Preparedness of class and subject teachers for work with children with developmental difficulties

Abstract

Adequate teacher training for work in inclusive conditions is essential for successful realization of inclusive politics and practice. The paper presents the experiences of other countries in teacher education and teachers' preparedness for work in inclusive school. The empirical research was conducted to see how teachers in Serbia evaluate their preparedness for work with children with developmental difficulties, what is the role of teacher initial education in training for work in inclusive conditions. The sample included 212 class and subject teachers from five elementary schools in Belgrade. To gather data we used an instrument with a combination of survey-type questions and a descriptive scale. The results show that the majority of the teachers assess that they are not adequately trained for work with children with developmental difficulties, and that their initial teacher training did not increase their preparedness for work in that domain. There are no significant differences between class teachers and subject teachers in their evaluation of their own preparedness for work with children with developmental difficulties. The discussion of the article is dedicated to the possibilities of improving initial teacher training in order to provide better teacher preparedness inclusive practice.