Successful Pathways for the

Second Generation of Migrants

Report about Second Generation Migrants

and the pedagogical approach in Slovenia

January 2010

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project nr: 502260-LLP-2009-1-IT-GRUNDTVIG-GMP

1
Alenka Janko Spreizer, Eva Brajkovič, Tomaž Gregorc

1. Introduction
This text is one of the seven European national reports on second generation migrants composed
within the framework of Bridge, an EU Grundtvig project. It deals with the situation of second
generation migrants in Slovenia (chapter 2) and outlines main autobiographical pedagogical
approaches that are applied in Slovenia to improve adult education skills and ability (chapter 3).
Chapter 4 introduces three best practices of organizations/initiatives that adopt the method of
biography work in their engagement with first and second generation migrants. The findings
presented in this report are based on an extensive literature and internet research conducted by three
researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Primorska – Faculty of
Humanities Koper.

As elsewhere, the issue on migration is the field of knowledge in expansion: this can be percieved
in Slovenian academic production. From the year 1991 on the research topics on migration are
increasing. There are several institutions, such as research institutes and faculty units, where
researchers are exploring “the new minorities”, “the Slovenian national question”, “the
immigrants”, “Slovenian emigrants”, “the erased” etc.

The issue of second generation migrants was not often and substantially addressed or explored.
There are no statistical data on this topic since researchers were previously focused on Slovenian
emigrants, and on ex-SFR Yugoslav (SFRY) immigrations. The reason for this is historical. Former
SFRY was a poly-ethnic state. In this time (from 1945 up to 1991) Slovenia was one of socialist
republics where the status of Italian and Hungarian minorities was legaly regulated: The members
of these minorities had special collective rights, yet they were considered as native Slovenian
citizens (for analysis on adult education cf Jelenc, Janko Mirčeva).

On the other hand, from the year 1991, when Slovenia became an independant country, immigrants
had and still have specific collective rights in terms of minority cultural, social and educational
politics. In the period of the SFRY the main institutions where the issue of migration was explored
were the Institute of Ethnic Studies and The Institute of Slovenian Emigration. There were also
some researchers who started to ethnographically explore the situation of immigrant workers from
former parts of SFR Yugoslavia (Mežnarič). In present day there are several reserachers who are
affiliated to different scholar disciplines at the Slovenian public and private universities who
explore the issue of migration.

According to Josipovič (2009) in the times of the former state there were three migration 1 periods:
the first period was after the WW2 up to the year 1970, the second period was the period from 1971
to 1991. Third period was dated from the year 1991, when Slovenia separated from the ex-SFR
Yugoslavia and became the independent state. The first period could be descibed as migration

1
Josipovič (2009: 25) understands migrations as a part of human mobility or capability to move. He writes about
movements or settlements when the person in questions changes the location of permanent or temporary address, and
when he or she passes the boundary of the settlement. He warns the reader not to equalize daily mobility. It could be
added, that the Josipovič’s term “migrations” joins internal and external migration.

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period, when the ethnic structure of some parts of the Socialist Republis of Slovenia (SRS) (i. e. in
Kočevsko, Pomurje, Obala as well as in bigger towns) changed. The last part of this period was
connected with the immigration from the parts of the former SFRY, which were mainly directed to
urban and other important centres. (Josipovič 2009: 26-27).

After the colapse of theformer socialist state and after the independence of the Republic of Slovenia
some researchers started to discuss the “new minorities”. This term does not include several
categories of people such as gays, lesbians, or specific subcultural groups, as it is the case in some
anthropological writing on multiculturalism. Instead of this, the term “new minorieties” signifies
migrants from ex-SFRY republics, and their “non-Slovenian ethnic origin”. Among them, there
were included also people with different national affiliation and yet some of them with Slovenian
citizenship.

In 1992 the refugees (or displaced persons) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and other parts
of former SFR Yugoslavia began to come to Slovenia. The politicians and the public were for the
first time confronted with a relatively numerous migration of people seeking refuge; this gave rise
to xenophobic media statements and political discourses about a Slovenian state threatened by the
massive influx of people. The next comparatively large inflow of people seeking refuge in Slovenia
happened in 1999, when military confrontations broke out in Kosovo.

