The Need for a Program Model for the Gifted and Talented Students: Raising Community Awareness, Identification, and Effective Intervention in Southern Lebanese Schools

الملخص

Gifted and talented students are learners with outstanding creative abilities, and are capable of high performance in subject matters. They require special care and services beyond those provided normally by the regular Lebanese educational program. This study aims to examine the community's awareness towards the gifted and talented students, and the capability of teachers to identify them and provide them with a program model. Teachers from Safir High School and Generations High School were asked to answer a questionnaire; a structured interview was carried out with the schools’ principals; and a battery of developmental assessment test was administered to 55 students nominated by their schools as gifted and talented. The study showed that 64 % of the teachers agreed that gifted and talented students need a special program that fits their abilities. The principals differentiated the gifted and talented students’ needs from the other students and highlighted the need for programs that target them. Moreover, the battery of developmental assessment test showed that only one nominated student was gifted. This study designed a program model which increases students’ performance, limits their problems, and allows them to grow and express their abilities normally. This study recommends to aware and train teachers on how to identify gifted and talented students and how to implement the program model in southern Lebanese schools. 

DOI = 10.24897/acn.64.68.102