Innovations in multicultural education as seen through the example of the Roma ethnic minority education in Poland

Abstract

Modern education, including geographic education, has to face new challenges. Unfortunately, in spite of the raising level of education, which has become common and natural, the processes of globalization and the higher standard of living, there still exist social groups that lag behind the majority in terms of socio-economic development. A particular example of such groups are ethnic and national minorities, for example the Roma ethnic minority in Poland. In spite of the fact that the Roma ethnic minority has been present in Poland for centuries, their actual education began 10 years ago, as the “Programme for the Roma community in Poland” took off. Before that, Roma children did not attend school at all, or ended education after a couple of years of primary school in “Roma classes”. The lack of education (often even illiteracy) and the negative stereotype of Roma in the Polish society caused the social exclusion of the Roma minority. In 2001, during the testing of the program in the Malopolska province, teachers faced a new challenge - multicultural teaching, difficult to implement in an ethnically homogeneous nation. In addition to language barriers, negative stereotype and reluctance of Romani parents to educate their children, the school staff also have to overcome cultural differences. However, in many schools education of Roma children is successful in integration classes, thanks to the efforts and preparation of supporting teachers and the new post of the Roma assistant. In the article, the authors focus on those innovative solutions in the field of development of the competence of educational staff, that enable the effective education of Roma children - the only way to fight with the social exclusion of the Roma minority.