• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.373-390
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to find out the role and responsibilities of coordinators for gifted classes in Korean schools, by examining the role and responsibilities, and qualifications of coordinators' at gifted classes in America and England. To do this, first, we examine the tasks and role of Korean gifted classes in elementary and secondary schools. Then we look into the coordinators of gifted programs of public schools and university programs in America and England. The coordinators of America and England are experts in gifted programs who have understanding and knowledge on gifted education, and they work for everything regarding gifted programs, such as designing the gifted education program, dealing documents regarding gifted programs, and assisting school personnel in the identification, development, teaching and evaluation of gifted students. The coordinators are the most important and core person in gifted programs. However, in Korean school, the role of coordinators is one of the school tasks of which any teacher has to take charge and there is no regulation on the qualification of coordinators. Therefore we suggest to set up the regulations of qualification, role and responsibilities of gifted programs' coordinators, by understanding that the role of coordinators is important.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.569-589
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• 2008

One of the main factors that affect the improvement of G/T education is the number and the level of quality of the professionals who are working for the gifted. The professionals vary depending on the role they play for the gifted from the classroom teacher, coordinator, to consultant. Since the legislation of the law for the enhancement of the gifted education in Korea, the in-service training for the classroom teacher has been expanded in number throughout the country. Nowadays, the gifted education is about to be expanded into the general school population, and it becomes more necessary that the training at the level of university graduate program be expanded beyond the short-term in-service training so far. In this vein, the number of universities in Korea that offer the staff development for the gifted education at the graduate level has been increased. However, the problem is whether those programs meet the need to produce the quality professionals. Based on this problem awareness, the study analyzed the graduate programs of 8 universities in Korea by comparing their course descriptions with the graduate-level training program standards of the United States and Europe. It was found that most of the universities fulfilled the areas that both standards commonly consider import, such as "concept and development of giftedness", "curriculum development for the gifted", "teaching methods for the gifted." However, the number of the offered subjects was different among the universities, which indicates that it is suspicious that the universities equally satisfy the areas both standards require. Furthermore, it was also found that the universities differ in satisfying the other standards, From these findings, several suggestions were made for the improvement of the university graduate programs in Korea.