engleski

Not my crime, still my sentence: rights of children of incarcerated parents in education

In the last decade there is increasing number of children of incarcerated parents worldwide. These children are recognized as a socially vulnerable group and should receive support from their immediate environment, including teachers and peers. Some research suggests that children of incarcerated parents experience biases in the classrooms, and a significant number of them remain invisible to educating professionals. To find out whether biases are present in Croatian classrooms, during June 2017 an online survey was conducted. Overall 94 teachers and other educational professionals (pedagogues, psychologists, special education teachers, etc.), in 4 Croatian counties were enrolled. The results showed that educational professionals have a strong sense of social conformism when it comes to children of incarcerated parents: they recognize children’s rights in terms of protection, but their support is mainly restricted to academic achievement and preventive actions, while peer mediation is completely ignored. Also, they admit their own incompetence for providing adequate support for children of incarcerated parents. This should be considered as a foundation for establishing lifelong learning programs for teachers and other educational professionals in the field of children’s rights in education, including children of incarcerated parents.

incarcerated parents, classroom, education, biases, support

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