Enderun School: Identification and Education of Gifted and Talented Children

Abstract

Enderun School was a palace educational institution designed for the training of administrative and military staff in the Ottomans. The Enderun School had an important role in the success of the Ottoman Empire. Enderun, a school where especially civil and military administrators were trained, was established to create the necessary manpower resource for the Ottoman central and provincial bureaucracy. Enderun formed the basic education unit where students were taught and raised through the official Ottoman ideology or mentality. In addition, it had an important role in the determination of administrative and political goals and the functioning of the main institutions of the state. Enderun School was an educational institution that served the Ottoman Empire for centuries. The basis of Enderun's success was the process and quality of the education given to the students admitted here, as well as selecting the talents that were needed and with the necessary virtues from a wide candidate base at various levels and stages. When Ottoman educational institutions are examined in terms of educational function, Enderun School is seen as the most critical educational institution for the state tradition as Enderun Schools was mainly constructed for the training of Ottoman senior managers. Enderun School was the most organized and the most developed among the palace schools of the Ottoman period. It had many organizations and regulations of its own. The administrators of this school were people who were directly related to the Sultan. Enderun School had an important role in the history of the education of gifted children, as it selected and educated children with gifted intelligence and qualifications. It is believed that understanding and familiarizing oneself with the educational practices applied in the past can have a positive impact on the education of gifted children today. With this study, the Enderun School will be examined in detail, based on the work -Târih-i Atâ- of Tayyarzade Ata, who was one of the most important sources of the Ottoman period and was also a student of the Enderun School.