Giftedness Perceptions and Practices of Teachers in Lithuania

Abstract

This article reports on two of the first studies of post-Soviet reforms of gifted education in Lithuania. After a professional development (PD) programme was provided Lithuanian teachers to help them develop a list of characteristics of gifted children, define giftedness, and design a procedure for gifted identification, two qualitative studies examined: a) how teachers' perceptions of giftedness changed as a result of a Western professional development programme in gifted education that introduced the Renzulli 'Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness'; and b) what gifted educational practices do teachers in an urban basic school know, practice, and recommend after the implementation of a systematic gifted identification process. Evidence for change in teachers' perceptions was gathered via pre-and post-surveys. In the follow-up case study at a basic school, the Screening Committee identified 19% or 84 of 450 pupils as 'gifted.' Observational and interview data from the case study school indicated that teachers from the PD programme felt more empowered to differentiate the curriculum for identified gifted pupils. (1) How have the Lithuanian teachers' perceptions of giftedness changed as a result of a Western professional development programme in gifted education that introduced the Renzulli 'Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness Model'? (2) What gifted educational practices do Lithuanian teachers in an urban basic school know, practice, and recommend after the implementation of a systematic gifted identification process?