https://scienceij.com 113 Tančić, N., & Đermanov, J. (2023). Professıonal development of teachers ın an ınclusıve school-preferences, partıcıpatıon and experıence wıth dıfferent forms of professıonal traınıng, SCIENCE International journal, 2(3), 113-118. doi: 10.35120/sciencej0203113t UDK: 376.011.3-051:005.963(497.11) 1. INTRODUCION In the school and social context, a kind of social and professional engagement is expected from the “inclusive teacher”, so in this light socio-culturally oriented authors advocate the teacher’s agency as a concept through which the teacher’s readiness to implement inclusive education could be understood (Pantić, 2017; Li & Ruppar, 2020; Priestley & Drew, 2019). Through the prism of inclusive education, some authors (Li & Ruppar, 2020) describe teacher agency as a temporally and socioculturally situated and mediated process of social engagement that has fve key aspects: ideology, identity, refexivity, competencies and teacher autonomy. Teacher refexivity, constant research and re-examination of one’s own practice in order to jointly promote the profession and the development of the institution, is presented as an imperative in a large number of current relevant documents (Key principles of a Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care, 2014; Council Recommendation on Key Competences for LifeLong Learning, 2018). One of the key elements in most serious and promising educational reforms is the professional development of teachers, and society is fnally recognizing that teachers are the most important agents of change in these reforms. This dual role of teachers in educational reforms - both PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS IN AN INCLUSIVE SCHOOL-PREFERENCES, PARTICIPATION AND EXPERIENCE WITH DIFFERENT FORMS OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING Nataša Tančić 1* , Jelena Đermanov 1 1 University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Pedagogy, Novi Sad, Serbia e-mail: natasakovacevic@ff.uns.ac.rs, jdjer@ff.uns.ac.rs Abstract: The current reform processes of modern school systems have been going on for decades with the aim of implementing inclusive education. Accordingly, modern pedeutological research in recent decades has focused on the study and modeling of the system of professional development of teachers. A professional development teacher represents a long- term and consistent process of developing teacher awareness of what he does, why he does it, but also identifes mechanisms by which he can improve his work and himself personally (Hargreaves & Fullan, 1992; Day, 1999; Kostović, 2003). In this continuous process of development, from primary education and throughout the working life, professional development is a way through which teachers improve their work, progress and expand their roles in the modern school. Professional development in work is seen as a complex, continuous process of acquisition, enrichment and systematic adoption of new knowledge, skills and necessities necessary for the realization of increasingly complex teaching roles. The aim of this paper is to look at the dominant characteristics of professional development (teacher preferences, diversity and representation of certain forms of professional development) from the perspective of teachers themselves. The sample consists of 265 primary school teachers in the Republic of Serbia, Vojvodina province. A questionnaire was constructed for the needs of the research. The results of research on the parameter of participation and experience with numerous forms of professional development show that most teachers have experience with each of the forms of professional development defned by the Rulebook on Continuing Professional Development and Advancement as Teachers, Educators and Professional Associates in the Republic of Serbia (Sl. Glasnik RS, No. 48/2018). The ranking of the prevalence of forms of professional development of teachers in the sample shows that the most common forms are: participation in current school projects and seminars. In assessing the usefulness of certain forms of professional development, all forms are generally highly rated. Teachers, however, fnd it somewhat more useful to take forms of training with a dominant practical dimension: consultation, exchange of experience or solving current problems with colleagues; attendance at demonstration classes of colleagues and professional and study visits to schools. The fnal part of the paper emphasizes the importance of the obtained results in the context of contributing to a more purposeful and effcient system of professional development of teachers, its adaptation and revision according to the needs of teachers and achieving quality education for all children. Keywords: inclusive school, professional development of teachers, modalities of professional development Field: Social sciences and Humanities © 2023 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). * Corresponding author: natasakovacevic@ff.uns.ac.rs