Children's rights and cultural diversity in the school : a focus on the integration of non-Maltese speaking children in the primary classroom

Abstract

This inquiry aims to examine children's rights and cultural diversity in the school to gain a better understanding as to whether cultural diversity is a feature of our Primary schools. I also hoped to gain insight into whether or not children's right to respect for their cultural diversity is observed in the classroom. The purpose of the actual study was to explore the level of integration of non-Maltese speaking children coming from different cultural backgrounds into their classroom environment. A class of Year 6 children in two State Primary schools participated in this study along with teachers, administration and parents of each respective school. The study carried out was purely an illustrative one and no generalizations may be made. Findings of the study indicated that multiple factors influence the level of integration of such children. Findings also indicated a lack of educational policies and domestic legislation to ensure that non-Maltese speaking children receive equal educational opportunities to their Maltese speaking peers. I would recommend and encourage further research to be carried out in this area. I would also suggest a revision of domestic legislation with regards to the right of non-Maltese children to receive support on a linguistic and social level to facilitate integration into mainstream schools. Very few legal provisions actually exist in this respect. From a legal standpoint, access to education seems to be guaranteed, however, access to quality education for these children, accompanied by adequate support for linguistic and social integration seems to have been given little consideration.