Identifying gifted children in kindergarten

V svojem diplomskem delu sem se ukvarjala s prepoznavanjem nadarjenih otrok v predšolskem obdobju. V teoretičnem delu sem najprej predstavila sistem predšolske vzgoje v Sloveniji in se ob tem naslonila tudi na nacionalni dokument Kurikulum za vrtce in vsa načela, omenjena v njem. Opisala sem razvojne značilnosti predšolskega otroka, opredelila pojem nadarjenosti ter značilnosti in potrebe nadarjenih predšolskih otrok. Obsežen del teoretičnega dela diplomske naloge sem namenila prepoznavanju nadarjenih otrok v vrtcu, kjer sem izpostavila tehniko opazovanja. Teoretičen del sem zaključila z učenjem nadarjenih v družinskem okolju in v predšolskih institucijah. Poudarila sem tudi pomembnost komunikacije med staršem in vzgojiteljem za učinkovito prepoznavanje nadarjenega otroka. Za potrebe empiričnega dela sem sestavila anketni vprašalnik, v katerem sem zastavila pet vprašanj, vezanih na temo nadarjenih otrok v vrtcu. Vprašalnik je izpolnilo 40 vzgojiteljev predšolskih otrok iz dveh različnih vrtcev. Na osnovi pridobljenih rezultatov iz raziskave sem ugotovila, da so se nekateri vzgojitelji, ki so bili vključeni v raziskavo, pri svojem pedagoškem delu že soočili z nadarjenimi otroki. Večina anketiranih je kot nadarjenega opredelila otroka, ki izstopa znotraj vrtčevskega oddelka, otroka, ki je bolj spreten, nadpovprečno sposoben, zanj je značilno močno področje ipd. Anketiranci so mnenja, da nadarjenega predšolskega otroka najlažje prepoznaš z opazovalno tehniko, na podlagi določenih značilnosti. Značilnosti za prepoznavanje nadarjenih predšolskih otrok, ki sem jih vključila v anketni vprašalnik, so anketiranci v večini ocenili za primerne za prepoznavanje nadarjenega v vrtcu. Poleg značilnosti za prepoznavanje nadarjenega otroka, ki sem jih sama vključila v anketni vprašalnik, pa so sami dodali še značilnosti na kognitivnem, vedenjskem in čustvenem področju, katere sem sama večkrat omenila tudi v teoretičnem delu. V povprečju so anketirani vzgojitelji največkrat imeli izkušnjo z nadarjenim predšolskim otrokom na gibalnem področju in področju umetnosti. Večkrat pa so omenili tudi vedenjske značilnosti, po katerih so prepoznali nadarjenega.For my dissertation, I dealt with the identification of gifted children in the preschool period. In the theoretical part, I first presented the system of preschool education in Slovenia and also relied on the national document - Curriculum for Kindergartens and all the principles mentioned in it. I described the developmental characteristics of a preschool child, defined the concept of talent and the characteristics and needs of gifted preschool children. I also devoted an extensive part of the theoretical part of my diploma thesis to the identification of talented children in kindergarten, where I also emphasized the technique of observation. I completed the theoretical part by teaching talented people in a family environment and in preschool institutions. I also stressed the importance of communication between parent and educator for the effective identification of a gifted child. For the needs of empirical work, I compiled a questionnaire in which I asked five questions related to the topic of gifted children in kindergarten. The questionnaire was completed by 40 preschool educators from two different kindergartens. Based on the results obtained from the research, I found that some educators who were included in the research have already encountered gifted children in their pedagogical work. Most of the respondents identified a child who stands out within the kindergarten department as a gifted person, a child who is more skilful, above average, characterized by a strong field, etc. Respondents are of the opinion that the easiest way to identify a talented preschool child is with an observation technique, based on certain characteristics. The characteristics for identifying gifted preschool children, which I included in the survey questionnaire, were mostly assessed by the respondents as suitable for identifying gifted children in kindergarten. In addition to the characteristics for identifying a gifted child, which I included in the questionnaire, they also added characteristics in the cognitive, behavioral and emotional areas, which I myself mentioned several times in the theoretical part. On average, the surveyed educators most often had experience with a gifted preschool child in the field of movement and art. Several times, however, they also mentioned the behavioral characteristics by which they identified the gifted