Mentoring in gifted education and a model for Turkey

Gifted students are different from their peers in terms of developmental characteristics and have different academic and cognitive needs that cannot be met by the education system. Therefore, alternative educational models in accordance with gifted students' interests, learning styles and learning pace should be applied by making certain changes in the curriculum. Enrichment, acceleration, grouping, and mentoring are the most common applied models for gifted education in other countries. The aim of this study is to examine the mentoring model in gifted education and create an appropriate model for the Turkish education system. In the research, data were collected by literature review and focus group interviews. A public school and a private school for gifted students in İstanbul were selected as a research sample by using the purposeful sampling method. Nine focus group interviews were made with 43 people including school administrators, teachers, parents and students. The recordings of the interviews, obtained by using a tape recorder, were turned into text and they were analyzed with the content analysis. The results were evaluated in six main categories: the problems of gifted students, alternative solutions to the problems, the content of mentoring, advantages and disadvantages of mentoring and application of mentoring in Turkey. At the end, a mentoring model was proposed in the Ministry of National Education, General Directorate of Special Education and Guidance Services, Department of Development of the Special Abilities. Detailed information is given about establishment of mentoring, selecting mentor and mentee, matching, mentoring process and feedback. Key words: Gifted and talented education, mentoring, educational model.