1. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 MSc. Tanja Bezić National Education Institute Slovenia "

2. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 Development of a creativeness - an essential principle of the "Concept of Recognizing and Educating the Gifted and Talented students”

3. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 The aims of the presentation are To show a short overview of the Slovene Concept of Recognizing and Educating the G/T. To present the promotion of creativeness as a fundamental principle of all educational provisions provided for G/T students.

4. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 Until nineties Slovenia has already had a long tradition as well as some law regulations for educating the G/T students (supplement lessons, competitions, scholarships, youth research work)… BUT The endeavour was predominantly on encouraging and developing an intellectual area of giftedness, the understanding of “giftedness” was very indistinct, “fear of elitism“, we used to believe, that G/T could by themselves, without a considerable exterior support, discover the solutions for their own needs, interests and desires. Our attention was much more focused towards students with learning disabilities.

5. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 In the beginning of the nineties we became fully aware of the fact that the systematic recognition of the gifted, and more carefully planned educational work is essential. The new school legislation (1996) defined gifted and talented as students with special education needs. This enabled and triggered the development of a special concept of recognising the gifted and working with them.

6. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 The "Concepts of recognising and educating G/T students in 9-year Elementary School" (1999) and for the Secondary school (2007) were approved by The Professional Council for General Education of the Republic of Slovenia. The Concepts define Gifted students as students who demonstrate or have the potential of high abilities in the following areas: intellectual, specific academic fields, creativity, leadership capacity, artistic, psychomotor ability and who require specific services or educational courses not ordinarily provided by the regular school programme (comp. with Marland def.) The introduction of the concept is directed by The Expert Commission founded at National Education Institute (NEI).

7. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 The Concept defines the process of recognizing the gifted: step 1 – keeping the record, step 2 – identification (*K4), step 3 – informing parents and getting their opinion. Keeping the record (nomination) is based on different criteria. All the students who fulfil at least one criterion are included in the process of identification. The identification is carried out with: - special marking scale for teachers (the creativity behaviour is one of items) - ability test, - creativity test (Torrance) All the students who fulfil at least one criterion are recognized as G/T student. The school is thus obliged to prepare and offer the individualised ED programmes for G/T students and has to monitor and evaluate their personal development permanently.

8. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 The Concept emphasizes the basic pedagogical principles and convenient teaching and learning methods in G/T Ed. (The learning process and learning environment) Broadening and deepening of basic knowledge Faster promotion in the process of learning Developing creativeness Encouraging the higher processes of thinking and learning Taking into account special abilities and strong interests Taking into account someone's individuality Stimulating independence and responsibility Concern for the whole personality development Wide offer of extra curriculum activities and enabling free choice for students Mentor relationship between pupils, teachers and other participants of the programme Concern of being understood and accepted by fellow students Opportunities for some joint activities with others G/T according to their special needs and interests.

9. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 We consider the previously mentioned basic principles as the most important guidance-base for systematic and successful educational work with Gifted and Talented. These pedagogical principles should be closely adhered to at all school levels and in all educational environment and activities aimed at the gifted and talented. No one is less important than others.

10. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 Among these principles is “the developing of creativeness”. Fostering of creativeness is not an exclusive problem of the "gifted and talented", BUT without the systematic endeavour for the creativeness development, the INDEP for G/T students could not be evaluated as appropriate and accurate. Besides the opportunity for developing convergent thinking skills, the learning process needs to nurture divergent thinking, imagination, creative problem solving skills, executive and metacognitive skills, etc.

11. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 The same attention should be given to the promotion of some personality characteristics, as they are: curiosity, openness to new ideas and experiences, adventurousness, autonomy, sensibility, ego-strength, self-confidence and self- acceptance, courage and risk-taking readiness, tolerance for ambiguity, nonconformity and independence, high intrinsic motivation and high task commitment. Teaching and learning process should lay more emphasis on the process of creativity than on he high creative products.

12. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 The teaching strategies should foster creative thinking, learning and acting. In accordance to this a student should have the maximum opportunities for cooperative and individual learning, for experimental work and researching, for creative problem solving, for self-directed learning, project work, etc. – in a regular and extra curricular activities. AND It is obvious that without the school environment in which teachers could be creative there is almost no opportunity for students' creative development.

13. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 National Education Institute supports the schools School-based in-service teacher training : school's thematic conferences, consulting sessions, action researches etc. Seminars and courses at the state level Guide books The support is given by the pedagogical faculties too. The phenomena of creativity and the methods for the empowerment of creativity is part of the core curriculum of the in-service teacher training.

14. Edukacija nadarjenih učencev - izobraževanje učiteljev in financiranje programov, Brdo pri Kranju, oktober 2007 Where are we at the present? Until now more than three thirds of elementary schools have more or less successfully introduced the new concept, but the secondary schools are still at the starting point. We estimate that the experiential learning in the context of in-service teacher training, thematic teachers’ networks and the developmental supervision are the most successful training strategies for a successful teachers’ lifelong learning and for the promotion of school as a learning society. The changes should be first introduced in the pre-service training - there is an urgent need to modify the undergraduate curriculum; All teachers should become “experts in designing a creative learning environment”