Working with artistically gifted students

The thesis deals with the problem of detection, identification and the educational work of art gifted students. It is very important that these students are detected early and regarded as a separate group that has exceptional potential in the field of art and are thusly entitled to individualized adaptation within the primary education program. Namely, when working with gifted students, teachers are expected to utilize different forms of work in the classroom, which will encourage such students and help them develop their potential. Only with such adapted educational work will they be able to appropriately choose how to continue their education in high school and, later as adults, achieve a healthy personality and be a significant contribution to social development in the field of arts as well as elsewhere. The theoretical part defines the concept of giftedness, talent types and characteristics of gifted students, and the problems they encounter. The methods of detecting and identifying the talented are presented. It describes the educational work with gifted students, encompassing both regular classes as well as special programs, adapted specifically for them. Following is a description of the difficulties teachers encounter working with this kind of group of children. In the last part of the theoretical segment art talent is presented, which is the core of the research problem. In the first part of the empirical work I used a questionnaire to determine how class teachers in elementary school evaluate their knowledge on the field of identification and work with art gifted students, where they acquire additional knowledge, how they discover talent, which characteristics of the pupil they focus on when doing so, how they plan the adjustments and which forms of work they use the most, who helps them when doing so and which problems they encounter when working with this group of children. And lastly, which activities outside of the regular school program does their school organize for those gifted artistically. I surveyed 38 primary school teachers from six different schools in Slovenia. The results show that the majority of teachers assess their knowledge in the field of art talent as mediocre and that their additional knowledge is accessed by reading printed literature and via the internet. The most commonly used methods of recognizing the artistically gifted were observation and analysis of their art products. The most commonly occurring characteristics of the talented are the following: a sense of expression, creativity, originality, prominence, imagination and uniqueness. Most teachers do not adapt their plans separately, rather they adapt as they go, depending on the needs of the pupils and the course of the lesson. The most commonly used adjustments include a change of pace and volume of the work content, debates and individual assignments. Lack of expertise knowledge causes the most problems for teachers, as does the amount of paperwork. They are most often assisted by other teachers. The activity most commonly organized by the school outside of regular class is art club. For the second set, I performed teaching in art classes in two fifth grade classes of primary school. I wanted to identify students who have highly developed art skills based on observation, analysis of the resulting art products, and the set criteria. From the observed sample of 35 pupils, I selected five students who met the criteria or stood out in some way. I made a detailed analysis of their works