Attitudes help us understand teachers' relationship towards gifted students and they influence teachers' practice, which can eventually determine the development of the gifted. The aim of this study was to examine the teachers' attitudes towards gifted students and some forms of work with gifted children in school, such as acceleration and ability grouping; as well as to determine whether teachers differ in their attitudes depending on the years of experience. The study was conducted on a sample of 209 class teachers in the area of Brod-Posavina county. The results showed that primary school teachers have positive attitudes towards the needs, support and social value of gifted students but express ambivalent attitudes towards the acceleration, ability grouping and concern that the special treatment of the gifted could have negative consequences. Statistically significant differences were established for certain statements among teachers depending on their years of teaching.

The aim of the study was to assess the predictive value of pedagogical content knowledge of inquiry science and society teaching in explaining the frequency of its implementation. The sample of 320 elementary school teachers from Eastern Croatia were included in the study. Two measures were used for assessing their pedagogical content knowledge about inquiry teaching: knowledge presented in the lesson plans and self-assessed pedagogical content knowledge of inquiry teaching. The participants' experience of inquiry learning throughout their education and the frequency of its implementation in teaching science and society were assessed with the use of a questionnaire specially designed for this study. The obtained results show that the teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of inquiry teaching and their experience of inquiry learning throughout education explained 32% of the variance related to the frequency of their implementation of inquiry teaching. The same variables explained 38% of the variance regarding the implementation of inquiry activities. Additionally, the results reveal that the teachers assessed their pedagogical content knowledge of inquiry teaching as very good. Their knowledge as presented in the lesson plans was rather poor and suggested a low level of the pedagogical content knowledge of inquiry science and society teaching, indicating that the teachers are not familiar enough with the phases and activities of inquiry teaching.

The aim of this study was to examine attitudes of primary school teachers toward gifted students and toward some approaches to their education – acceleration and ability grouping, as well as their relationship to the expressed interest and perceived knowledge of specific topics concerning giftedness. We distinguish between different possible occasions for knowledge acquisition: during the studies, at teachers’ professional conferences and in the course of individual professional improvement. A total of 209 primary school teachers of the Brod-Posavina county participated in the study. The respondents' attitudes were assessed using the Gagné and Nadeau attitude survey (1991) about gifted students and gifted education. The results show that teachers generally have a neutral attitude toward the gifted, meaning that teachers recognize the needs, support and social value of the gifted, but lack a clearly defined attitude toward special provisions for the gifted and toward the consequences special support of the gifted might have. The study revealed differences in attitudes toward the gifted, interest and level of awareness of giftedness with regard to the years of teaching experience, education level and workplace. Hierarchical regression analyses proved interest and individual professional improvement in topics concerning giftedness to be significant predictors of attitudes toward the needs, support and value of the gifted. The opinion about elitism of gifted education is significantly predicted by the place of work and interest. Keywords: attitudes; gifted education; gifted students; primary school teachers  Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati stavove učitelja primarnog obrazovanja prema darovitim učenicima i nekim pristupima njihova obrazovanja, kao -akceleracija i grupiranje prema sposobnostima, te njihov odnos sa iskazanim interesom i informiranosti o određenim temama iz područja darovitosti tijekom studija, stručnih skupova i individualnog usavršavanja. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 209 učitelja razredne nastave Brodsko-posavske županije. Stavovi učitelja su procijenjeni pomoću Gagné i Nadeau upitnika (1991) o darovitim učenicima i njihova obrazovanja. Rezultati pokazuju da učitelji općenito imaju neutralan stav prema darovitima, odnosno da učitelji prepoznaju potrebe, podršku i društvenu vrijednost darovitih no nemaju jasno izražen stav prema pristupima rada s darovitima kao ni prema posljedicama posebne potpore darovitih. Utvrđene su razlike u stavovima prema darovitima, interesu i informiranosti o području darovitosti s obzirom na godine radnog staža, stupnja obrazovanja i mjesto rada. Hijerarhijskim regresijskim analizama utvrđeno je da su značajni prediktori stava o potrebama podršci i vrijednosti darovitih zainteresiranost i individualno usavršavanje o temama iz područja darovitosti. Stav o elitizmu darovitih značajno predviđaju mjesto rada i zainteresiranost. Ključne riječi: stavovi; obrazovanje darovitih; daroviti učenici;učitelji primarnog obrazovanja