WHAT DO EDUCATIONAL PROFESSIONALS THINK ABOUT GIFTEDNESS? AN ANALYSIS OF ATTITUDES AND REPRESENTATIONS

though a strong heterogeneity both in the approaches and results. In this direction, focusing on the social dimension of knowledge and on the processes of interpretation and co-construction connected to it, the paper will describe the attitudes toward Giftedness of a sample of 130 Italian education professionals (educators, teachers, pedagogists, psychologists) from North, Centre and South Italy. A specific questionnaire was built to investigate the representations of giftedness. The contribution will explore the main categories of representations connected to Gifted students through an interpretive analysis of qualitative data. We want to verify also if the professional and social role could affect the interpretation of giftedness among the sample of study. Although a great variability is present in the attitudes of the subjects, main dimensions arise in the ideas and imagination of giftedness. The characteristics of the dimensions and how they influence the identification, intervention and education of gifted students is discussed. The contribute reflects on the social representations expressed by the people interviewed about the concept of giftedness and the mental image associated with it. The main differences refer to the meaning of creative thinking and IQ and the image of giftedness as a process of development, growth and plant germination