Gifted Students within the Greek Educational Context: Challenges and Perspectives in the Frame of Contemporary Inclusive European Education

Abstract

Practitioners and researchers in the field of gifted education recognize cognitive and psychosocial variables as determining influences in the successful development of talent. Gifted children seem to manifest both signs of intelligence and strong abilities especially in sectors related to their interests provided that they are identified in time and they are appropriately motivated. The aim of the article is not only to present contemporary inclusive methods or both gifted and talented children’s education in European countries but also to focus on how such students are educated when it comes to the Greek curricula. This review paper further pinpoints the certain conditions under which Greek educational settings of gifted and talented students can become both feasible and effective. Τherefore, it concludes that gifted pupils of all levels in Greece often attend school classes without their individual abilities having been previously recognized in depth, nor their intrinsic needs having been sufficiently met, either. Additionally, the current school system actually fails to take full advantage of gifted students’ potential, a fact that obviously disrupts their motivation and impedes their school performance.