Investigation of educational needs of preschool teachers for gifted students: A mixed method study

In this research, it was aimed to reveal the educational needs and opinions of preschool teachers for specially gifted students. In the research, convergent parallel model has been preferred from mixed methods in terms of providing access to more data by using both quantitative and qualitative data together. The quantitative study group of the research consists of 178 preschool teachers working in public and private institutions affiliated to Iğdır National Education Directorate during the 2022-2023 academic year. The qualitative study group consists of 30 preschool teachers who were selected according to different professional seniority from the same sample. In the research, "Demographic Information Form", "Questionnaire of Preschool Teachers to Determine Educational Needs for Special Gifted Students" and "Semi-Structured Interview Form" were used to collect data. Within the scope of the research, the quantitative data obtained to determine the levels of educational needs of preschool teachers for specially gifted students were examined using statistical techniques. The qualitative data obtained from the interview form were analyzed by using content and descriptive analysis. In the analysis of the data, expert opinions were taken and the answers were themed and the findings were interpreted and reported. According to the research results, preschool teachers' perceptions of educational needs for special gifted students are at a high level and there was no significant difference according to gender, professional seniority, age, whether they want to prepare a differentiated educational program. However, there were significant differences in perceptions of educational need in favor of preschool teachers who had previously participated in special ability education, in favor of preschool teachers who had special ability students in their class, and in favor of preschool teachers who had previously prepared activities. Preschool teachers also identify the most gifted students, gifted children to guide gifted students that need more training to help you prepare for the appropriate event it has been seen. The research findings were discussed with the support of the existing literature.