Teacher Attitudes Toward Gifted Students and Gifted Education: The Typologies of Attitudes and Their Predictors

Abstract

This study investigated the typologies of teacher attitudes toward gifted students and gifted education, along with the predictors of such attitudes. For this purpose, surveys were administered to 339 teachers employed in a large faith-based school system in Australia. Analyses including factor analysis and latent profile analysis were performed on the data. In the end, four distinct profiles of teacher attitudes were identified. Two key predictors of these attitudes were found to be (a) school administrative support for gifted students and gifted education and (b) perceived knowledge of giftedness. The major contributions of the study to the literature are discussed.