Turkish teachers’ views on acceleration

Abstract

Acceleration provides positive outcomes methodically yet; people still have wrong beliefs about it.  Thus, it is considered to be an important aim to reveal the views of teachers about acceleration in Turkey, which have limited opportunities for academic acceleration in educational settings. In order to understand teachers’ views on acceleration an online survey was developed. The survey consisted from four parts including demographic information, opinion questions, knowledge self-assessment about types of acceleration and a 22-item questionnaire about views on acceleration. The study group consisted from 122 teachers and they were from various regions in Turkey. Data indicated there were no differences in attitudes among teachers from different gender or years of professional experience. Moreover, it was found that teacher’ supported the implementation of acceleration in gifted education. Teachers’ who had experiences with accelerated learners in their professional life were more knowledgeable and hold more positive beliefs towards acceleration. In accordance with the related literature, the teachers were more concerned about social issues and least concerned about academic issues related to acceleration. These results highlighted the importance of teacher training regarding gifted learners and gifted education.

Keywords: Acceleration, teachers’ attitudes, gifted education, gifted and talented