The publication offers a comprehensive analysis of scholarly sources concerning the preparatory year and an analysis of views and approaches to the education of Roma pupils coming from socially disadvantaged environments, and at the same time it presents the views of school pedagogical staff, parents, and experts on the significance and effectiveness of the zero grade (preparatory year) in the educational careers of Roma pupils. The publication was written as part of the implementation of the project Roma Education Fund (REF) – Project Code: SLO 042 School for Everybody with the goal of examining the effectiveness of the preparatory year.
INTRODUCTION
In contemporary society, characterized by globalization processes accompanied by many negative phenomena, it is especially important to seek and find key strategies and approaches to mitigating their effects. In this context, the importance of education increases in relation to the whole population, including the so-called new target groups. In the Slovak Republic, during the last two decades, in response to the challenge of increasing the educational attainment of members of the Roma ethnicity, a large number of highly educated and committed experts have been active at theoretical, research, decision-making, and helping and other professional levels.
Experts dealing with Roma issues agree that one of the fundamental problems of the Roma ethnicity, and the shared root cause of many difficulties in their lives and in the life of society as a whole, is their low level of education (and we agree with them). This fact also suggests that increasing their educational level will have a key role in gradually improving the living standards of the Roma ethnicity. Education also means greater social value of a person in society, recognition, and respect by others. In our publication, we will not seek causes, nor look for a culprit. We offer the reader a theoretical-empirical analysis of a specific educational (compensatory) tool—the zero grade of primary school, which has been institutionally established in the Slovak school system for ten years. Its task should be to prepare a pupil who has not reached school readiness and comes from a socially disadvantaged background for the most successful possible entry into primary school. The reader is offered a comprehensive analysis of scholarly literature concerning the preparatory year and an analysis of views and approaches to educating Roma pupils coming from socially disadvantaged environments, and we also present the views of school pedagogical staff, parents, and experts on the significance and effectiveness of the preparatory year of primary school in the educational careers of Roma pupils. We wrote the publication as part of the implementation of the project Roma Education Fund (REF) – Project Code: SLO 042 School for Everybody with the goal of examining the effectiveness of the preparatory year.
At this point, we would like to sincerely thank all our respondents—the school employees, parents, and experts—whose collaboration was crucial to creating the publication.
CONTENT
1 THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS 1.1 Characterization of basic concepts 1.1.1 Acceleration program 1.1.2 Inclusive education 1.2 Overview of legal standards in the Slovak Republic (in relation to education of Roma pupils) 1.2.1 Pedagogical and organizational guidelines of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic for the school years 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 1.3 Analysis of selected concepts and views on the education system of Roma pupils in Slovakia 1.3.1 Medium-term concept for the development of the Roma national minority in the Slovak Republic 1.3.2 Decade of integrating the Roma population for 2005–2015 and the Roma Education Fund (Government Resolution No. 28/2005) 1.3.3 Amnesty International, UNDP and education of Roma children in Slovakia 1.3.4 Legislative intent of the Act on socially excluded communities 1.3.5 Strategy of the Slovak Republic for the integration of Roma to 2020 1.4 Negative trends in the Slovak school system 1.5 Level of care for pupils from socially disadvantaged environments in primary schools in the Slovak Republic
2 SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED ENVIRONMENT 2.1 Socially disadvantaged environment – approaches abroad 2.2 Socially disadvantaged environment – approaches in the Slovak Republic 2.2.1 Socially disadvantaged environment – definition
3 THE ZERO (PREPARATORY) YEAR IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC 3.1 Preparatory year in the Czech Republic 3.2 Zero grade in the Slovak Republic 3.3 Zero grade – analysis of approaches and studies (surveys) in the Slovak Republic and abroad in education of socially disadvantaged children and pupils 3.3.1 Analysis of studies (surveys) focused on the zero (preparatory) year abroad 3.3.2 Analysis of studies (surveys) focused on the zero grade in Slovakia
4 RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ZERO GRADES 4.1 Research problem, research objectives and questions 4.2 Methods 4.3 Characterization of the research sample 4.3.1 Characterization of places and municipalities 4.3.2 Characterization of schools 4.3.3 Characterization of participants
5 CORE QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE FINDINGS 5.1 Pupils from socially disadvantaged environment or Roma pupils? 5.2 Education of Roma pupils (motivation and obstacles) 5.2.1 Programs for Roma pupils and pupils from socially disadvantaged environments 5.3 Zero grades in the Slovak Republic and in the Spišská Nová Ves district (experimental validation) 5.3.1 School readiness of children from socially disadvantaged environments – diagnosis and rediagnosis 5.4 Zero grades in the examined schools 5.5 Pupils in zero grades 5.5.1 Attendance of pupils in zero grades 5.5.2 Cooperation with parents 5.6 Teachers in zero grades 5.6.1 Classroom assistant in the zero grade
6 BENEFITS OF THE ZERO GRADE 6.1 Advantages and disadvantages of the zero grade 6.2 Benefits according to teachers and principals 6.3 Benefits according to parents 6.4 Success of graduates of the zero grade 6.4.1 Graduates of the zero grade in selected schools in the Spišská Nová Ves district 6.4.2 Graduates of the zero grade in the examined schools 6.4.3 Life stories of graduates
7 DISCRIMINATION IN THE ZERO GRADE – PARTICIPANTS' VIEWS 7.1 Basic premises – discrimination and segregation in schooling 7.2 Views of principals and teachers 7.3 Views of parents 7.4 Views of experts and representatives of schools with a long tradition of the zero grade
8 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE 8.1 Brief conclusions 8.2 Proposals for increasing the effectiveness of education of Roma pupils and changes in the organization of the zero grade according to participants 8.3 Proposals for alternative forms of education 8.4 Proposals for changes in learning conditions in zero grades leading to potential discrimination and segregation according to experts 8.5 Our recommendations
Title: Zero Grade and the Education of Roma Pupils
Publisher: Roma Education Fund
Authors: doc. PaedDr. Vladimír Klein, PhD. Mgr. Jurina Rusnáková, PhD. PhDr. Viera Šilonová
Reviewers: doc. PaedDr. Ladislav Horňák, PhD. doc. PaedDr. Rastislav Rosinský, PhD.
Text editing: Mgr. Lenka Jalilah Hrušková Year of publication: 2012 Edition: first Extent: 266 pages
ISBN 978-80-971181-0-5 EAN 9788097118105