Gifted education in the Czech Republic and the role of the school counselor for gifted students

Abstract

Ensuring quality care for gifted students requires a functional school-based conception of giftedness. The role of a school counselor for gifted students (SCGS) is to develop and reinforce this concept at each school. The theoretical background describes the school-based conceptions of giftedness with regard to activities of SCGS. The research examines whether an SCGS leads to the improvement of care for gifted students and secondly, whether it reinforces the school-based conception of giftedness. The research was conducted by means of a questionnaire and involved 352 general secondary schools, which is 98% of all these schools in the Czech Republic. The data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. The research has found that schools build their conceptions on proven and simple-to-organize activities, based on traditional concepts of giftedness. It was discovered that schools create a unified conception of giftedness, irrespective of the existence of an SCGS. The weakest part of conceptions was teacher training. The limitation of the study to be the collection of data by questionnaire, follow-up research should be qualitatively oriented. The study aims to describe the effects of legislative changes on the state of gifted education at general secondary schools in the Czech Republic, with a focus on identifying the functionality of SCGS.