Gifted Education and Teacher Training: A Comparison of Turkey, Greece, Spain and Poland
While it is important to meet the needs of children who fall behind in an all-encompassing manner, it is also extremely important to support children, who excel, in order to reach their full potential and also grow as individuals who have healthy relationships with others. As it is known, talented and gifted children are included in special education because of their differentiating features comparing to their typically developing peers. In order to increase the quality and effectiveness of education and carry innovative approaches into the teaching practice, teachers are the key actors. Therefore, we need to pay close attention to future teachers’ strong preparation for teaching practice. Through these explanations, in this study, we aimed to compare gifted students' education in Turkey, Greece, Spain and Poland. In this study, descriptive research approach is adopted. National Knowledge Papers, which was prepared by researchers from Turkey, Greece, Poland and Spain, are investigated. First of all, basic principles of gifted students' education will be explained. Then, studies and teaching practices will be examined in each of the countries in consideration of primary teachers' education. Accordingly, current situation and needs of gifted education in each of the countries will be described. Findings of this study will contribute to the studies of gifted education not only in Turkey but also countries in Europe. This study is supported by European Union, through the project of Erasmus+ KA2, Integration of Experiential Learning and Virtual Reality on Gifted Education (VR4GIFTED).