Description
In Poland until recently, the recruitment criteria prevented Roma children from going to pre-schools, which created unequal opportunities in education. In 2014 the rules were changed, but neither the Roma community, or pre-schools are not prepared for this change.The project is meant to counteract exclusion of Roma children in terms of pre-school level education, and to create a model for including those children in public pre-schools, with a guarantee of change sustainability based on the example of pre-schools in Wrocław and Kamienna Góra. The assumption is that the pre-schools will be prepared gradually, to make sure that Roma children feel safe and secure and find there a part of their culture. At the same time, the project team will motivate Roma parents to acknowledge the value of pre-school education and participate in enrolment. Project Partners will contribute by sharing experience and knowledge, and supporting the trainings and recruitment of participants.
Summary of project results
"Change in the criteria of admission process to kindergarten in 2014 gave priority to children with fewer opportunities (e.g. from large families). Romani children got an opportunity to start preschool education. But neither kindergartens nor the families were ready for this. The aim of the project was to counteract exclusion of Romani children through preparing Romani families for starting preschool education by the youngest children, preparing kindergartens for accepting culturally diverse children and creating the children integration model in public kindergartens in Wrocław and Kamienna Góra. Thanks to the project realization 9 kindergartens i 3 preschool facilities got prepared for acceptance of Romani children. 27 children from 19 Romani families benefited preschool education. During the preparation process, a study visit in Norway was organized. 25 preschool teachers from 12 facilities took part in 2 cycles of workshops on cultural diversity and sensitivity, Romani culture, counteracting discrimination and communication skills. 2 caregivers of Romani families tried to convince the families to take part in the admission process for kindergarten. 5 Roma assistants, who made sure the children attended the kindergarten, were trained and hired. 27 children from 19 Romani families started preschool education. In 12 kindergartens participating in the project Romani Culture Days were organized twice. In 108 preschool groups from 26 facilities open workshops on Romani culture for children and their parents (about 2700 persons) were conducted. Angelus Silesius House prepared and ran trainings for teachers and integration activities for children and parents. Foundation Familijny Poznań and Integration Kindergarten No. 89 provided active participation of preschool facilities in the project. Association of Roma Education Assistants in Poland supported preparation of Roma assistants and their integration activities. Queen Maud University from Norway helped to arrange the study visit, which showed an example of a comprehensive system of incorporating minority culture in preschool education. Beneficiaries of the project were 27 Romani children. "
Summary of bilateral results
The bilateral partnership contributed to the project mainly on the level of sharing experiences, learning from each other. The Norwegian partner who implemented similar project earlier before the implementation of the project in Poland could share the lessons learned from its experience in terms of methodology of work with teachers, methods used in kindergartens as well as the role of Travelers in the project. Polish teachers who visited multicultural kindergartens in Norway got inspiration to implement some strategies in their kindergartens. The project also contributed to better understanding of history of discriminated minorities of similar origin (Roma and Travelers) as well as allowed to improve knowledge and understanding of the results of discrimination and its consequences for contemporary societies and integration within. The other result of bilateral cooperation was the publication of text prepared by Norwegian partner about Travelers and kindergarten project in Polish Roma magazine Dialog -Pheniben.