DOI: 10.17478/jegys.1917245 ISSN: 2149-360X

The impact of awareness training on teachers’ self-efficacy and perceptions regarding gifted education

Gülşah Saltık Ayhanöz
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The education of gifted individuals is regarded not merely as a pedagogical issue, but also as a social issue that must be addressed within the context of individual rights, due to the individual differences and special educational needs these individuals possess. In this context, the training of teachers who can take individual differences into account and view the classroom as a small community is considered crucial for the quality of gifted education. Teachers play a significant role in identifying the potential of gifted students and creating suitable educational environments. The study group for this research consists of 19 teachers from various disciplines working in the province of Niğde. As part of the research, teachers were provided with a 40-hour awareness training programme focusing on the characteristics and educational needs of gifted individuals. The scales were administered to participants as a pre-test prior to the training and as a post-test following the training. SPSS software was used to analyse the data, and a t-test for dependent samples was applied to determine the difference between pre-test and post-test scores. The findings indicate that the awareness training provided a statistically significant increase in teachers’ self-efficacy levels regarding the education of gifted students. However, it was determined that the observed increase in teachers’ perceptions regarding the education of gifted students was not statistically significant. These results suggest that awareness-based training is effective in enhancing teachers’ perceptions of professional competence; however, they also highlight the need for longer-term and more comprehensive interventions in the dimensions of perception and belief.

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