Motivated to Teach Gifted Students for Talent development: Teacher Motivations, Perceptions, and Pedagogies in Focus

Chair: Leonie Kronborg, Monash University

Leonie Kronborg
Monash University
Australia

Teachers who teach and support gifted students across talent domains, from a range of schools across the state of Victoria, were given the opportunity to participate in a formal university learning experience. They were taught in cohorts with other experienced teachers, and given the opportunity to discuss and reflect on their knowledge and understandings of teaching gifted students. The Professional Learning unit was adapted to teachers’ needs and was taught in five consecutive years as part of research with experienced teachers of the gifted. These teachers were predominantly from selective learning environments where students had been identified as having high levels of verbal and numeric aptitude, in addition to high academic achievement in verbal and/or mathematical domains. However, some teachers taught individual gifted students identified by psychologists in mixed-ability learning environments, and some students were twice-exceptional. Furthermore, many of the teachers who participated in the Professional Learning were exposed to evidence-based teaching in relation to gifted, creative and talent development research literature for the first time. Research which was conducted each year with the different cohorts of teachers provided opportunities to investigate experienced teacher beliefs, motivations, pedagogy, perceptions, and understandings on various topics, which have implications for future gifted education programs. In this session teachers will have the opportunity to work in pairs or groups and to discuss and reflect on their motivations, pedagogy, and perceptions on diverse topics and to compare their responses to experienced teachers of gifted students found in the students.