Eρευνητική εργασία: απόψεις γονέων και εκπαιδευτικών για τη χαρισματικότητα και πως αυτή αντιμετωπίζεται από το σχολικό σύστημα

Abstract

Under the annual Special  Education conference  we carried out a survey on the perceptions  and awareness of parents and educators involved in pre- school and early primary education regarding intellectual giftedness. Our research explores the beliefs and and opinions held by parents and educators regarding the needs of gifted children in two regions of Greece, Thebes and the northern suburbs of Athens. The theoretical framework of this study focuses on how these beliefs have been formed taking into account the various concepts and scientific models that have been used on the study of intellectual giftedness. The aim of our research is, not only to explore the prevalent beliefs among parents and educators but also to attempt a comparison in the way they appear and vary in these two different regions of Greece. Furthermore, we have set as our individual objectives to explore the general understanding and knowledge of people on the matter, to examine the interconnection between intellectual giftedness and school performance, to find out what is the existing knowledge of individuals about the current educational policy and finally to make a proposal on how to upgrade the educational system. In order to collect data 40 questionnaires were distributed, 20 in the region of Thebes and 20 in the Northern suburbs. 10 of these questionnaires were completed by teachers involved in early primary and pre- school education and 10 were given to parents. Our sample was targeted and selected through the "snowball method". The aim of this method is to juxtapose different views so as to promote creative debate around a specific matter. It is used, in particular, when it is difficult to allocate questionnaires to the survey’s focus group. Individuals with the desired specific features are selected instead and they, then introduce other people who are included in the survey at a later stage. The data processing was completed using the quality analysis method.