This study aimed to explore the concepts of elementary school teachers from the Vitória-ES public school system regarding high abilities/giftedness (HA/GD), in order to investigate the relationship between the participants’ conceptions and teaching practices. We also evaluated their conception about the appropriateness of their training to deal with people with HA/GD and investigated the main teaching and learning strategies used by these students. For data collection we used an interview script containing five questions about some participant’s data, a question of word retrieval, and four about conceptualization of HA/GD for teachers and about their training and professional practice. Additionally, we asked them to judge and issue their opinions on four stories we told them about myths regarding HA/GD. The analysis of the data seemed to indicate that participants understand that gifted students have special needs and that teachers have not had adequate training to deal with people with HA/GD. As regards the first two stories, it was found that such myths do not seem to pervade the daily practice of the majority of teachers. As for the third, 95% of teachers agree that students with HA/GD need special services, and regarding the fourth, while some participants believed that people with HA/GD suffer isolation, others believed that they get along well with their peers. We hope that this study will contribute to advance the discussion of this theme offering theoretical and methodological support for teaching in this area.
Especial Education; High Abilities; Giftedness; Teachers