Hybrid Homeschooling: A Missing Piece of the Gifted Education Puzzle

ABSTRACTHybrid homeschooling is still in its initial phase in the Iranian education system and is still a mystery to many educators and parents. This study aimed to explore the reasons for choosing the homeschooling approach for gifted students using a grounded theory method. The sample of this qualitative study included 15 parents of gifted children and 10 specialists in giftedness recruited through purposive sampling. Factors influencing the homeschooling approach were collected through semi-structured interviews with professionals and parents and analyzed by the coding method based on grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1997). The data analysis revealed 143 open codes, 12 axial codes, and three selective codes, including educational challenges of gifted students in school and public education and the demands and expectations of parents and students. The results demonstrated that the Iranian educational system does not meet the needs and expectations of gifted students and their parents; therefore, educators and parents are recommended to use hybrid homeschooling for this group of students. While the participants in this study do not strictly follow a hybrid schooling model, the findings suggest that adopting elements of hybrid schooling could be advantageous for gifted students.KEYWORDS: Educationgifted studentsgrounded theoryhybrid homeschooling AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank the ethics committee of the host university for granting permission for the study and the participants for voluntarily taking part in the study.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).