The master's thesis depicts the process of integration of immigrant students and the development of intercultural dialogue in primary school. For comprehension purposes, the definitions of basic terms such as multiculturalism and interculturalism, immigrant students, national minority and first, second and pivot language are depicted in the theoretical part of the thesis. In the second chapter, the history of immigration to Slovenia after the Second World War is described and the underprivileged position of members of the nations of the former SFRY in Slovenia is presented. The third chapter highlights the concepts of integration and inclusion, describes the areas of integration and presents the Slovenian integration policy. In the last chapter, the model of intercultural education by M. A. Vižintin is introduced. The model encompasses seven interrelated areas that contribute to a more effective integration of immigrant students in primary school and includes all participants in the pedagogical process.
In the empirical part, the results of the research are presented. Through interviewing four education staff and three immigrant students, and through the analysis of the development documents of the selected school, the extent to which the interviewees recognize multiculturalism at school and whether it is the starting point of educational work was established. Next, the school’s organization of the subject Slovenian as a second language, the way of adaption of the learning process and assessment of knowledge for immigrant students was studied, as well as the knowledge how those adaptions are outlined by the school itself. Pedagogues were asked what additional education options in the field of integrating immigrant students and developing interculturality are used and what the educational needs of immigrant students are. It was found whether, according to teachers, interculturality is sufficiently represented in the curricula and materials, and in what way it is included in their work. The thesis also covers the question of how the development of intercultural dialogue occurs at school; in what way does the school promote teaching native languages of immigrant students and how it organizes intercultural events. Lastly, the cooperation between school and immigrant parents and local community was examined, in which the employees were questioned about the advantages and disadvantages of this type of integration.
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