Teachers' aspects to the inclusive practices in primary schools in the Savinja valley

Because primary school teachers are the most important persons in integration of a child with special needs into elementary school system I wanted to research their viewpoint about integration in my diploma. Efficiency of inclusion of such children hugly depends on teacher's willingness , his practical and theoretical knowledge and competences for work with children with special needs. In theoretical part I introduced the development of inclusion in the international field, in Slovenia and in the area of the Savinja valley. In a theoretical part of diploma I describe inclusion, I write about children with special needs , their specific requirements, about conditions and obstacles in implementation of inclusion. I write about positive and negative compehension of inclusion, inclusive changes in the teachers' work, about team work and individual programs. The intention of empirical part is to research and introduce primary theachers' views on the inclusion of the children with special needs in the Savinja valley and to establish factors that define their viewpoints. I chose a survey as an instrument. A sample included five primary schools in the Savinja valley and 125 teachers all together – class teachers and the subject teachers. The purpose of the research is to find out and to suggest some propositions for elimination of eventual deficiencies and to improve the practice of inclusion. The results of the research showed that the biggest obstacle in integration is a lack of teachers' professional knowledge in this field. Consequently the teachers' viewpoint on inclusion is discouraging. More than half of the teachers who participated in the survey believed that children with special needs should have been educated in specialized institutions. Teachers don't see their work with these pupils as a burden, but they agree they should have more professional trainings in this field, both at primary level (university study) as well as at the secondary level (seminars)