Intercultural education and mother tongues of immigrant children: The case of Slovenia

Abstract

PURPOSE. Intercultural education has become an important topic and one of the priorities for schools and education systems worldwide. Teachers should acquire knowledge about inclusion and intercultural education during their university education, but despite evidence that principals, teachers and schools feel ill-equipped to teach and engage in intercultural education, it in many countries, including Slovenia, this is not the case. For this reason in this paper, we present an intercultural model of education that offers teachers concrete support in the inclusion of migrant children.

APPROACH. In addition to the comprehensive model of intercultural education, the article also presents some changes in legislation based on an analysis of educational regulations on inclusion and the development of intercultural education in Slovenia in recent years, which have a direct impact on the inclusion of immigrant pupils and students. The article also points out that teaching of mother tongues and cultures lessons for immigrant children is a very important part of intercultural education. Mother tongue and culture lessons in schools can be an opportunity to develop intercultural dialogue, and intercultural competence of all students, teachers and parents. Figures in Slovenia show that the number of schools offering mother tongues and cultures for children with a migrant background is slowly growing, but there are fewer languages to choose from.

FINDINGS. Teachers do not feel competent in the area of inclusion of migrant students, intercultural education and teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. This article therefore presents an intercultural model of education that offers teachers concrete support and actively involves all stakeholders in the integration process: Teachers, students, parents, migrants and their organizations, and local communities.

KEY MESSAGE. As classrooms are becoming more culturally and linguistically diverse as a result of migration, systemic solutions and a holistic approach are needed to integrate immigrant pupils into the education system. The article focuses on the case of Slovenia, but the proposed holistic model is also transferable to other national contexts.