Perception of Present and Vision of Future of Gifted Students

Giftedness and talent are the focus of many professional and scientific debates. Starting from the phenomenological interpretation that emphasizes the perception of self and reflects the subjective experience of the present and the future, the author presents the attitude of the gifted and other students towards the psychological nature of self-awareness. This includes the emotions - values components of personality and relation towards self-awareness. The empirical and non-experimental research was conducted on a sample of 688 high school students (grammar, technical, art schools). The sample included students from various places, aged 15 to 18 years. The survey was conducted in order to examine the perception of the present and the vision of future of the gifted and other students, as determinants of self-awareness. The study results showed that there is a statistically significant difference in the perception of the present, between the gifted and other students. The gifted students appear to have gloomier perception of present in relation to other students. In the perception of the vision of future between the gifted and other students, there were no statistically significant differences in their views of future. The results point to a great need for more empirical studies on the topic of giftedness in the region and more complex review of personality of giftedness using a holistic approach. At a time of global changes, which encompass all segments of society, inevitably raises the question of quality of education for the gifted and other students. These topics are very complex and require a serious pluralistic approach to different paradigms and theories, as well as empirical validation. Therefore, the issue of quality of education of gifted is an imperative and a challenge of the modern humanistic approach in education.