Gifted Students’ Perceptions about Learning, Teaching, Teacher Characteristics and Teaching as a Profession

The researcher investigated gifted students’ attributions to learning and teaching conceptions and their beliefs about teacher characteristics and teaching as profession. The research was a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Participants included 46 gifted students who were identified to be gifted by the identification system of the Education Programs for Talented Students at Anadolu University, Turkey. The results showed that in making a choice, gifted students primarily preferred to learn new information instead of teaching others. Gifted students??priority preferences about learning and teaching did not vary by gender and grade. Most gifted students did not want to have a teaching career. A few of them wished to have teaching as their career for they considered teaching as a way to help others learn and a way of enjoyment. Gifted students??views on teaching as a profession did not vary by gender and grade. They indicated knowledge as the most important characteristics teachers should possess, followed by understanding and fairness.