Making Change Happen for Teachers of the Gifted: Changing teacher attitudes to gifted students through professional development

Abstract

This research study sought to test the effectiveness of a school based professional development program in changing positively teacher attitudes toward gifted students, gifted education and classroom practice. Multiple methods of data collection, both quantitative and qualitative, were used to investigate the intensity and direction of shifts in attitude toward the gifted and towards gifted education, and to make inferences about the connection between these teacher attitudes and their classroom practices. Phase 1 of the study collected data through an attitudinal questionnaire undertaken by staff at two Queensland secondary schools. Two measures were taken, one at the beginning of the study and one at the conclusion of the study. Staff at one of these secondary schools then participated in a professional development program aimed at facilitating a change in attitude toward gifted students and toward appropriate educational provision for these students. Phase 2 of this study sought to gather illustrative data from a sample of teachers who had participated in this professional development program. Non-participant observation, interviews and document analysis were used to make inferences about the stage of development reached by each of the participants and to identify whether changes in teacher attitudes toward the gifted translated into their classroom practice. Further analysis investigated the factors which participants believed contributed to their attitudinal changes. These factors were then linked to support strategies suggested by the professional development model, "Making Change Happen" (Queensland Department of Education, 1994). Overall the results of this study support the hypothesis that involvement in the professional development program run by the Experimental School would change positively teacher attitudes toward giftedness and the appropriate educational provision for gifted students.