A simple equation: learning to teach in a multi-ethnic environment

Teachers have a complex social role to play in the classroom, alongside their duty to educate. This is especially true when teaching young children, whose early experiences at school can shape a lifetime's understanding. For children growing up in a country undergoing reform and renewal after ethnic conflict, education can give them a positive outlook on the changes in their society, which they can then carry back to their communities.

The OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje has been helping student teachers, such as Xhelal Ademi from Tetovo State University, with finding a balanced approach to teaching in multi-ethnic environments. Xhelal was one of 120 future teachers and social workers who attended a course in Ohrid, organized by the Mission's Education Team, from 26 September to 3 October. The seminar was the first part of a project to prepare future teachers for ethnically-integrated education.

"I met and communicated with colleagues from other ethnic groups and gained knowledge in the fields of domestic violence, human trafficking, and conflict resolution. I always thought that work with children from other ethnic groups would be more difficult. However, this project helped me to reconsider and change my opinion," says Xhelal.

Adding up the benefits

The Mission's Education Team developed a special practical course for the teaching students, giving them direct experience of teaching outside the formal education system. The placements are supported by non-governmental organizations that specialize in multi-ethnic learning. During the three-month course the students work with small groups of up to five children, allowing them to follow the learning progress of each child much more closely than is usual in schools with bigger classes.

"I became more aware that each child is an individual and that we can make a difference in his or her development. I had some previous knowledge about the seminar topics, but now I feel much more confident in addressing them," says Angela Pejovska, a student at Goce Delcev University in Stip.

Hard lessons for teachers

The majority of teachers are unprepared to teach children from other ethnic groups. A study conducted by the Mission's Education Team in 2009, among 4,000 secondary school students, showed that almost half of the teachers tended to make derogatory comments about other ethnic groups in front of their classes. Creating opportunities for future teachers to work with children from other ethnic groups at an early stage of their training is essential if this is to change.

The focus on educational training addresses the Mission's mandate to help reduce inter-ethnic tensions, starting at the grassroots level. It is hoped that the course will not only have a meaningful impact on the student teachers and the children, but that these principles will filter back into communities where contact with other ethnic groups can be rare, and perspectives on other groups deeply entrenched.

Professor of Pedagogy Fadbi Osmani from Tetovo State University said: "I compared the professional development of the students that participated in the OSCE project and did their practical work outside the formal education sector with those who did the regular practicum in schools. I noticed that the members of the former group have better professional skills and many of them also display better personal development."

A successful formula

The Mission has been running pre-service teacher training since 2008, starting with 20 teaching students from Saint Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. With the co-operation of Sumnal, a Roma non-governmental organization, the teachers gained experience with Roma children which would not have been possible within the formal system. The success of the training led it to become the model for a country-wide initiative engaging 350 student teachers, creating lasting structures of co-operation between teacher training institutions and the non-governmental sector.

To follow-up their work, the Mission co-ordinated the drafting of a training manual for the topics covered in the introductory seminar. The Manual will be published in Macedonian and Albanian in early 2011.