Transcript Deyan KOLEV Center AMALIPE THE SPECIAL SCHOOL: THE SHORTEST WAY TO MARGINALIZATION SOFIA, JULY 2007

Deyan KOLEV
Center AMALIPE
THE SPECIAL SCHOOL:
THE SHORTEST WAY TO MARGINALIZATION
SOFIA, JULY 2007
The Special schools
• The Special schools are schools for children with mental disabilities that
enroll children from the first to the eighth grade, but do not offer a
formal diploma on graduation.
• The overrepresentation of Roma in special schools came to the
attention of the European Commission as early as 1999, with the 1999
Regular Report on Bulgaria’s progress towards accession.
• The procedure for placement of children in special schools for persons
with disabilities is regulated by the Rules and Regulations for the
Application of the National Education Act and by Ordinance No. 6 of
the Ministry of Education and Science from 19 August 2002.246
• Major role in the procedure for placement of children in special
schools play the Team for Complex Pedagogical Assessment (TCPA).
• The role of the TCPA is to assess whether the child is appropriate for
integrated education. Nevertheless, even if the TCPA assesses it is not,
it is the right of the parent to enroll the student in any school he/she
wants (even a mainstream school).
• In addition, it is regulated that the parent should be present during the
testing.
The Special schools
• At the beginning of each school year the Head of the
Regional Inspectorate of Education issues and order
which regulates the work and the frequency of the
meetings of the TCPA
• The TCPA consists of different specialists: educators and
psychologist; there are no medical professionals in the
committee. The expert on integrated education from the
RIE chairs the meetings.
• A 2004 evaluation of the legality of the placement in the
special schools, conducted by the SACP, revealed that
− in the files of 533 children placed in the special schools there
were no TCPA records for placement.
− In the files of 1,912 children there were no protocols of the
diagnostic teams for the assessment of their individual
educational needs.
− In 623 cases there were no applications by family members.
The Resource centers
• In 2006 the Ministry of education has declared its deliberate policy
to take active measures for the educational integration of the
children from the special schools.
• In October 28 Resource centers have been created in all districts.
The aim of the resource centers is to provide the necessary
pedagogical and other support to the children integrated from
special to mainstream schools.
• A resource teacher is supposed to work individually with each of the
integrated children in order to help her/him to catch up with the
material and adapt better in the new environment.
• Each resource teacher should work with no more than 5 children
• THE PROBLEM: the resource center started their work at the end
of October while the most difficult period for all the integrated
children (from both, pedagogical and psychological perspective) was
the first month and a half from the beginning of the school year
• As a result some of the children dropped out and got back to the
special schools
The reasons for having
Roma children in the special schools
• Poverty, marginalization;
• Receiving different types of
social benefits from the
schools (food, free
textbooks, school materials,
dress, and so on);
• Strong and intensive
campaign of special schools
staff among marginalized
communities;
• Discrimination in the
mainstream school;
• Lack of information among
Roma parents what the
special school is;
“I did not know this is a special school. I
used to know it another way: it is a “special”
school” because they give “special benefits”
for the children. I did not know this is a
school for mentally retarded children”
Natasha, mother of 5 children
The experience of Center Amalipe
• In the summer of 2006 Center
Amalipe started intensive work with
13 children from a small ghetto in
Veliko Turnovo
• In 2005 there were 41 children in
school age in the ghetto. 21 out of
them are enrolled in the special
school.
• The special school is situated at a
distance of several km and some of
the children do not visit it at all
although they are enrolled there.
• In a very close proximity of the
ghetto there are two central
mainstream primary schools
Preliminary work
• Work with the parents:
− To get them very well informed what the special school is and what it
means for their children to finish a special school
− To get them motivated to face the challenges and difficulties their
children will meet at the beginning moving to the mainstream school
− To raise their engagement towards the education of their children
• Work with the children:
− Prepare them for the challenges and difficulties they will meet at the
beginning moving to the mainstream school
− Psychologically prepare them for meeting a new environment and new
people
• Work with the teachers and managing bodies in the
mainstream schools:
− Provide the full support for integrating the children from the special
school
− Discussions with the teachers in which classes the children will be
enrolled about what pedagogical and psychological tools can be used to
ease their adaptation
− Discussion about what problems they could face from the other
children and parents and how to avoid them; huge explanatory work
with the other students and their parents
The children
The TCPA in Veliko Turnovo
• By the regulations of the law each child could be enrolled in every
school the parent chooses.
• In order to have a resource teacher the child should have a protocol
for being directed for integrated education from the regional TCPA.
