Teachers’ Inclusive, Augmentative, Assistive and IT Competences in Working with Children with Special Educational Needs

Abstract

In this study we wanted to determine the presence of teachers’ information-communication-technological competencies in working with students with special educational needs. Desk research provides an overview of policy and support in inclusive education in Montenegro, with a focus on teachers’ inclusive training. From 2015 to 2018, 148 trainings were realized in the field of inclusive education and 3848 teachers were trained - most often, these were one-day trainings, duration - 8 hours, and the topics were: Working with specific disabilities, adaptation, individualization. Systematic observation based on a protocol was conducted with 15 children from the second to the sixth grade of primary school: autism; intellectual, visual, hearing, combined disabilities and difficulties: speech, language, reading and writing. The findings indicate that teachers are educated to an individualize approach. We observed the application of the approach and the use of learning and communication technology. The effects of teachers’ work and competencies are better after training, coaching and when they get support from the professional associates of the school and/or resource center. Teachers’ attitudes are positive, they show creativity, adaptability, use the technologies after they have been trained about the characteristics of students, and recommended approaches for working with them.