The Role of Teachers and Coordinators of Gifted Students’ in Developing their Students’ Leadership Abilities in High Schools

Abstract

This study seeks to explore the reality of the role of teachers and coordinators of gifted students in developing their leadership abilities in Al-Ahsa high schools from the perspective of teachers, coordinators, and students. The descriptive analytical method was used whereby two questionnaires were distributed to a random sample of 78 high school gifted students and 53 teachers and coordinators at Al-Ahsa governorate during the academic year 2020-2021. Statistical means, standard deviations, and an independent t-test were used for the analysis of the data. Findings show that the role of teachers and coordinators in developing gifted students’ leadership abilities was at a high level from the teachers' and coordinators’ perspectives. From students’ perspective, it was high as well, however, with a lower average compared to that of teachers. There were statistically significant differences due to the gender variable in favour of male participants in the dimensions of technical and competitive leadership abilities. However, there were no statistically significant differences attributed to gender variables in human leadership and conceptual leadership abilities dimensions, nor in terms of the job title variable. Considering these findings, it is recommended the role of teachers and coordinators of gifted students is strengthened through specialized leadership training, and by giving more attention to the development of leadership abilities among females.