Giftedness in the picture: what do teachers believe is needed for gifted students to become and maintain engaged for learning at school?

Saskia  Snikkers-Mommer; Aziza  Mayo; Alexander  Minnaert

doi:10.59400/fes2471

Giftedness in the picture: what do teachers believe is needed for gifted students to become and maintain engaged for learning at school?

Saskia Snikkers-Mommer Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, 9712 TJ Groningen, Netherlands
Aziza Mayo University of Applied Sciences Leiden/NIVOZ Foundation, 2333 CK Leiden, Netherlands
Alexander Minnaert Department of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, 9712 TJ Groningen, Netherlands

Article ID: 2471

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59400/fes2471

Keywords: engagement; giftedness; motivation; autonomy support; structure

Abstract

Teachers often experience uncertainty regarding their learning support of gifted students, who can show strong task involvement but by no means self-evidently demonstrate engagement with school-task learning. Through inductive and deductive analyses of in-depth interviews with eight teachers, this study explores teachers’ understandings of the needs of gifted children in becoming and maintaining engaged with school learning as well as their own roles in this process. Teachers identify student- and context-related factors that matter for engagement. They describe substantial differences between students in what it takes to become and maintain engaged. For all students, becoming engaged seems to require an autonomy-supportive environment, while the provision of structure appears essential for them to maintain engaged. It is an ongoing challenge for teachers to find the best possible and fair balance between supporting autonomy and providing structure. It requires vigilance and constant monitoring to make it tailored to the child’s educational needs.

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Published

2025-04-09

How to Cite

Snikkers-Mommer, S., Mayo, A., & Minnaert, A. (2025). Giftedness in the picture: what do teachers believe is needed for gifted students to become and maintain engaged for learning at school?. Forum for Education Studies, 3(2), 2471. https://doi.org/10.59400/fes2471

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