Throughout this time the transport and communication routes, which had been open in the former
Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), were becoming less easily accessible to the
majority of people. Additionally, the borders of former Yugoslav Republics, which at that time
existed only on geographical maps, became borders of newly established states and the national
police took over the control and surveillance of borders. For a short period of time people were able
to cross the national borders with the old Yugoslav passports; later they had to apply for new
documents and consequently for new citizenship. People who moved to Slovenia as migrant
workers during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, when the growing industrialisation of SFRY created a
need for predominantly low-qualified labour force, were confronted with increasing difficulties of
mobility due to war and newly established national borders. At first some people were able to offer
accommodation to their relatives who came to seek shelter. In those turbulent times some of the
former migrants applied for a Slovenian citizenship, whereas some did not. Those who didn’t would
later become ‘erased’ 2 from the register of permanent residency and therefore expelled from the
new state. Many refugees from former ex- SFRY republics stayed in Slovenia and some of them
applied for citizenship. Their status was very complicated, since they were not considered as
refugees: instead of this, they got a permisson for stay on the basis of temporary shelter.

It is also important to mention the category of the erased. Janko Spreizer (2008) first came across
the term ‘the erased’ at the beginning of the year 2002, while she was conducting research 3 on the
construction of Otherness. At that time she contacted a person after having listened to a radio show
on ‘the erased’ and personally encountered a young man of Bosnian descent - who was, however,
born in Slovenia - and his own experience of being erased. At the beginning of her research the
notion of the erased was still unknown, since the phenomenon was not subject of discussion until
the onset of 2002. This issue became more discussed only after the people without papers finally
united their initiatives in the Association of the Erased Residents of Slovenia (February 2002),
when the general public, including the academia, first became aware of the ‘administrative ethnic

2
This term is going to be described below.
3
The research Imagining the Other: construction of Otherness in the case of immigrants (refugees, displaced persons,
asylum seekers, No. Z6-3437 (B ) mainly dealt with the construction of cultural and ethnic difference, and with the
several discourses on migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

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cleansing’ (Dedić, 2003a: 17). The term ‘the erased’ is used to designate individuals who lived in
Slovenia and were entered in the Slovenian Register of Permanent Residents. In terms of their
‘ethnic label’ they were Slovenians, Serbs, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Bosnians or
Bosniaks, Roma, etc.; in short, they were mainly emigrants from former Yugoslav republics or their
offspring or they were born in some of the former republics of the SFRY. Many of them were born
in Slovenia; however, they were often listed by the authorities in the Register of republic
citizenship 4 according to the logic of racial and blood relations with the territory of their parents’
descent. Before the erasure many of these ‘new aliens’, as they were designated by the government,
had had permanent residence and employment in Slovenia, paid contributions to their insurance and
social security funds, paid taxes, exercised their right to vote, and enjoyed rights concomitant with
residential status. Erasure can be seen as an intentional political act, especially since no notification
had been given to the people in question as to potential repercussions of not applying for
citizenship. In February 26th, 1992, with one single act, shaped by an employee of the Ministry of
Interior following an internal order and thus without any legal or administrative grounds – they
were erased from the Register of permanent residents without ever being notified of this decision.
The legal basis of their existence in Slovenia was gone. Their valid personal documents, such as
passports and identity cards were destroyed; they lost their jobs and were denied the possibility to
work legally, many of them could not retire and enjoy their pensions. (Cf. Krivic, 2003: 159). 5 The
authorities interpreted the erasure as a transfer from the Register of citizens to the Register of aliens.
This move rendered the erased politically displaced or dead: they were treated as permanent
residents who no longer live in Slovenia for various reasons, such as death or permanent emigration
(Cf. Dedić, 2003b: 19). Consequently, some of them were completely marginalized and sank into
illegality.

All their papers were officially annulled. Some of the erased were advised by police to leave the
country to avoid deportation, while others left Slovenia of their own initiative. Some were
suggested to get their papers in order in the countries where the war was still raging: for some of
them the regulation of their new status of foreigners was not possible. (Krivic, 2003: 157–164). In
several cases individuals who were born in Slovenia became apatrids - due to administrative
negligence they had not been entered into the Register of citizenship. The general public remained
silent for a decade; then the silence was broken; the issue of the erased precipitated the publication
of research on the legal context of this violation of human rights and an ethnographic study (Dedić,
Jalušič, Zorn, 2003).

