Gifted Education lntemational2002 Vol16, pp 179-190 <02002 A B Academic Publishers News around the

teachers aHitudes towards giftedness • a comparison between american and israeli teachers 47 American and 66 Israeli teachers were asked to state their opinion on the following topics included in a check list questionnaire, which consisted of statements related to the education of the gifted: Significance of cognitive abilities; Preferred educational setting; The role of the parents; Heredity vs. environment; The competence of teachers to identify the gifted, and to prepare special programs for them; The need for special training; There were no differences between teachers who taught in regular classes, and those who taught the gifted. The Israeli group related more signijiamce to the cognitive abilities; the power of heredity; the com-petence of the teachers to identify gifted, and to prepare special programs for them. They preferred to include the gifted in the regular classes. The American group related more significance to hard work, and believed, more than their associates, in the modifiability of human characteristics. In general it may be concluded that the Israeli teachers are more concerned with the class, while the American ones- with the individual. Background Among the factors contributing to the suc-cess of programs for the gifted, the training of the teachers is considered to be the most significant one (Neethling, 1984).1t is mainly the teacher who sets the environment which inspires or destroys self-confidence, encour-ages or suppresses interests, develops or neglects abilities, fosters or banishes creativ-ity, stimulates or discourages critical think-ing, and facilitates or frustrates achieve