ORGANIZATION OF GIFTED STUDENTS' EDUCATION IN COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOLS: TEACHERS` POSITION

The education of gifted students is one of the areas of differentiated education, the main goal of which is to study people with special/particular abilities. The problem of talent is now becoming more and more relevant. This is primarily due to the need of society to develop creative personalities. The uncertainty of the modern environment requires not only a high level of human activity, but also his skills and ability to behave in a non-standard way. It is obvious that the early identification, teaching and education of gifted students is one of the key challenges in improving the education system. However, insufficient psychological teachers' preparation/readiness to work with children, who behave and think in a non-standard way, leads to inadequate assessment of their personal characteristics and all activities. In January-March 2021, a qualitative study was conducted, in which 10 teachers of general education schools participated. Data obtained through semi-structured interviews were analysed using the content analysis method. It has been found that the majority of teachers are able to describe gifted students, trust their competence to identify them. It has been revealed that certain differences exist between the schools analysed. Some schools systematically and qualitatively educate the gifted, while others lack common agreements on the education of the gifted, there is no system, support for teachers and students. Due to the different conditions, not all gifted students receive appropriate support, and the ongoing programmes accept a limited number of students, which creates a problem of access to the quality education of the gifted. Such situation may have arisen due to the lack of a clear state strategy for the education of gifted students, and educational guidelines for schools and teachers. It is obvious that in order to improve the quality of gifted students' education, it is necessary to update educational documents, that regulate gifted students' education and create a unified Lithuanian students' education system based on positive examples of schools and many years of experience.