4
At the time, the institution of the 'republic citizenship' was unknown even to numerous legal experts and had been
considered fairly insignificant before the break-up of Yugoslavia; in any case, it definitely did not hold as much
relevance as it did after the year 1992 (Cf. Zorn, 2003: 93).
5
After the successful plebiscite on the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Slovenia (held on the 23rd
December 1990), the Basic Constitutional Charter on the Sovereignty and Independence of the Republic of Slovenia,
Declaration of Independence and several acts asserting sovereignty were passed on the 25th June 1991. 26th December
1991 was the application deadline for obtaining Slovenian citizenship. On the 26th February 1992 stipulations from the
Aliens Act come to force for individuals who had registered permanent residence in Slovenia but failed to apply for
Slovenian citizenship or had their requests denied. The Ministry of Interior conducts an ex officio erasure on the 26th
February 1992, without accordingly notifying the persons concerned. In 1994 the first constitutional initiative against
the Aliens Act is filed (Dedić, 2003a: 152). It is only in April of the year 2003 that the Constitutional Court finds The
Act Regulating the Status of the Citizens of Other Successor States of the Former SFRJ in the Republic of Slovenia
(ARSCSS), passed in 1999, not in accordance with the Constitution, since it denied the erased the status of permanent
residence. A six-month period is set for the elimination of the discrepancies with the constitution. By May 2005 this
issue has still not been resolved by the new Slovenian government.

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1.1. Statistics of ethnic affiliation and diversity

We explored the statistical data for the year 2002, when of The Statistical Office of the Republic of
Slovenia (SORS).http://www.stat.si) did a national census of population. We also looked at the
statistics of EUROSTAD. We did not find the data we were searching for.

On the one side, the statistical data on national diversity in former Socialist Federative Republic of
Yugoslavia were collected. The national censuses population data are published on the website of
The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS) (avaliable at:
http://www.stat.si/doc/statinf/05-si-088-0301.pdf). There are several data on ethnic structure
avaliable in Slovenian and in English language:
• on national belonging/ethnic affiliation structure,
• data about the national belonging/ethnic affiliation and mother tongue,
• data about national belonging/ethnic affiliation and the spoken language in the household;
• data about national belonging/ethnic affiliation, the country of the first residence and sex.
• data about citizenship, sex and age (page 10)

The avaliable data which are published in this report are also:
• numbers and shares of immigats to Slovenia, by year of immigration, country of first
residence and sex6
• the country of first residence and sex, in the intervals on every 6 years;
• data on national belonging/ethnic affiliation, age group and sex (page 12-13)

At this webpage there are also some publications published but on the basis of these it is not
possible to conclude how many people are SGM.

On the other side, from the year 1971 on, the data about ethnic or national affiliation are opional: it
was stated by the National Census Instructions that people were free to declare their national/ethnic
affiliation. In 2002 among the options also appeared the statement that person does not want to
declare his/her national/ethnic affiliation. (Šircelj, M, 2003).

Josipovič who is one of the leading demographers studying fertility behavior, ethnicity and
demography warns us that from the data on “non-declared” (neopredeljen) it could not be concluded
that people who did not declared themselves by nationality were necesarry immigrants or their
decendants. With the statistical data from the municipalities where the migration was not
substantial, he illustrated that among “non-declared” there is a big share of the majority, i.e.
Slovenians. (cf Josipovič 2006: 257).

We closely looked at the page of ESS (http://www.ess.gov.si) where the annual reports are
published from 1998 up to 2008. There are data available on ethnic affiliation of immigrant workers
from 1998 up to 2003 and could be found in the category of Employment and Unemployment
Trends – as a subsection there were data in details according to ethnic affiliation 7. From the year
2004 on, when Slovenia became a member of EU, the data about the ethnic affiliation are

6
Data are classifies for Countries of former Yugoslavia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia Yugoslavia Macedonia;
Member States of EU: Austria, Germany, Italy, France; other members of EU; Other European countries: Candidate
Countries, other European countries; Non-European countries
7

http://www.ess.gov.si/eng/AnnaulReport/lp03/Pogl03.htm#3.%203%20Employment%20and%20work%20of%20foreig
n%20workers

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summarized under the categories of workers from EU; workers from new member states. The data
about national affiliation of foreign workers from the year 2007 are not available.

