Reversing gifted underachievement in Kazakhstan: Teachers’ perception, experiences, and practices

Abstract

According to a number of research, schools and teachers still face challenges in terms of gifted underachievers, specifically in identifying and understanding the reasons of gifted underachievement as well as providing efficient support for academically vulnerable students. Therefore, the aims of the current research were to explore the perception and practices of Kazakhstani teachers with gifted underachieving students in one the specialized school for intellectually gifted students. More specifically, the study aimed at exploring teachers’ conceptualization on the nature of gifted underachievement as well as identifying the factors that contribute to gifted underachievement. The study also aimed at finding out the common strategies teachers use to reverse gifted underachievement. In this regard, a qualitative research design was implemented using semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions to get more insight into teachers’ experience. Based on the purposeful sampling and maximal variation eight teachers who dealt with gifted underachievers in the past and those from different subject áreas were involved in the research (two English teachers (one female and one male), two Chemistry teachers (one female and one male), two Physics teachers (one female and one male), one Math teacher (a female) and one Biology teacher (a male)). The finding of the study revealed three common characteristics of gifted underachievement recognized by teachers: low socio-emotional skills, different abilities and interests, and those with physiological peculiarities. Moreover, according to teachers’ perception and practice, there are internal and external factors to contribute to gifted underachievement. The internal factors consider a lack of perseverance, lack of students’ learning goals, and a domain-specific nature of gifted students, while the external factors refer to high curriculum demands, high parents’ expectations, as well as negative teacher-student relationships and teachers intensive workload. Finally, two main approaches to reverse gifted underachievement were identified: building a healthy teacher-student relationship based on trust and applying differentiated instructions.