Cross-Cultural Predictors of Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Gifted Education

Abstract

This study compared the culture-dependent attitudes of Finnish teachers (N.147) and American teachers (N.160) toward gifted education. The teachers from both countries represented preservice teachers, regular classroom teachers, and teachers of the gifted. Emphasis was on the relationship of attitude to culture from which the teacher came. The relationship of attitude to demographic variables such as age, gender, having a gifted family member, and giftedness of respondents were also examined. The instrument used was the Attitude Scale toward Gifted Education developed by Gagne and Nadeau (1985). A new method to identify cross-cultural predictors of attitude based on Bayesian analysis was also applied. The study found that Finnish teachers were more concerned about the possible negative social and affective effects of special classes or other services for the gifted outside the regular classroom. In addition, the new statistical methodology used was able to predict culture-dependent attitudes with 87.6 percent accuracy. Contains 14 references. (DB) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** (,) Cross-cultural predictors of teachers' attitudes toward gifted education Kirsi Tirri, University of Helsinki Mary Tallent-Runnels Texas Tech University A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Montreal, Canada, April 1999. Running head: CROSS-CULTURAL PREDICTORS OF TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD GIFTED EDUCATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent 1 official OERI position or policy.