THE SPECIAL SCHOOL: THE SHORTEST WAY TO MARGINALIZATION SOFIA, JULY 2007

1. Deyan KOLEVCenter AMALIPE THE SPECIAL SCHOOL:THE SHORTEST WAY TO MARGINALIZATIONSOFIA, JULY 2007

2. The Special schools • The Special schools are schools for children with mental disabilities that enroll children from the first to the eighth grade, but do not offer a formal diploma on graduation. • The overrepresentation of Roma in special schools came to the attention of the European Commission as early as 1999, with the 1999 Regular Report on Bulgaria’s progress towards accession. • The procedure for placement of children in special schools for persons with disabilities is regulated by the Rules and Regulations for the Application of the National Education Act and by Ordinance No. 6 of the Ministry of Education and Science from 19 August 2002.246 • Major role in the procedure for placement of children in special schools play the Team for Complex Pedagogical Assessment (TCPA). • The role of the TCPA is to assess whether the child is appropriate for integrated education. Nevertheless, even if the TCPA assesses it is not, it is the right of the parent to enroll the student in any school he/she wants (even a mainstream school). • In addition, it is regulated that the parent should be present during the testing.

3. The Special schools • At the beginning of each school year the Head of the Regional Inspectorate of Education issues and order which regulates the work and the frequency of the meetings of the TCPA • The TCPA consists of different specialists: educators and psychologist; there are no medical professionals in the committee. The expert on integrated education from the RIE chairs the meetings. • A 2004 evaluation of the legality of the placement in the special schools, conducted by the SACP, revealed that • in the files of 533 children placed in the special schools there were no TCPA records for placement. • In the files of 1,912 children there were no protocols of the diagnostic teams for the assessment of their individual educational needs. • In 623 cases there were no applications by family members.

4. The Resource centers • In 2006 the Ministry of education has declared its deliberate policy to take active measures for the educational integration of the children from the special schools. • In October 28 Resource centers have been created in all districts. The aim of the resource centers is to provide the necessary pedagogical and other support to the children integrated from special to mainstream schools. • A resource teacher is supposed to work individually with each of the integrated children in order to help her/him to catch up with the material and adapt better in the new environment. • Each resource teacher should work with no more than 5 children • THE PROBLEM: the resource center started their work at the end of October while the most difficult period for all the integrated children (from both, pedagogical and psychological perspective) was the first month and a half from the beginning of the school year • As a result some of the children dropped out and got back to the special schools

5. The reasons for having Roma children in the special schools • Poverty, marginalization; • Receiving different types of social benefits from the schools (food, free textbooks, school materials, dress, and so on); • Strong and intensive campaign of special schools staff among marginalized communities; • Discrimination in the mainstream school; • Lack of information among Roma parents what the special school is; “I did not know this is a special school. I used to know it another way: it is a “special” school” because they give “special benefits” for the children. I did not know this is a school for mentally retarded children” Natasha, mother of 5 children

6. The experience of Center Amalipe • In the summer of 2006 Center Amalipe started intensive work with 13 children from a small ghetto in Veliko Turnovo • In 2005 there were 41 children in school age in the ghetto. 21 out of them are enrolled in the special school. • The special school is situated at a distance of several km and some of the children do not visit it at all although they are enrolled there. • In a very close proximity of the ghetto there are two central mainstream primary schools

7. Preliminary work • Work with the parents: • To get them very well informed what the special school is and what it means for their children to finish a special school • To get them motivated to face the challenges and difficulties their children will meet at the beginning moving to the mainstream school • To raise their engagement towards the education of their children • Work with the children: • Prepare them for the challenges and difficulties they will meet at the beginning moving to the mainstream school • Psychologically prepare them for meeting a new environment and new people • Work with the teachers and managing bodies in the mainstream schools: • Provide the full support for integrating the children from the special school • Discussions with the teachers in which classes the children will be enrolled about what pedagogical and psychological tools can be used to ease their adaptation • Discussion about what problems they could face from the other children and parents and how to avoid them; huge explanatory work with the other students and their parents

8. The children

9. The TCPA in Veliko Turnovo • By the regulations of the law each child could be enrolled in every school the parent chooses. • In order to have a resource teacher the child should have a protocol for being directed for integrated education from the regional TCPA. • The TCPA in Veliko Turnovo met on September 19, 2006. • A number of irregularities accompanied the work of the regional TCPA: • The meeting of the TCPA took place in the building of the Special school “St.Teodosii Turnovski”; • The TCPA included teachers from the Special school wheer the children have studied; • The children were not given a test but tasks in Bulgarian language and mathematics. The children were assessed on the basis of knowledge acquired in school in the previous years and not on the basis of having or not mental disabilities; • The children were given tasks from textbooks for higher grades; • The most stressing element in the work of the TCPA was however their general attitude towards the children. The children were told several times that they would fail and would not make it in the mainstream school so it is better for them to stay in the special school.

