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Minority education: Roma teaching assistants in

Slovenia

IRENA BAČLIJA, Ph.D. (irena.baclija@fdv.uni-lj.si)ANJA GRABNER (anja.grabner@fdv.uni-lj.si)

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Roma minority protection – EU level■ Organisation of the United Nations, the Council of

Europe, the Organisation for European Security and Co-operation and the Central European Initiatives have adopted some anti discrimination directives and recommendations.

■ The umbrella European document against discrimination and racism (including discrimination against the Roma minority) is Article 13 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community and the ensuing directives that are binding on all members.

■ Particularly important for the Roma minority is Directive 2000/43/EC ‘implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin’ (the ‘Race Directive’).

■ Among the important documents regulating the Roma’s status are the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe; the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages and the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, along with Council of Europe references to and resolutions on the position of the Roma in Europe.

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Educational policies for better inclusion of Roma into national education systems

■ Clear policy at the macro level for the democratic and harmonious integration of minorities in the country

■ Constitutional guarantees and rights for minorities to conserve their language and culture

■ Supportive educational policy to implement constitutional rights

■ Avoidance of minoritisation and group isolation by promoting out-group contacts and inter-group learning

■ Self-determination of minorities at the macro level (Rolly, 2005)

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Positive discrimination mechanismsMechanism/policy Country Roma teaching assistant/coordinator/advisor

Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary

Inclusion of Roma related topics in school curriculum

Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria

Instructions in Romanes Slovakia, Romania

Educating teachers on Roma culture, history, language

Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania

Scholarships for talented Roma pupils/students

Hungary, Slovakia, Romania

Free lunch, school supplies and transportation to school

Poland, Bulgaria, Slovenia

Desegregation Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania

Inclusion in pre-school programmes (kindergarden)

Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia

University programmes for Roma education

Bulgaria, Romania

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Roma teaching assistant

■ Roma teaching assistant as the name implies assists the teacher and acts as a mediator between the teacher and Roma pupils. Placing teaching assistants from the local community into classrooms is a common strategy used by schools all over Europe to bridge cultural and linguistic gaps between schools and Roma communities.

■ The premise behind this practice is that the inclusion of teaching assistants will enable Roma pupils to be more successful academically.

■ The teaching assistant can help children with the differences in languages spoken between the home and the school, be a link between the home culture and the culture of the educational system, and cultivate parents’ support for their children’s schooling process.

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Research – results I.

For more effective of teaching Roma pupils I (we) would need…

Teachers(N=29)

Roma teaching assistants(N=26)

Principals(N=29)

Additional staff 58.7% 58.6% 75.9%

Textbooks in Romani 46.2% 13.8% 24.1%

Teaching is effective, we wouldn’t need anything

20.7% 20.7% 20.7%

More flexible time-table 20.7% 34.5% 17.2%

I don’t know 0% 0% 10.3%

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Research – results II.

Main problem of teaching process is…

RANGTeachers(N=29)

RANGRoma

teaching assistants (N=26)

Inadaptable curricula 5 4/5

Too much content pupils have to master in one year

3 3

Lack of auxiliary teaching material

4 4/5

Low attendance of Roma pupils 2 2

Inadequate way of teaching 6 6

Unequal knowledge and skills of Roma and non-Roma pupils

1 1

Don’t know 7 7

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Research – results III.

Together with the teacher I am in the classroom …

Teachers(N=29)

Roma teaching assistants (N=26)

All of the time 3.4% 41.4%

Only part of the instruction

79.3% 51.7%

Only in the afternoon 0% 3.4%

Very little time; mostly I spend time with Roma pupils separately

17.2% 3.4%

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Research – results IV.

■ Almost 45 per cent of Roma teaching assistants encourage Romani pupils to speak in Slovenian, and a little less than 30 per cent encourages them to communicate in both languages.

■ In our preliminary interviews we discovered indications that Roma pupils have problems with understanding teachers (as they speak only Slovene), so we asked our respondents if Roma pupils should attend some additional hours of Slovene class. More than 58 per cent of the Roma teaching assistants, 72.4 per cent of the teachers, and 48.3 per cent of the principals agreed.

■ We found that at work more than 20 per cent of the teaching assistants use only Slovenian and 79.3 per cent use both Slovenian and Romani.

■ When comparing the relationship between Romani pupils and Roma teaching assistants and between Romani pupils and teachers, it becomes obvious that Roma teaching assistants have a friendlier relationship with the Romani pupils.

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Conclusion - Recomendations

■ Researches conducted in some CEE showed that implementation of Roma teaching assistant has had a positive impact on (1) attendance, (2) share of drop-outs and (3) average grade of Roma pupils.

■ There should be further elaboration on If EU could offer a unified profession description and institutionalisation of this profession in all countries with Roma minority.

■ Formation of the guidelines and recommendations for principals and teachers, that work with Roma teacher assistant are needed.