Analysis of the Possibilities of the Initial Teachers Education Programs for The Development of Inclusive Competencies

Abstract

The implementation of inclusive education in practice results in greater complexity of the teacher's role, andpre-professional teacher's training imposes new approaches, values and expectations. The initial education is the first step in teachers’ professional training. Training of future teachers for competent performance in the field of inclusive practice should be one of the priorities in the development of curricula and programs of initial teacher's education. The aim of this research was to determine the possibilities of initial teacher's education for the acquisition and development of inclusive competencies. To obtain the necessary data, we used the documentation analysis procedure. We analyzed the initial teacher’s education programs at the University ˝Dzemal Bijedic˝ of Mostar, the University of Tuzla and the University of Zenica. The analysis of initial teacher’s education programs showed inconsistencies in the number and representation of subjects relevant to inclusive education at three universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, lack of cross-curricular approach to inclusive education, and lack of integration of theoretical and practical participation in curricula intended for the development of inclusive competencies. The obtained results imply the direction of changes within the initial teacher education program that would lead to the more efficient acquisition of inclusive competencies of future teachers.