The system of support measures and its effectiveness in the education of socially disadvantaged Roma students
Abstract
Th e education of students with special educational needs in mainstream schools in the Czech Republic is currently based mainly on a system of what are called support measures provided on the basis of recommendations from counselling facilities. Th e aim of the study presented here is to evaluate the eff ectiveness of this support system in the education of socially disadvantaged Roma students.
Th e article presents data from qualitative research carried out in the form of semi-structured interviews with schools' staff members and experts on the issue. The results of the research point to the following specifi c barriers in the functioning of the system of support measures for socially disadvantaged Roma pupils: a) teachers and counsellors are not able to suffi ciently identify social disadvantage as a source of the student's special educational needs; b) the whole process of diagnosing and recommending support measures is very time-consuming; c) the parents of socially disadvantaged students oft en do not go with their children to the counselling facility and thus they do not go through the diagnostic process and cannot obtain the necessary recommendation; (d)linking support measures to specifi c students is very unstable, particularly for schools with a large number of migrant students; e) the whole process is administratively demanding.
Considering the conclusions and their comparison with findings from other professional sources, it is clear that in order to provide the necessary educational support (teaching assistants, special teachers, educational interventions, etc.) in schools with a larger number of socially disadvantaged Roma students, it is necessary to establish a more stable system of fi nancing and providing support measures which would not be based on the need for diagnostics and recommendations from counselling facilities.