This article comes to us from Romano Vod'i, published on December 27, 2012. O Porrajmos Education Society would like to thank them and Gwendolyn Albert for the use of the article.
On transforming the Czech "practical primary schools"
Prague, 27.12.2012 17:37, (Romano vod'i)
A teaching assistant at the Božena Němcová Primary School in Přerov. (PHOTO: YouTube.com)
Iveta Němečková is the coordinator of the Together to School coalition and has worked as a special educator, a director, a lecturer in education programs, a coordinator and a specialist in education methods for the Step by Step program. She has implemented a project aimed at integrating Romani pupils into primary education and has participated in designing an international education program focusing on working with prejudices and stereotypes. She has long been an advocate of inclusive education and has worked as the coordinator of early childhood care projects. She is a lecturer in adult education and a coordinator and organizer of educational events. She contributed the following commentary to the latest issue of Romano voďi.
In recent months, a wave of reaction to planned measures that are supposed to help address the situation of Romani pupils (among others) in the education system has spread through communications networks and the media. The measures were adopted by the Government of the Czech Republic last year and were part of its "Strategy for the Fight against Social Exclusion".
The subject of this communications campaign has primarily been measures aiming to transform the so-called "practical primary schools". Under the name of a "Petition against closing the practical schools", it has spread throughout the entire Czech Republic. Many of my fellow citizens, friends and parents of schoolchildren have asked me what is basically at issue here.
First and foremost, the group behind this petition is the Association of Special Educators (Asociace speciálních pedagogů), who argue that there is a need for separate schools for children with light mental retardation and warns against closing them. As one of the authors of the petition, Jana Smetanová, has stated: "...the current situation is convenient - thanks to special care we have one of the lowest levels of illiteracy".
Permit me to add that special education is a very broad concept. It primarily involves support for children with serious medical disabilities (auditory, visual, and physical, as well as medium and severe mental disabilities). The proposed transformation does not concern the network of specialized schools serving this population, but exclusively concerns one type of school only - schools for children with light mental disability.
What is basically at issue here, and what is another way to view the current situation? These primary schools that instruct their pupils according to programs for children with light mental retardation are relatively new institutions in the education system, but only as far as their names are concerned. In reality, these schools are carrying on the long tradition of "special schools" and, just like those schools, they educate children who have been diagnosed with so-called light mental retardation. For the sake of completeness, I must add that in reality these schools are also attended by children who have never been diagnosed as mentally disabled, as a report by the Czech School Inspection Authority showed in 2010.
Another fact is that a disproportionately high share of Romani children attend these schools - a far greater share than corresponds to the probability of their being disabled. It is difficult to believe that more than 25 % of children from Romani families suffer from light mental retardation when the prevalence of this disability in the rest of the population does not exceed 2 %. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg also strongly pointed this out when it brought a judgment against the Czech Republic in 2007 for the "indirect discrimination" of Romani children in education.
We should also look at how, in most countries in Europe (and not only in Europe), children with light mental disability primarily attend mainstream primary schools. In countries where the education system functions at a good level, these students have very good professional support guaranteed to them in mainstream schools. These pupils are accepted by both their teachers and their classmates. They find a broader circle of friends and acquire good social skills.
This is a good investment into their future lives - it is basically good news for everyone. These so-called "integrated" children find it easier to navigate society with a higher degree of independence in their adult lives. The other children in the classroom learn to count on the fact that people with special needs are an ordinary part of society. The "specialized schooling system" exists for pupils for whom such support in a mainstream school is not sufficient, pupils who would not be well-accepted among the other children, pupils in whose actual best interest it is to attend schools outside the mainstream.
I think it is also necessary to stress that transformation is not the same thing as closing the schools. The aim of this transformation is primarily to create better conditions for educating children who need support. Those who will be benefited by such support at a mainstream school should simply be educated with the rest of the population.
As part of this transformation, it is important to bring the educational programs of the so-called "practical primary schools" closer to the programs used by mainstream schools - and primarily to bring them closer to what today's schoolchildren will need once they are adults. After all, don't we want them to succeed in high school, in apprenticeships, and in adult life? It is no secret that it is precisely the graduates of these former "special schools" that have the greatest difficult in finding employment. It is also no secret how often such graduates are to be found among the residents of socially excluded localities.
Yes, if the transformation is successful, a certain number of schools for children with light mental disabilities are definitely certain to close - they will not be needed. Their pupils will attend ordinary primary schools and professional support will be provided to them there. Isn't this also a good aim for special educators, to help these children master education in a mainstream primary school, achieve good results, and find a broader range of options for themselves in adulthood?
In conclusion, I would like to sum up this commentary by reflecting on the question of what the advantage is of educating children together in the same school and what the hidden risks of this approach are. The children now in the "practical primary schools" who will attend mainstream school along with the rest of the population in future will achieve better results, provided they have sufficient support, and will be more motivated to educate themselves. It will be far easier for them to assert themselves in their adult lives and to choose a profession from a broader range of options.
Another big bonus - and this argues against educating these children in "special schools" - is the option provided by the mainstream schools for natural contact with their peers, for the building of relationships, and for the acquisition of the corresponding social skills. It is precisely those skills that are very important for their adult lives and their ability to assert themselves in society - and not only for them. Many years ago, I noticed that children who collaborate with, communicate with, and encounter other children who need a greater degree of support in a natural setting become more mature as human beings. They look at the world with a greater degree of comprehension and understanding of their own needs and those of others. That is a very big bonus for all of us.
I believe that in order to head towards the common education of all children, we primarily need to prepare the conditions for that education in the mainstream primary schools. We need to prepare their teachers and provide a support system of special educators and psychologists - for example, those professionals currently providing support to pupils in the "practical primary schools".
Iveta Němečková, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
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