The knowledge of the Polish language and the integration of the romani in Poland – an outline of the problem

The article puts forward a thesis that the main source of problems for Romani children in the Polish schools is a general low level of proficiency in Polish in the Romani community. Other sources of intensification of the problem, apart from the culturally conditioned low level of integration of the Romani minority, include the imperfect system of educating of early school teachers, Polish teachers and pedagogues which does not include any elements of intercultural communication or glottodidactics. The lack of knowledge in the aforementioned disciplines frequently lead to a false classification of the Romani children as mentally retarded which leads to sending them off to special schools. The obvious bilingualism of the Romani people results in the fact that the Romani children who begin their education in the Polish school do not know Polish actively. The reluctance among the Romani is also evoked by a striking lack of knowledge of basic issues from the culture and history of the Romani community among  the teachers. The article presents initial results of a study on language issues and the disposition of the Romani children in the Polish
school and points to some crucial issues that the teachers should be aware of.

Article Title	Type	Size
Porownania 9 01 25	[pdf]	[534 KB]