THE INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANT CHILDREN IN SLOVENIA: GOOD PRACTICES FROM PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

European society has always been and still is diverse in many aspects, including language, ethnicity, culture, religion and economics. We may thus speak of diversity both within individual countries and among countries – and also within school classrooms. Immigrant children who enrol in the Slovenian school system come to Slovenia primarily because of the family reunion. This paper sets out four examples of good practices (two urban and two rural schools), where various support systems were developed for the successful integration of immigrant children. The integration of immigrant children has been a success at those schools that are familiar with the possibilities under the law and European guidelines for integration of immigrant children, that seek a variety of ways to cooperate with parents, those schools where teachers take regular and additional training, develop their own intercultural competence and collaborate on a variety of projects. The results are even better if the school has support on the local level, and if intercultural competence is developed among all inhabitants.

Keywords

• integration of immigrant children
• intercultural competence
• Slovenian as a second/foreign language
• mother tongue and culture
• active citizenship