Khaled Abdulkareem Al Fadhli, Researcher at the Arabian Gulf University (AGU), predicted that professional capital among teachers of gifted students can be predicted by their teaching competence, reflective practices and strategic thinking. The study found that teachers’ levels of teaching competence and reflective practices differed significantly based on demographic variables such as gender and type of work.
The study used a predictive descriptive approach and applied measures of professional capital, teaching competence, reflective practices and strategic thinking to a sample of 124 male and female teachers. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that reflective practices and teaching competence were significant predictors of professional capital. Additionally, the results of the Mann-Whitney test analysis indicated significant differences in teaching competence favouring male teachers and in reflective practices favouring specialised teachers.
The study’s cluster analysis revealed three distinct sub-clusters of teachers of gifted students based on their teaching competence, reflective practices and strategic thinking skills. The researcher recommended providing specialised training programmes in contemplative practices, teaching competence and strategic thinking to improve teacher performance.
The study was supervised by Prof. Fatema Ahmed Al Jasim, Gifted and Thinking Education Professor at AGU, Prof. Abedalnasser Diab Aljarrah, Learning and Teaching Psychology Professor at AGU, while Prof. Alaaeldin Ayoub, Professor of Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics at AGU was an internal examiner, and Dr Ahmed Saad Jalal, Associate Professor of Measurement and Evaluation at the University of Bahrain was an external examiner.
