REASONS WHY GIFTED STUDENTS DROPOUT OF SCIENCE AND ART CENTERS

Gifted students gain the right to receive education outside of school at the Science and Art Centers (SACs) affiliated with the Ministry of National Education and begin to receive education in these institutions in Turkiye. However, after a while, it is seen that gifted students drop out of SACs. The purpose of this research is to examine the reasons why gifted students drop out of SACs. For this purpose, the study group consists of 26 primary and upper-secondary school students who were entitled to SACs in the Black Sea region, attended for at least one year and then dropped out. The study group was formed by criterion sampling. A semi-structured interview form consisting of four questions, one about demographic characteristics and three about opinions, prepared by taking expert opinion, was used as the data collection tool in the study. The obtained data were subjected to content analysis. Depending on the data obtained, student opinions were analyzed under three themes within the perspective of self-determination theory. Regarding SACs dropout, codes have been formed as differentiated education, teacher competency, deep learning, school time, compulsory attendance, and design SACs completely like a school. Keywords: gifted students, dropout, reasons, science and art center, self-determination theory.