CHILDREN’S LITERATURE, TEACHERS AND INTEGRATIVE EDUCATION: THEORY AND SCHOOL REALITY

The paper represents the results of a quantitative research performed at the Faculty of Education, University of Maribor. The aim of the project was to establish the implementation of the concept of integrative education, which was recommended for the first triennium of elementary education in Slovenia in the 90s. The essence of Slovene integration concept should be the following: focusing on the structure and the process of child's assimilation as well as accommodation in/of the structure, his/her ability to communicate the content of the structure and his/her ability to express the process of changing the structure. Our results show that the majority of teachers follow the recommended curriculum guidelines for integration as the main didactical concept for teaching in the first triennium of elementary school taught as a part of the compulsory Teacher training program - teaching in the first triennium. Nevertheless a big proportion of elementary school teachers (year 1-3) are not entirely aware of the criteria that should be used for integration in the educational process. The same elementary school teachers have difficulties (aware or unaware) with the process of planning and performing the integration concept in the classroom.