STUDY PROGRAMS OF PEDAGOGICAL AND TEACHER EDUCATION FACULTIES AND STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE IMPORTANCE AND CHALLENGES OF EDUCATIONAL INCLUSION OF IMMIGRANT STUDENTS

Abstract

Within the context of public and educational policies underlining that teachers and other educators are key drivers of social change aimed at building social justice and inclusion, issues related to the quality of knowledge and competences of future educators in working with immigrant-origin students are brought to the forefront. This paper presents the results of a correlational study on the relationship between the contribution of study programmes at pedagogical and teacher education faculties to the acquisition of knowledge and the development of student competences for educational work with immigrant students, on the one hand, and the attitudes of future educators about the importance and challenges of educational inclusion of immigrant students, on the other. The research was conducted during February and March 2024 with a sample of students from pedagogical, philological, and philosophical faculties in Serbia (N=268). For study purposes, the following research instruments were constructed and applied: Questionnaire on the Difficulties and Barriers to the Educational Inclusion of Immigrant Students and Scale for Assessing Students' Attitudes towards the Educational Inclusion of Immigrant Students. The results obtained through descriptive statistics suggest that future educators positively evaluate the contribution of study programmes to acquiring knowledge and developing competences for teaching immigrant-origin students, as well as the importance of educational inclusion of immigrant students. The greatest challenges identified by students regarding the educational inclusion of immigrant students include the language barrier, stereotypes, and prejudices towards immigrant students, and, finally, peer rejection. The results of the correlational analysis show that there is a significant, positive, and weak correlation only between the contribution of the study programmes to acquiring the knowledge necessary for teaching immigrant students and the attitudes of future educators towards the importance and challenges of educational inclusion of immigrant students. The obtained results further suggest that the emphasis in the initial education of future educators is placed on acquiring knowledge about various aspects of the educational inclusion of immigrant students, but not on their preparation for direct interaction with this socially sensitive group. As a result, it is necessary to significantly improve the study programmes at faculties that educate future teachers, language instructors, and educators, particularly in the domain of content framework that contributes to the development of key skills, abilities, and attitudes for future work with immigrant-origin students.