New conceptualization of upbringing and education of Romany children

Abstract

With this paper, we made an attempt of developing a new conceptualization of upbringing and education of Romany children, based on the investigation of different levels of their special needs, since they represent a very heterogeneous group. The concept is multileveled, having its economic, linguistic, family, religious and other levels. A single correct approach in upbringing and education of Romany children is an individual one. In terms of individual teaching, it is necessary to create principles, and not models, that will be combined. Teachers and special educators (oligofrenologists) and special pedagogist should be trained to use not less than ten of these principles, so that they could combine them according to the needs of every child. Our opinion is that special educators in the area of mental retardation and special pedagogists for prevention of disorders in social behavior should be primarily educated in the area of specificity of education of Romany children and preservation of Romany culture trough specially designed one-semester curriculum. The priorities for these two profiles of educators are particularly understandable when it comes to inclusion of Romanizes in highest level of education. Likewise, it would be important to create conditions at the Faculty of special education and rehabilitation for the development of Romany carriers in aim to create Romany elite. That could be a solution for the problems of strengthening Romany cultural identity, their economic and political position, education of their children, employment and general growth of standard of living. Gathered efforts of non-Romanizes and Romanizes professionals are necessary in preserving of Romany culture. Culture is a way of strengthening and homogenization of a community, and only gathered efforts create possibility of inclusion of highly educated Romanizes in political work, and in structure of power.

U ovom radu pokušali smo da razvijemo novu konceptualizaciju vaspitanja i obrazovanja dece Roma zasnovanu na izučavanju raznih stepena njihovih posebnih potreba budući da nisu homogena grupa. Taj koncept je višeslojan: ima svoj ekonomski, jezički, porodični, verski itd. sloj. Jedini ispravan pristup u vaspitanju i obrazovanju dece Roma je individualni. U okviru individualne nastave potrebno je konstruisati principe, a ne modele, koji će se međusobno kombinovati. Učitelje i specijalne edukatore (oligofrenologe) i specijalne pedagoge treba osposobiti u primeni minimalno 10 principa koje bi kombinovali prema potrebi svakog deteta. Smatramo da bi specijalni edukatori u oblasti mentalne retardacije i specijalni pedagozi za prevenciju poremećaja u društvenom ponašanju trebalo da se obrazuju pre svega u oblasti specifičnosti obrazovanja romske dece i očuvanja romske kulture po posebno urađenom programu za jednosemestralni kurikulum. Ovi prioriteti za ova dva profila su razumljivi posebno kada je u pitanju uključivanje Roma u visoko obrazovni sistem. Takođe, bilo bi značajno i da se na FASPER-u stvore uslovi za razvoj romskih karijera u cilju stvaranja romske elite.To bi značilo rešavanje niza problema kao što su: jačanje kulturnog identiteta Roma , njihovo ekonomsko i političko osnaživanje , obrazovanje njihove dece, zapošljavanje i povećanje životnog standarda uopšte. U očuvanju romske kulture važni su zajednički napori profesionalaca koji su ne- Romi i profesionalaca koji su Romi. Kultura je put osnaživanja i homogenizacije zajednice, a samo zajednički napori otvaraju mogućnost uključivanja visoko obrazovanih Roma u političko delovanje, kao i uključivanje u strukture moći.