OSCE Mission to Skopje promotes training for teachers working in multi-ethnic environments

SKOPJE, 10 July 2009 - Twenty pedagogy students from Skopje University had the opportunity to learn teaching techniques in an intercultural context and acquire basic knowledge of Roma culture through a one-week OSCE-supported workshop which ended in Bitola today.

The future pre-school and primary school teachers who have completed the workshop will go on to work with Roma children over the coming months as part of a project with Sumnal, a local non-governmental organization, to provide learning support to Roma children. The students are taking part in the project as part of their mandatory student teaching course.

"By offering future teachers the chance to do their practical placement outside the formal educational system and with children from other ethnic groups, this project is an important step towards improving pre-service teacher training in general and raising teachers' cultural awareness in particular. We hope that this project will become a model for other pedagogical faculties in the country," said Johann Schustereder, the Education Development Officer at the OSCE Mission to Skopje.

The project was initiated by Sumnal and supported by the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, with financial support from the Austrian Development Agency and the German Foreign Ministry.

Fatma Bajram, the head of Sumnal, added: "Apart from contributing to improving Roma children's performance in school, the project will also decrease the level of prejudice against Roma children among teachers."

A second group of 20 future teachers will attend a similar workshop in September before obtaining practical experience in working with Roma children.