Special (Educational) Needs in Inclusive ELT Classrooms: Teachers’ Role and TrainingRupnik, Manca (Avtor) Burazer, Lara (Mentor) SEN educationteacher responsibilitiesteacher trainingSEN in ELTinclusion.Literature, specifically ELT research, provides ample theoretical information on how best to include special educational needs (henceforth SEN) students into mainstream classrooms. Still, it seems English language teachers struggle to translate this theory into practice and often feel unequipped for the situation. The theoretical part of this thesis addresses the difficulties of SEN categorisation and assumptions related to these students. Presented are also the legal background of Slovenia’s SEN education (i.e. the placement procedure, guidelines for teaching students from each SEN category, teacher competencies and obligations, and an overview of available teacher training courses). The purpose of this thesis is to identify the discrepancy between the theory of inclusion and its real-life implementation. Thus, questionnaires and interviews were conducted with Slovenia’s English language teachers (primary education and general English). This lends some insight into how teachers perceive their roles, relevant knowledge acquired, the general state of national SEN education, and potential system-level improvements.20252025-07-08 08:15:35Magistrsko delo/naloga170507sl