Available and Desirable Resources for Gifted Children in Israel’s Rural and Central Regions: Parents and Educators’ Perspectives

Abstract

Gifted children and their parents often cope with challenges arising from their high abilities and the particular educational needs that these entail. The current research aims to map the available and desired resources for gifted children and their families in rural and central regions. The research stems from the resource-oriented approach to gifted education that identifies five exogenous learning resources, termed educational capital. As the availability of these resources can be context-dependent, the current study examines rural and central regions as diverse spatial areas. Using a qualitative approach, 26 in-depth interviews were conducted with parents and educators from two diverse regions in Israel. Thematic analysis found that parents and educators from both regions described the available resources similarly, with the exception of the economic, infrastructural, and didactic resources, which are less available in the rural region. In addition, parents and teachers in the rural region defined personal parental resources and educational knowledge as being more desirable than their counterparts in the center. The findings suggest that resources for the gifted are more family centered than community- or region-centered. Focusing on two different spatial areas, this study examines the possible interplay between location or geography and gifted children and their available educational capital.