grouping for gifted students in Indonesia, the semester credit system (SKS) class, the gifted learners (PDCI) class, the excellence class, and the acceleration class. The educators prefer a homogenous class rather than a mixed ability class because it is valuable to encourage students to maintain their level of motivation, and volition to reach their learning goal. Homogenous grouping also was found to create a competitive environment and be an advantage for gifted students.

Reference.

Pfeiffer, S. I., Shaunessy-Dedrick, E., & Foley-Nicpon, M. (Eds.). (2018). APA handbooks in psychology. APA handbook of giftedness and talent. Washington: American Psychological Association

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