In the Annual Report of ESS for the year 2008 it is reported that a total of 85,333 work permits
were issued – an increase of 40.7 % from the year before. An increase in the number of work
permits of all types issued, particularly the number of permits for employment is reported for the
year 2008. ESS issued 58,897 of such permits; number represents a rise of 54.1 % in comparison
with 2007. The increase in the volume of permits for employment is chiefly the result of a
substantially increased demand for workers which ESS has witnessed over the last few years: These
are mainly workers that have been in short supply in Slovenia for a number of years (welders,
builders, long-haul drivers) and where the employment of foreign workers is justified by the lack of
domestic staff in these occupations. In the year of 2008 most foreign workers were employed in
construction (approx. 60 % of all foreign workers), followed by employees in the metal
manufacturing industry (locksmiths, welders, etc.), long-haul transport, agriculture, etc. In the year
2008 there was also an 8.4 % increase in the number of permits for work issued (15,786). In the
report of the ESS for the year 2008 it is claimed that the raise was the result of an increase on the
employment of posted workers and managerial staff, and of the need for seasonal workers in
construction and agriculture. The share of the total number of work permits issued in the year 2008
is 31.6 % higher than in 2007, which counts 7,815 personal work permits. At the end of the year
2008, there were 90,749 valid work permits issued, which is 37.3 % more than at the end of the year
2007.

At the ESS there have been expectations of a large influx of workers from the EU into Slovenia in
recent years, and this prognosis has not occurred. According to figures from the Health Insurance
Institute of Slovenia for 2008, 6,037 EU citizens were employed in Slovenia. Of this number, most
came from the new Member States, and most of these from Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and
Hungary. They were mostly occupied in activities such as construction, metal industry, international
transport, which is similar to foreign workers from non-EU countries. Most of the workers from the
old Member States were employed as professionals and managers in mixed companies
(http://www.ess.gov.si/eng/AnnaulReport/lp08/eng/15-tujci.htm).

At this point we need to underline that this category does not mean the same as immigrants since
there is a variety of usage of the term “immigrants”: some researchers use the term “immigrant”
also for people who already have Slovenian citizenship and who stay in Slovenia permanently.

We were not able to find statistical information on Second Generation of Migrants. Instead of this
researchers prefer to speak about immigrants and their offspring (“priseljenci in njihovi potomci”)
and within the SGM category it is not possible to explore its structure in terms of age, sex,
educational attainment, occupations and working activities.

2. Brief overview about Second Generation of Migrants

For the purpose of this national report about the SGM we did a desk research about statistical data,
which were published by social science scholars. According to instructions from the University of
Milan we were searching for information about SGM and statistic data about national origins and
distribution of people who could be described as SGM in Slovenia; how many are they in Slovenia
according to national and regional databases; what is their age and sex structure; what is their level
of education and from what country of origin did their parents come to Slovenia (parents’
nationality); do they still have their parents’ nationality or do they have the nationality of the

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country where they live? We also wanted to find data on work – where do they work, in which
sector and what type of jobs did they have.

We looked at the report on Employment and working conditions of migrant workers - Slovenia
(Trbanc, M. 2007) 8. The author reports on the statistical data about migrant workers who are in the
national statistics of The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS) referred to as
foreigners. According to Trbanc, “Migrant workers represent about 5% of active population in
Slovenia. The majority of migrant workers are workers from countries of ex-Yugoslavia. They are
mostly poorly educated and hold hard, low paid jobs in construction, metal manufacturing and
similar sectors. After 2004 the numbers of migrant workers from new EU member states somewhat
increased, while numbers of migrant workers from old EU member states and from other countries
are very low”.

Her report brings also the data of Employment Service of Slovenia (ESS) 9, Ministry of Labour,
Family and Social Affairs (MLFSA) and the Labour Inspectorate, which is an agency of MLFSA 10.
In these reports the category of migrant worker is considered as foreign worker, which could mean
that these people do not have Slovenian citizenship and that they only hold temporary working
permits.

In Trbanc’s publication, the term SGM is not used nor is any the similar term which would include
people denoted as SGM. In this document the statistical data on migrant workers are available and
the researcher explains that these categories of people are termed as foreigners. Additionally, there
is no statistical data about the structure in terms of age and sex of migrants (i.e. foreigners)
available and there are no data on SGM published.

In our search for the category of SGM we have looked at several documents, such as the suggested
report of Thomas Liebig, T. (2009) Children of immigrants in the Labour Markets of EU and
OECD Countries. We did not find any data relevant for the Slovenian case.

