For my dissertation, I dealt with the identification of gifted children in the preschool period. In the theoretical part, I first presented the system of preschool education in Slovenia and also relied on the national document - Curriculum for Kindergartens and all the principles mentioned in it. I described the developmental characteristics of a preschool child, defined the concept of talent and the characteristics and needs of gifted preschool children. I also devoted an extensive part of the theoretical part of my diploma thesis to the identification of talented children in kindergarten, where I also emphasized the technique of observation. I completed the theoretical part by teaching talented people in a family environment and in preschool institutions. I also stressed the importance of communication between parent and educator for the effective identification of a gifted child.
For the needs of empirical work, I compiled a questionnaire in which I asked five questions related to the topic of gifted children in kindergarten. The questionnaire was completed by 40 preschool educators from two different kindergartens. Based on the results obtained from the research, I found that some educators who were included in the research have already encountered gifted children in their pedagogical work. Most of the respondents identified a child who stands out within the kindergarten department as a gifted person, a child who is more skilful, above average, characterized by a strong field, etc. Respondents are of the opinion that the easiest way to identify a talented preschool child is with an observation technique, based on certain characteristics. The characteristics for identifying gifted preschool children, which I included in the survey questionnaire, were mostly assessed by the respondents as suitable for identifying gifted children in kindergarten. In addition to the characteristics for identifying a gifted child, which I included in the questionnaire, they also added characteristics in the cognitive, behavioral and emotional areas, which I myself mentioned several times in the theoretical part. On average, the surveyed educators most often had experience with a gifted preschool child in the field of movement and art. Several times, however, they also mentioned the behavioral characteristics by which they identified the gifted.
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