Investigation of preschool teachers' perceptions on gifted and talented children

Early childhood is a critical and valuable period in recognizing and supporting talents. Especially preschool teachers have a key role in recognizing and educating gifted children. In this regard, the aim of the study was to examine the perceptions of preschool teachers about gifted children in the preschool period and the myths and realities in perception. A descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the research. The data within the scope of the research were obtained with the "Demographic Information Form" and "Gifted Child Perception Scale" data collection tools. The sample group of the research consists of 353 pre-school teachers working in public and private pre-school education institutions affiliated with the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of National Education in the spring semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. Preschool teachers participating in the study were selected by snowball sampling method. Descriptive statistics data and mean comparison test (ANOVA) were used in data analysis through SPSS 26 program. The findings obtained in the research determined that preschool teachers had above average gifted child perception levels from the gifted child perception scale. It was determined that preschool teachers had an above average perception in all sub-dimensions of the gifted child perception scale. In addition, it was determined that there was no significant difference between the general level and sub-dimension scores of preschool teachers' perception of gifted children according to gender, age and seniority, but there was a significant difference between the sub-dimension scores of preschool teachers' identification of gifted children according to the institution they worked at. The sub-dimension mean score of identifying gifted children was found to be lower for preschool teachers working in private kindergarten classes than preschool teachers working in official kindergartens, official independent kindergartens and other institutions.