Instruction in Serbian language and literature serves to prepare and in a certain way enable the students to follow other school subjects, which points to its special relevance for total education. Unfortunately, research results indicate that students’ knowledge in this field is not entirely satisfactory. One of the reasons maybe the fact that this knowledge is not sufficiently used in practice, which can have an unfavourable impact on students’ response to more and more complex demands set by the education system of the 21st century. Additionally, the problem can also be related to the fact that dogmatic-reproductive and reproductive-explicative methodical approaches are still used in the classes of Serbian language and literature, while less attention is paid to creative work, cooperative learning and students’ initiative, the competences that should be developed first and foremost during the initial education. This paper aims at pointing to the methods and procedures that contribute to the encouragement of initiative, cooperation and creativity in primary school students in the instruction in Serbian language and literature. Among other tings, we point out to the innovation of the drama method as an integral approach to teaching contents, which serves to adopt more quality knowledge via focused role-playing activities and drama techniques, primarily in the field of literature, and enables the durability and quality of the aesthetic perception and the reception of literature. It is also pointed to the fact that instruction that includes creative work, initiative and cooperative relations enhances student competences not only in knowledge and skills in Serbian language and literature, but also at the level of emotional and social relations between students. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47008: Unapređivanje kvaliteta i dostupnosti obrazovanja u procesima modernizacije Srbije i br. 179034: Od podsticanja inicijative, saradnje i stvaralaštva u obrazovanju do novih uloga i identiteta u društvu]