Abstract
The literature points to a growth of productions about high abilities/giftedness but it still has a gap regarding intervention studies, failures in teacher education, and myths that impede the correct identification of this population, hindering the implementation of effective public policies. Continuing education, through collaborative consultation, can be effective in bringing specialist knowledge into the school. This study aimed to analyze the effects of a teacher continuing education program, by a collaborative consultation, for the specialized teacher who works in the resource room for high abilities/giftedness (HA/G) and describe and compare a specialist teacher’s HA/G beliefs, myths, and concepts, before and after participating in a continuing education program. The research was carried out in a state public elementary school in a city in the state of São Paulo with a specialized teacher who received a teacher education program. This intervention occurred in 10 3 hour-meetings, totaling 30 hours of training, in which theoretical and practical aspects regarding HA/G were discussed. The data were collected by the knowledge assessment on giftedness pre- and post-intervention and the field diary and later tabulated and analyzed in a descriptive and comparative manner. The results point to an improvement in post-intervention results, indicating that the teacher continued education program had a positive effect. However, note that, even with the consultancy, the participant kept some misconceptions about the theme.
Keywords:
Special Education; Hight abilities; Giftedness; Collaborative consultation; Teacher education