• The TCPA in Veliko Turnovo met on September 19, 2006.
• A number of irregularities accompanied the work of the regional
TCPA:
− The meeting of the TCPA took place in the building of the Special
school “St.Teodosii Turnovski”;
− The TCPA included teachers from the Special school wheer the
children have studied;
− The children were not given a test but tasks in Bulgarian language and
mathematics. The children were assessed on the basis of knowledge
acquired in school in the previous years and not on the basis of having
or not mental disabilities;
− The children were given tasks from textbooks for higher grades;
− The most stressing element in the work of the TCPA was however their
general attitude towards the children. The children were told several
times that they would fail and would not make it in the mainstream
school so it is better for them to stay in the special school.
The difficulties and the challenges...
• The hard resistance of the teachers from the Special school
“St.Teodosii Turnovski” to support the integration of children
without any mental disabilities in the mainstream schools.
• The attitude and the work of the TCPA: as a result three of
the children went back to the Special school;
• The unwillingness of the Regional Inspectorate of Education
to take an active position and support the integration of
children without mental disabilities;
• The lack of resource teachers from the beginning of the
school year
• The lack of educational habits in the children: in the beginning
they did not have habits how to behave in class, how to hold a
pen, to carry textbooks and notebooks, etc…
The parents...
•
•
•
Some of them were deeply convinced that their
children should be in the mainstream school and
managed to overcome the difficulties. They took
their responsibility to support their children
during the adaptation period
Some were afraid that taking their children from
the Special school will have negative
consequences for them (on behalf of the social
authorities)
Some were rather indifferent
THE CHANGE….
• “My child should be in school. I won’t send him
•
•
•
to the “rocket” school…” (Gina, mother of
Georgi, 9-years old)
“I want to save my child from here” (Sevda,
mother of Margaritka – 5 years old)
“I will stay with him at school every day while he
gets used to it” (Tomi, father of Ivan – 8 years
old.)
“I was responsible for the group today” (Lili,
mother of Anke -8 year old)
The supportive out-of-school work
• During the whole school year Center Amalipe together with the Center for
social rehabilitation and integration organizes out-of-school activities with
the Roma children who got enrolled from the special to the mainstream
schools or have not attended school at all at the beginning of 2006/2007
school year.
• A team of volunteers have meetings with the children twice a week. The
workshops are directed towards developing the individual skills and interests
of the children.
• The children have the opportunity to draw and paint together different
object: cards, vases, generation trees and so on; they participate in different
games: scout games, team events, etc. the practice shows that drawing and
painting help children develop their motion abilities, improve handwriting
and so on.
• We use the art-therapy approach in the work and thus provide opportunity
for every child to express her/himself, to develop his/her communicative
skills, to respect both, her/himself and the other children in the group.
• The major goals in our work are two: pedagogical and didactical – formation
of a team behaviour and belonging in the children, accepting of the other,
making friends, gaining confidence. From one hand, the children have the
opportunity to develop their skills; from one – they fulfill their spare time
The supportive out-of-school work
• The work with the children is divided into tree moduli:
− The theoretical part is connected with the given topic of the present
session.
• This should be within 10-15 minutes.
• The major goal of this part of the session is to inform the children, to
provide new knowledge, either through telling a story and event or sharing
an interesting happening or presenting a historical fact.
• This modul attracts the attention of the children especially if it is presented
under the form of “Do you know that…”.
• It is good if at the end of it the major topic is repeated within an interesting
thought or sentence put on a sticker or a color peace of paper.
− The practical part is the major one.
• It continues from 35 to 40 minutes.
• The activities with the children here are concentrated on implementing
different tasks and projects: preparing vases, pictures and so on.
• Depending on the difficulty of the task the children can be divided into
groups so that a differentiated approach could be applied.
• They can work individually or in a team depending on the issue
The supportive out-of-school work
− The third modul is the games.
• They are an extremely important part of the whole workshop.
• It is good every meeting to start also with a relaxing game within 10
– maximum 15 minutes. This makes the children relax, makes them
move and ease.
• The sessions should also end with a game (better team building
games).
− The way the person working with the children organizes the sessions is
very important.
− This requires both pedagogical and psychological background.
− One of the interactive methods applied is presenting the obligatory in
the format of a game, e.g. at the end of each meeting the children have to clean
the room. At the beginning they used to make it with disgust. Therefore, we decided
to make it through a game where the children have to clean and tide the room for 1-2
minutes (time is always counted). We have been surprised that all the children
enthusiastically joined the game.
Today...