Examining of the teachers' attitudes toward gifted education: Malaysia case

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes toward the gifted and their education among 60 teachers in Malaysia by administering the Opinions about Gifted Individuals and Their Education online. Data were automatically transferred onto a spreadsheet and subsequently analyzed using SPSS 26.0. Kruskal-Wallis H test revealed no significant differences in teacher attitudes by way of age and job experience, while Mann-Whitney U test showed no significant differences in terms of gender and job status. Additionally, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, positive and negative ranks represent how data points compare to the hypothesized median (3.5 in this case). Positive ranks indicate that the data values are greater than the hypothesized median, while negative ranks denote that the data values are less than the hypothesized median. Results indicated that 18 of the items had medians that significantly differed from the test value with p < .001, while 12 had medians that significantly differed from the test value with p < .05. Overall percentages showed that teachers tend to demonstrate positive attitudes (average to high proportions) toward four dimensions of the questionnaire, including meeting the needs of the gifted and providing special services to them, social value of the gifted and their education, ability grouping, and school acceleration. Moreover, overall percentages also showed that teachers tend to demonstrate negative attitudes toward two dimensions, including objections (based on ideology and priorities in terms of the gifted and their education) and rejection (isolation of the gifted by others in the immediate environment). In light of the findings, some recommendations were made on how to foster positive teacher attitudes toward the gifted and their education.