An analysis of attitudes towards the gifted students with learning difficulties using two samples of Greek and Czech primary school teachers

Abstract

The provision of gifted students with learning difficulties (GSLD) composes a complicated educational problem that deserves special care. This study explores teachers’ attitudes towards the GSLD in two samples of primary school teachers: 225 Greek teachers and 158 teachers in the Czech Republic, 40–59 years of age and with 14–28 years of teaching experience. A questionnaire of 26 questions, created for the purpose of this study, was administered referring to teachers’ attitudes towards opinions and information regarding the GSLD characteristics, along with three open-ended questions on the most preferable types of the GSLD educational provision. Through multidimensional scaling solutions in their trigonometric transformation (MDS-T) one large common and one minor separate system of items emerged for the two samples, which were meaningful in the direction of understanding teachers’ difficulties in accepting the contradictory core of the GSLD characteristics and educational needs. These systems of attitudes are discussed in respect to their relative importance to Czech and Greek teachers and the respective educational settings.