Özet:

Abstract Gifted students, when adequately supported during their education process, have the potential to be influential in the development of societies. Therefore, teachers’ guidance is essential to ensure the appropriate conditions for the education of the gifted. In revealing the potential of the gifted students and ensuring appropriate guidance, it is important to raise awareness among pre-service and in-service teachers. This would help promote positive attitudes towards the provision of differentiated education to gifted students and gifted students. The aim of this study is to analyse the attitudes of prospective teachers towards the education of gifted students. The participants of this survey study are senior students studying in various departments at the Faculty of Education at three state universities located in the Marmara Region in Turkey (N=449). Data were collected with the Attitude Scale for the Education of the Gifted. The data were analysed through SPSS and, following the normality test, Mann-Whitney U test was done in accordance with the independent variables of the study. The results showed that the attitudes of the prospective teachers towards the education of gifted students fall within the upper limit of the moderately positive range and the lower limit of the positive range. In addition, the attitudes of the female prospective teachers were more positive than that of the male prospective teachers. Finally, the attitudes of the participants who reported having acquaintances diagnosed as gifted and read books on the education of the gifted were more positive.

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