Teaching gifted education to pre-service teachers: lessons learned

In Australia, most teachers enter the profession without having completed any dedicated undergraduate studies pertaining to gifted education, yet many go on to teach gifted students in either mainstream or specialised educational settings. Research suggests that specific education relating to giftedness enhances attitudes and practices that are conducive to appropriate provisioning for gifted students (Fraser-Seeto, J Student Engagement Educ Matters 3:29–38, 2013; Geake and Gross, Gift Child Q 52:217–231, 2008; Kronborg and Meyland, Changes in postgraduate teachers’ opinions about gifted students and their education. Paper presented at 15th world conference for gifted education – gifted 2003: a celebration down under. Adelaide, 2003; Lassig, Australas J Gift Educ 18:32–42, 2009; Plunkett, TalentEd 18(1):9–16, 2000, The gifted enigma: a collection of articles. Hawker Brownlow Education, Melbourne, 2002; Troxclair, Roeper Rev 35(1):58–64, 2013). This chapter examines the value of specifically covering giftedness in pre-service teacher education through highlighting the findings from a research project conducted over 7 years (2008–2014) with 588 pre-service teachers who completed an elective unit in gifted education at a major Australian university. Participants reported a significant growth in awareness of the challenges associated with educating gifted students, highlighting the value of an evidence-based understanding of all the topics covered in the unit, with the vast majority strongly recommending gifted education as a compulsory part of all Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs. The areas where attitudes underwent significant changes and some of the lessons learned about the potential role of ITE in preparing future teachers to confront the complexities associated with teaching gifted students will be outlined in this chapter.