South Korean pre-service primary school teachers’ opinions about acceleration for gifted students

ABSTRACT

This study explored South Korean pre-service primary school teachers’ attitudes toward acceleration for gifted students. Researchers employed surveys, focus groups, and a review of literature in this mixed methods study. In total, 481 South Korean pre-service primary teachers participated in the survey and 13 out of the 481 survey participants joined the focus-group interviews afterward. Results of the survey analysis suggested that South Korean pre-service teachers showed slightly negative attitudes toward acceleration. In the follow-up focus group interviews, most of the participants had negative attitudes toward acceleration and related their attitudes to the competitive educational atmosphere in South Korea and possible detrimental social and emotional effects. They illustrated these concerns by citing the story of a famous figure in South Korea who had experienced a radical academic acceleration and experienced very poor outcomes. Recommendations are provided for university teaching programs and future study exploring how to best support gifted students.

KEYWORDS:

• South Korea
• acceleration
• education
• gifted education
• pre-service teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Heejin Woo

Heejin Woo is a PhD graduate from the School of Education, UNSW Sydney. Her research interests are gifted education, initial teacher education, gifted adults, gifted underachievers, and the impact of culture on education.

Therese M. Cumming

Therese M. Cumming is a Professor of Special Education at UNSW Sydney and has a background in special education and teacher preparation. Her research interests are special education, emotional and behavioural disabilities, transitions, universal design for learning and mobile technology as assistive technology.

Sue O’Neill

Sue is a Senior Lecturer in Special Education with the UNSW School of Education. Her research interests focus on both teacher preparation and self-efficacy in classroom and behaviour management practices and transitions in the lives of youth with special or complex needs.