Research evidence shows that successful implementation of any inclusive policy in everyday teaching is largely dependent on teachers being positive about it. In gifted education, where so called love – hate relation has persisted for decades, the identification, understanding and perhaps changing the attitudes of teachers represents a very important endeavour to introduce the curricular and instructional changes which are necessary to optimally challenge and stimulate gifted students in the particular educational context. The aim of the research was therefore to explore attitudes of preschool, primary and secondary school teachers towards giftedness and gifted education in the Slovenian educational context. The research was based on nationally representative sample. As a main research instrument the Opinions about the gifted and their education questionnaire from Gagné and Nadeau was used. The multivariate analysis of data shows that the Slovenian educational context holds relatively positive attitudes towards giftedness and gifted education, and that the positive orientation in attitudes is related to teachers’ education and professional experiences. In the presentation the research findings will be stressed from the view point of several potential predictors of teachers’ attitudes towards giftedness and gifted education in kindergarten, primary and secondary school and the implications for bridging the gap between teachers’ attitudes and implementations of appropriate methods in teaching gifted students will be discussed.

Author(s): Mojca Juriševič, (Faculty of Education University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Darija Skubic, (Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)