PRESCHOOL TEACHERS´ ATTITUDES TOWARD RECOGNITION, IDENTIFICATION AND WORK WITH GIFTED CHILDREN

Temeljni cilj ovog rada bio je utvrditi stavove odgojitelja prema prepoznavanju, identifikaciji i radu s darovitom djecom. Željeli smo utvrditi postoji li razlika u stavovima s obzirom na mjesto rada odgojitelja (selo, grad), dob odgojitelja, izobrazbu odgojitelja i iskustvo rada s darovitima. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 110 odgojitelja iz raznih vrtića Republike Hrvatske. Za prikupljanje podataka koristila su se 3 anketna upitnika za ispitivanje stavova prema karakteristikama darovitih, radu s darovitima i obrazovanju darovitih te prema provedbi programa za darovitu djecu. Prema rezultatima istraživanja odgojitelji imaju pretežito neutralne stavove prema karakteristikama darovite djece što znači kako njihove predrasude prema darovitosti nisu izražene u velikoj mjeri. Utvrđeno je kako odgojitelji imaju pozitivne stavove prema prepoznavanju potreba, podrške i društvene vrijednosti darovitih, a ne slažu se kako poseban tretman za darovite znači privilegiranost darovitih i elitizam prema darovitima. Iako su se odgojiteljice izjasnile kako u njihovom vrtiću postoji identifikacija darovite djece malo njih provodi posebne programe za darovitu djecu. Nešto pozitivnije stavove prema karakteristikama darovite djece imaju odgojiteljice kojima je radno mjesto u gradu u odnosu na one koje rade u selu. Mjesto rada ne utječe na stavove odgojitelja prema radu s darovitima i obrazovanju darovitih te prema provedbi programa za darovitu djecu. Nije uočena povezanost dobi, izobrazbe i iskustva rada s darovitima sa stavovima odgojitelja prema karakteristikama darovitih, radu i obrazovanju darovitih te prema provedbi programa za darovitu djecu.The main purpose of this paper was to determine early childhood educators’ attitudes towards recognition, identification and work with gifted children. The goal was to determine if there is a difference in attitudes depending on the place they work (village, town), age of educators, education and experience of educators working with gifted children. The research included 110 early childhood educators from different kindergartens in the Republic of Croatia. For the collection of data, 3 questionnaires were used to examine attitudes according to the characteristics of gifted children, work with gifted and gifted education, and also the implementation of gifted education programs. According to the results of the research, educators have predominantly neutral attitudes to the characteristics of gifted children, which means that their prejudice to giftedness is not expressed to a great extent. It was determined that educators have positive attitudes towards recognizing the needs, support, and social values of the gifted, and do not agree that special treatment for the gifted means the privilege of giftedness and elitism toward the gifted. Although the educators have stated that there is identification of gifted children in their kindergarten, few of them carry out special programs for gifted children. Educators who have a job in the city, compared to those working in the village, have somewhat more positive attitudes towards the characteristics of gifted children. The place of work does not affect attitudes of educators towards work with gifted children or their education, and also implementation of programs for gifted children. There was no correlation between age, education and experience in work with gifted children and the attitudes of educators to the characteristics of gifted, work with gifted, gifted education and the implementation of gifted education programs