10. The difficulties and the challenges... • The hard resistance of the teachers from the Special school “St.Teodosii Turnovski” to support the integration of children without any mental disabilities in the mainstream schools. • The attitude and the work of the TCPA: as a result three of the children went back to the Special school; • The unwillingness of the Regional Inspectorate of Education to take an active position and support the integration of children without mental disabilities; • The lack of resource teachers from the beginning of the school year • The lack of educational habits in the children: in the beginning they did not have habits how to behave in class, how to hold a pen, to carry textbooks and notebooks, etc…

11. The parents... • Some of them were deeply convinced that their children should be in the mainstream school and managed to overcome the difficulties. They took their responsibility to support their children during the adaptation period • Some were afraid that taking their children from the Special school will have negative consequences for them (on behalf of the social authorities) • Some were rather indifferent THE CHANGE…. • “My child should be in school. I won’t send him to the “rocket” school…” (Gina, mother of Georgi, 9-years old) • “I want to save my child from here” (Sevda, mother of Margaritka – 5 years old) • “I will stay with him at school every day while he gets used to it” (Tomi, father of Ivan – 8 years old.) • “I was responsible for the group today” (Lili, mother of Anke -8 year old)

12. The supportive out-of-school work • During the whole school yearCenterAmalipetogetherwiththeCenterforsocialrehabilitationandintegrationorganizesout-of-schoolactivitieswiththe Romachildrenwhogotenrolledfromthe specialtothe mainstreamschoolsor have not attended school at all atthebeginningof 2006/2007 schoolyear. • A team of volunteers have meetings with the children twice a week. The workshops are directed towards developing the individual skills and interests of the children. • Thechildrenhave the opportunity to draw and paint together different object: cards, vases, generation trees and so on; they participate in different games: scout games, team events, etc. the practice shows that drawing and painting help children develop their motion abilities, improve handwriting and so on. • We use the art-therapy approach in the work and thus provide opportunity for every child to express her/himself, to develop his/her communicative skills, to respect both, her/himself and the other children in the group. • Themajorgoalsinourworkaretwo: pedagogicalanddidactical – formationofateambehaviourandbelonginginthechildren, acceptingoftheother, makingfriends, gainingconfidence. From one hand, the children have the opportunity to develop their skills; from one – they fulfill their spare time

13. The supportive out-of-school work • The work with the children is divided into tree moduli: • The theoretical part is connected with the given topic of the present session. • This should be within 10-15 minutes. • The major goal of this part of the session is to inform the children, to provide new knowledge, either through telling a story and event or sharing an interesting happening or presenting a historical fact. • This modul attracts the attention of the children especially if it is presented under the form of “Do you know that…”. • It is good if at the end of it the major topic is repeated within an interesting thought or sentence put on a sticker or a color peace of paper. • The practical part is the major one. • It continues from 35 to 40 minutes. • The activities with the children here are concentrated on implementing different tasks and projects: preparing vases, pictures and so on. • Depending on the difficulty of the task the children can be divided into groups so that a differentiated approach could be applied. • They can work individually or in a team depending on the issue

14. The supportive out-of-school work • The third modul is the games. • They are an extremely important part of the whole workshop. • It is good every meeting to start also with a relaxing game within 10 – maximum 15 minutes. This makes the children relax, makes them move and ease. • The sessions should also end with a game (better team building games). • The way the person working with the children organizes the sessions is very important. • This requires both pedagogical and psychological background. • One of the interactive methods applied is presenting the obligatory in the format of a game, e.g. at the end of each meeting the children have to clean the room. At the beginning they used to make it with disgust. Therefore, we decided to make it through a game where the children have to clean and tide the room for 1-2 minutes (time is always counted). We have been surprised that all the children enthusiastically joined the game.

15. Today...