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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science
Learning and Teaching, Volume 4, Issue 2, Article 5 (Dec., 2003) Murat GÖKDERE, Mehmet KÜÇÜK and Salih ÇEPNİ Gifted science education in Turkey: Gifted teachers' selection, perspectives and needs
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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science
Learning and Teaching, Volume 4, Issue 2, Article 5 (Dec., 2003) Murat GÖKDERE, Mehmet KÜÇÜK and Salih ÇEPNİ Gifted science education in Turkey: Gifted teachers' selection, perspectives and needs
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The Turkish context
In comparison with other countries, Turkey began studies of gifted education relatively recently. The studies indicate progress in gifted education, but in an isolated and often fragmented manner. With the opening of special high level achievement classrooms in the 1960's, more study of gifted students' education occurred. For example, one finding was inequity in student identification and this persisted for a considerable period (Gökdere & Küçük, 2003). By the 1980's new starts had been made and some projects have been developed. These projects helped develop talent centers which were called Science Art Centres, (SACs). By 1993 SACs had been established in five cities. Now, there are ten SACs in Turkey under the control of The National Ministry of Education and there are seven new SACs, which will open soon. SACs are rich of instructional technologies compared with other schools; however, some of them do not have Internet connection by the time this study was finished. SACs in Turkey then are relatively new, and many are still in the establishment phase. Difficulties with student and/or teacher selection and program implementation have been and continue to be encountered in these centers (Çepni & Gökdere, 2002; Gökdere & Küçük, 2003). It appears that teacher selection is the biggest problem (Çepni, Gökdere & Küçük, 2002). However, teachers play an important role in all phases of the education process and may be the most influential factor in gifted learning. On the other hand, because SACs have only been established for a few years (indeed some are still at the construction stage), it is hardly surprising that problems in teacher selection have been encountered. Teacher selection is a crucial factor. Ganschow, Weber and Davis (1984) explained that gifted teachers who are most appropriate for the task of teaching gifted students, who have the ideal characteristics similar to currently employed gifted teachers and can be developed professionally, may be the best choice.
The literature examined, revealed there are many studies about the problems faced by gifted teachers during teaching. However, these studies are not about gifted teachers' and specifically gifted science teachers' problems in Turkey. This raises an issue as to whether these gifted science teachers' problems are different from other gifted teachers. This study examines the problems in teaching faced by Turkish gifted science teachers working in SAC' s, and offers some ideas about future directions for teacher education for gifted science teachers in Turkey and also in the world. The study will be of particular interest to countries that are at an early stage in the development of gifted education.
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