Pilot Outcome Report Slovenia November 2018 Authors: Dr. Jerneja Jager Mag. Mateja Režek Petra Bozovičar Cinzia Canali Devis Geron Contact: Educational Research Institute, Step by Step Centre for Quality in Education; [email protected] Fondazione Emanuela Zancan onlus; [email protected], [email protected] This publication has been developed with financial support from the European Commission, under the Erasmus+ Programme, Key Action 3, the Forward Looking Cooperation projects. The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Pilot Outcome Report – Slovenia 2 Table of Contents 1. Summary of results .................................................................................................................. 4 2. Context, needs and goals in the pilot ........................................................................................ 4 2.1 Short description of the local reference context and the main needs addressed ....................... 4 2.2 Project goals in the pilot ............................................................................................................... 6 3. Monitoring and evaluation ....................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Methodology adopted for monitoring and evaluation ................................................................ 7 3.2 Pilot activities, outputs, outcomes: achieved vs. expected .......................................................... 8 3.3 Outcomes for the workforce involved in the project and outcomes for children and parents . 14 3.4 The journey towards integration: the dynamics of integration ................................................. 21 3.5 Insights from the pilot visits ....................................................................................................... 23 3.6 Overall strengths and weaknesses of the pilot .......................................................................... 23 4. Discussion about changes ...................................................................................................... 24 5. Dissemination, replicability and future sustainability of the pilot activities .............................. 26 5.1 Communication and dissemination at the local/national level .................................................. 26 5.2 Replicability of elements of the project in the country .............................................................. 31 5.3 Strategies of future sustainability ............................................................................................... 32 5.4 Summary of the journey and future developments ................................................................... 32 6. Recommendations for policy makers and professionals ........................................................... 33 6.1 Summary of lesson learned ........................................................................................................ 33 6.2 Policy Recommendations ........................................................................................................... 34 Recommendations for policy makers ............................................................................................... 34 Recommendations at inter-institutional level .................................................................................. 34 Recommendations at institutional level ........................................................................................... 34 Recommendations regarding professionals ..................................................................................... 34 Pilot Outcome Report – Slovenia 3 1. Summary of results The general goals of the project were: 1. To promote early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems which are responsive to and inclusive of vulnerable children and their families due to better integration of services and a more holistic and child and family-centred approach; and 2. Improved educational attainment of children from vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalized groups who have benefitted from more holistic, integrated and responsive ECEC services and systems. In both pilot sites we have been working in direction toward both general goals with establishing Local Action Yeams (LAT), consisting of representatives of various sectors and services in local communities, which are in contact with Romani population. LATs were following specific goals in both pilots related to increasing the enrolment rate and attendance of Romani children in preschool programs (Preschool Kekec Grosuplje) and making transition from preschool to primary school for the Romani children smoother (Preschool Mavrica Trebnje). We can conclude that in reaching the first general goal, we have certainly achieved a big step forward (at least in one of the pilots). The second goal is very complex. It requires a changed understanding of professionals’ role in order to truly involve Roma families in the planning meaningful programs, for implementing outreach approach; and in particularly, requires a constant reflection of the role of a professional. At the same time, in order to achieve this goal, a competent, supportive and integrated system must be developed in the local environment. In our pilots, we made the first steps towards creating such a system, but in order to achieve the improved educational attainment, more time and joint efforts are required. The main lessons learned indicate that: ● Support from municipality is important ● Involvement of managers (managerial level) is important ● Sufficient and recognised time for joint meetings and activities carried out should be ensured ● Involvement of vulnerable group(s) into the process from the very beginning and taking into account their proposals should be provided ● The importance of outreach activities, especially when the targeted (vulnerable) group(s) are not frequent or regular ‘users’ of activities/services in the municipality (e.g. when they are segregated from the local community as Romani community (usually) is) should be recognised as one of the key organisational values ● Sensibilization of all key persons involved who come in regular contact with representatives of Romani community is a must. 2. Context, needs and goals in the pilot 2.1 Short description of the local reference context and the main needs addressed The pilot in Slovenia was implemented in Grosuplje and Trebnje, characterised by a very low enrolment rate of Romani children preschool’s education. The environments where the pilot was implemented are environments with traditional Romani settlement. Preschool Kekec Grosuplje operates in 9 buildings and includes approximately 750 children. In preschool’s area there are six Romani settlements, where approximately 20 Romani families live with 36 preschool children. At the beginning of the piloting phase one of them was enrolled in the preschool. Pilot Outcome Report – Slovenia 4 Preschool Kekec Grosuplje is a long-standing member of Step by Step Network of preschools, strongly focusing on professional development of preschool staff. Since 2014, the preschool is actively involved in initiatives focused on approaching Romani families and including children into preschool. In the preschool’s project core team, five preschool teachers, the director, the deputy director and the preschool counsellor was included. In the Local Action Team (LAT) were included representatives of the preschool (core project team), local Roma councelor, Amnesty International (accompanying Roma counsellor), 2 primary schools (school’s counsellors), health care centre (paediatrician, educator of health education/nurse), centre for social work (director and 2 professionals), public library (librarian),centre for school and outdoor education (2 providers of workshops in Romani settlement and their mentor), police, employment service (professional from local office). In steering group representatives of preschool, primary school, centre for social work, health care institution, centre for school and outdoor education (managerial and professional level) were included. Representatives of municipality were also invited to all meetings. In the Municipality of Grosuplje, the majority of Romani parents is unemployed, and their housing is very bad. All of the settlements have electricity, but not all of the cottages have running water, sewerage system is not regulated. In LAT were included: representatives of preschool (core project team), primary school (teachers, school counsellor), municipality, centre for social work, Roma association (few meetings, later representative could not attend meetings due to work obligations), health care institution (paediatrician), centre for adult education. In the Steering Group, representatives of preschool, primary school, centre for social work, municipality, health care centre (all managerial level) were included. Preschool Mavrica Trebnje in the municipality of Trebnje has nine units which are attended by approximately 620 children. One of the units is located (from 2009) in the Roma settlement Vejar, 4 km away from town Trebnje. In Roma settlement there are approximately 300 inhabitants. The settlement is equipped with basic infrastructure (electricity, water, sewerage, wastewater