The purpose of this article is to present an analysis of the
guidelines provided by professional literature for teachers
working with Roma pupils, and to examine the issue of educating
Roma children based on the experiences of Slovene
primary school teachers. The results of the analysis are far
from encouraging as the recommendations are based on
the assumption that the teacher him/herself will be able to
adjust the teaching methods to produce better results. Feedback
from teachers indicates that they fail to adopt the most
constructive teaching methods when attempting to modify
and adapt classes for Roma pupils. In terms of factors affecting
learning outcomes, the teachers mostly noted only those
relating to the characteristics of Roma students and their
families, while hardly recognising the importance of their
own pedagogical efforts. Furthermore, results show a frequent
lack of understanding of the language barrier faced by
Roma pupils. Therefore, special focus will have to be placed
on improved (additional) training of (future) teachers as
well as on further development of support mechanisms by
various state institutions in this field.
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