• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.427-447
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• 2011

This research looked into the recognitions of a teacher's discernment & recommendations of gifted elementary students targeting 184 elementary school teachers in Seoul district and compared and contrasted their awareness in order to confirm whether there existed a difference in the discernment of gifted elementary students according to their awareness level of professionalism in gifted and talented education. The research results are as follows: There appeared a significant difference in teachers' recognitions level of professionalism in gifted education according to their experience relevant to a gifted elementary student. The teachers, in the process of observations & nominations of gifted elementary students, pointed out creativity, learning motive and attitude as the highest judging standard and also regard such elements as discerning criteria of gifted students. In the process of observations & nominations of gifted elementary students, it was found that teachers' recognitions of importance of discerning criteria of gifted elementary students in relation to parents or fellow teachers' recommendations appeared relatively lower than their recognitions of importance in relation to learning ability, creativity, learning motive and attitude. The research results showed that a group of teachers, who have a high recognitions level of the professionalism in gifted education in the process of observations & nominations of gifted students, perceive the realm of creativity, learning motive, and attitude as more important. This suggests the necessity of elevating teachers' awareness level of professionalism in gifted and talented education in order to discern high-quality gifted students in the process observations & nominations of gifted elementary students putting emphasis on the realm of creativity, learning motive, and attitude.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.771-791
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• 2013

What are the identification criteria elementary school teachers prefer? What are the characteristics of students that teachers consider when nominating them to gifted programs? Will those criteria of identification/nomination differ as to teacher experiences related to gifted education or teacher involvement in the professional development? This study aims to find the answer to these questions. For this purpose, a total of 511 elementary school teachers with a varying degree of experiences with gifted education were recruited from 23 schools in 11 school districts in Seoul. The results show that teachers generally preferred task commitment, creativity, curiosity, and domain specific talents as criteria for identifying gifted students, while perceiving achievement records, total grades, leadership, and general intelligence as less important. Teachers experienced in gifted education or having been involved in professional development perceived curiosity, task commitment, and creativity as more important than teachers without such experiences. The importance-performance analysis of identification criteria indicates that teachers reported high importance on task commitment, curiosity, and creativity, but those factors were less considered in actual nomination. On the contrary, teachers reported low importance on quick learning and achievement(total grades, subject grades), but those were highly considered in nomination. A similar pattern was found in both experienced and nonexperienced teachers although the importance-performance gap was higher for the latter. Implications for teacher nominations and professional development were discussed.