RESEARCH APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF INCLUSION AT AN EARLY PRESCHOOL AGE

Abstract

In order to draw attention to the most significant issues related to the development of preschool inclusive education in Serbia, this paper considers the problems of early childhood inclusion from the scientific and research perspective. The paper discusses the theoretical and problem-based approach to research and investigation of early childhood inclusion. The analysis includes papers published in national journals of pedagogy or in conference proceedings after the introduction of inclusive education in our country (from 2009 to present). The results of the research show that the authors have mostly been concerned with the problems regarding a critical analysis of conceptual discourse and inclusive education practice, preschool teachers’ evaluation of inclusive education, as well as the evaluation of their competencies for inclusion, and the least with programmes and strategies for early support in a modern inclusive kindergarten and the effects of early inclusion on preschool children’s development. Pedagogical implications refer to the need for initiating research in which early inclusion would be regarded as a multidimensional problem and a method of an early intervention, and also to the need for research approaches to include all aspects and participants of preschool inclusive education, with the aim of indicating the further direction of the improvement of the idea and practice in early childhood inclusion.