Examination of attitudes and opinions of counselors about education of gifted students

Counselors play effective roles not only in diagnosing but also in education of gifted students who lead the development of the societies. This study aims to examine the attitudes and opinions of the counselors about the education of the gifted students. In the study, descriptive survey model is used. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected within mixed method, according to the principles of pragmatist philosophy. A total of 250 counselors participated in the study voluntarily. "Attitude Scale towards Gifted Education" was used to collect quantitative data. The scale, which consists of 14 items, was developed by Gagne and Nadeau and adapted to Turkish by Tortop. There are three sub-dimensions: ‘Need and Support Dimension’, ‘Resistance to Objections Dimension’ and ‘Ability Grouping Dimension’. The qualitative data was collected by semi-structured interview form consists of 4 questions about opinions on education of gifted students in Turkey, and was applied to 40 counselors. The mean of scores gathered from "Attitude Scale towards Gifted Education" was found 3.6 which is evaluated as slightly positive attitude. Also the scores were analyzed according to gender, seniority, having gifted students and institution of counselors. In the analyzing of quantitative data, t test and ANOVA were used. Content analysis was performed for qualitative data that was gathered from interviews. The majority of counselors have stated that there are problems in both education and diagnosis of gifted students.