Myths about gifted learners from the perspective of teachers

Abstract

The aim of the presented paper was to find out whether Czech and Slovak teachers are affected by myths about the gif ed. We selected myths concerning the nature of giftedness, its identification, social and emotional characteristics of the gifted, and their education. T e myths were examined in regard to determinants regarding educators. Data from 434 teachers (350 women) were collected by a foreign questionnaire. T e results showed that these educators tend to hold myths about overachievement of the gifted without special care, simultaneity of gif and creativity, and the correlation of giftedness with social and emotional problems. T e group with a higher risk to be susceptible to certain myths are teachers over 40 years of age, with experience longer than 10 years, teaching in villages and having no contact with giftedness. Thus, we recommend focusing especially on further training of these high-risk groups of teachers in order to rebut their misconceptions about the gif ed. The research was supported by the research grant of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic registered under number P407/11/1272.