Inclusive education in Serbia from the perspective of primary school teachers: Competencies, benefits, barriers and preconditions

The introduction of inclusive education in the Republic of Serbia has contributed to the development of the principles of humaneness and democracy and the exercise of the right to quality education in regular schools. Given that providing knowledge about the implementation of inclusive education is essential for the advancement of inclusive practice, the aim of our study was to examine teachers' beliefs about the competencies for inclusive education and about the benefits, barriers and preconditions for the advancement of inclusive education in primary schools. The study was conducted with a sample of 216 primary school teachers - teachers of grades 1-4 and subject teachers (grades 5-8) - and an instrument was designed for this purpose. The general findings point to the existence of negative attitudes among teachers towards the introduction of inclusive education in primary schools. There are differences between the beliefs of teachers of grades 1-4 and subject teachers regarding the competencies for inclusive education (a personalized approach to teaching (t(214)=0,886, p