Teacher Preparation to Understand the Nature of Giftedness and Nurture the Gifted: A Proposed Graduate Program Based on Professional Standards and Experiences of International Pioneering Universities

Document Type : Original Article

Author

College of Education, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This research article aimed at establishing a proposed graduate program to prepare teachers to understand the nature of giftedness and nurture the gifted. To achieve this aim, the professional standards of gifted teachers provided jointly by the American National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC), the second edition issued in 2013, that it is still widely used worldwide. In addition, review and comparison were made with a number of relevant existing programs offered in pioneering universities that have academic and researchreputation in the field of gifted education in the United States of America. Based on the analysis and comparison, the researcher reached to a proposed master's degree program that achieves the professional standards and combines positive elements of thereviewed programs. The program contains, in the final version, nine courses in addition to the requirement of field experiences and the master's thesis to cover broad substantial topics that enable teachers to get strong attitudes, knowledge and skills to understand the nature of giftedness and nurture the gifted in public schools, as well as, in the additional special programs. Therefore, the result of this research is significant for universities where the components of the proposed program can be used as a reference to review and develop their existing programs, it also can be adopted for full implementation responding to the objective importance of gifted education issue, as well as, the current vital need to keep up with  the international trends in preparation of teachers who are able to raise the quality of education and provide ideal opportunities for optimal growth of promising students, with further support to thegifted that facilitates effective investment of their abilities.                                                                           

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