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Αλέξανδρος-Σταμάτιος Αντωνίου, Επίκουρος καθηγητής, ΠΤΔΕ, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The present study aims to approach the relationship between two basic parameters of general and special education, teachers’ self-efficacy and their differentiated practices for gifted students, in other words for those who stand out for their high academic performance. The reason for dealing with this subject was the fact that these two educational components are analyzed thoroughly in international literature but independently of each other, while their interaction has been investigated to a lesser extent. Exploring teachers' beliefs about the effectiveness of the teaching practices that they apply in the general context of a lesson as well as the extent to which they use differentiated methods and strategies for the gifted students are the main axes of the study. In order to formulate a documented standpoint on the above issues, 234 questionnaires were distributed to primary teachers of general education from various elementary schools in Athens, followed by a statistical analysis of the data with the SPSS.v.25.0.0 software. The analysis revealed that teachers feel that their teaching is quite efficacious, with statistically significant superiority of men over women in issues related to effective classroom management. It was also found that teachers choose to differentiate their teaching from a moderate to a high degree as a means to accommodate, in the best possible way, the educational needs of the gifted students which in fact apply more in the general design and implementation of the curriculum rather than in specific areas of the educational process. A statistically significant relationship between self-efficacy and differentiated teaching was also observed while the positive correlation between them went from low to moderate. Furthermore, having previously taught gifted students seems to affect the feeling of self-efficacy to a greater extent than does the implementation of differentiated strategies. Finally, teachers who firmly believe that they are effective in teaching gifted students, have, on the one hand, a high level of self-efficacy and, on the other hand, use extensively differentiated teaching methods for this particular group of students.
