Directions of improving the quality of in-service teacher training in Serbia: the perspective of primary school teachers

Abstract

This paper presents one part of the findings of a research that deals with teachers? perceptions of educational reforms in Serbia. More specifically, the paper focuses on the segment of the research that was aimed at exploring teachers? views on the ways of improving the system and practice of in-service teacher training. Pursuing this topic is very important since the findings of recent studies have shown that this aspect of education system needs considerable improvement, while the authors who deal with educational change point to the importance of consulting the teachers in the development of the new system solutions. The questionnaire was used to collect the data from 326 teachers from 125 Serbian primary schools. The teachers provided answers to open-ended questions on what needs to be done in order to improve the quality of their in-service training. Content analysis was used to process the data - response categories were created inductively on the basis of teachers? answers, and then their frequency was established. The results indicate that, according to teachers, in-service teacher training has to be improved, primarily through increased funding, higher quality of programmes/seminars, diversification of types of training, as well as through creating a more encouraging system and school setting for in-service teacher training. These results are significant from the aspect of the in-service training system since they point to developmental priorities, as well as to the necessity of a more complex and comprehensive approach to the reform of this segment of education system.