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.
|