2.1. Second Generation of Migrants in estimated numbers

According to Josipovič migrations in Slovenija from some locations of the former SFRY represent
the main part of the immigration. The total number of immigrated in Slovenia is 169.605: those
who migrated from the former SFRY represent 89,3% or 151.432 people. These imigrants from the
former SFRY represent 7,7 % of the Slovenian population. Immigrations were not coincidental:
ethnic structure is in accordance with the ethnic structure of emmigrated sites (območje).

Immigrations in Slovenia could only paritally be explained with economical reasons. Josipovič
explained that there were also political and geographical reasons and contexts of Yugoslav
migrations: the intention of these migrations was to change ethnic structure in certain parts of
SFRY. The majority of immigrants from abroad is in towns, but they rarely overcome 16%
(Josipovič 2009: 28).

8
available at:
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/studies/tn0701038s/si0701039q.htm
9
ESS Annual Reports in English language are available at:
http://www.ess.gov.si/eng/AnnaulReport/AnnualReport.htm.
10
available at: http://www.id.gov.si/en/annual_report/).

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Also Janja Žitnik (2004) published data on the share of the immigrant population in Slovenia in her
paper on Integration. In the 1991 national census of population in Slovenia the share of immigrants
was 12.2 %, and a considerable number of the rest refrained from declaring their nationality was
reported. In the year 2002 their share was 17 %. 2.5 % of the population skipped the question about
their nationality, (meaning ethnicity, not citizenship). Another 6.4 % are those whose nationality is
“unknown”, and 2 % are foreign citizens or people with unknown citizenship. The largest
minorities, considered as autochthonous minorities, i.e. the Italians and the Hungarians, constitute –
together with the Italian and the Hungarian immigrants – approximately 0.5 % of the population
(0.6 % by their mother tongue, and only 0.4 % by their declared nationality). In her description
Žitnik (2004) explains, as follows: “Mostly due to the recent increase in their immigration rate, the
share of the Romany population has risen from 0.01 % in 1961 to the present 0.17 %. 11 A deduction
from these figures shows that at least 14.5 % of the current population in Slovenia are those
immigrants who state their nationality other than Slovenian; whereas the share of either those
immigrants or their descendents who state Slovenian nationality (most of the latter are children of
nationally mixed couples), is unknown”. Josipovič warns about the difficulties in defining the
descendants of immigrants in Slovenia. Generally he agrees with the conclusion of Janja Žitnik,
who wrote that the share of immigrants and their descendants in Slovenia is approximately 15% of
population. Josipovič thinks that the share is a little bit lower. However, it could be concluded, that
this share is big enough, that these people could obtain certain rights (Josipovič, personal
communication; cf Josipovič 2009b).

Further Janja Žitnik (2004) states that the number of the present first generation immigrants who
settled in Slovenia before 2002 is 169,605 (or slightly over 8.6 % of the entire population). Majority
of them is ex-SFRY by origin: “Of these 169,605 first generation immigrants, 150,763 came from
the former Yugoslav republics”.

Žitnik also quoted The National Report on Cultural Policy in Slovenia, where the immigrants are
reported as economic migrants. She underlined that the joint number of the first generation
immigrants and their descendents born in Slovenia was not directly evident from the published
statistics. In the National Report on Cultural Policy in Slovenia from the year 2003 the share of the
“economic migrants” was estimated that the current result would actually exceed 14 %. According
to their stated nationality, the largest groups are the Serbs, the Croats, the Bošnjaki, the Muslims
and the Bosnians. 12

It is known that the distribution of immigrants in Slovenia is mainly concentrated in urban areas,
and the share of immigrants in some cities is much larger than in others. In the Slovenian capital
Ljubljana for example, “only in 63.4 % of teenagers (at the age of 15), both parents state Slovenian
nationality, which reflects their choice rather than their ethnicity; in 12.5 % one of the parents
declares a nationality other than Slovenian, and in 22 % both of their parents identify themselves in
terms of one of the Non-Slovenian options” reports Žitnik (2004). She added that it would be a
superficial oversimplification to say that if immigrants in Slovenia declared Slovenian nationality it
would mean that they had been assimilated.

11
Source: www.stat.si/popis2002
12
Ibid. The option of the Bošnjaki nationality was introduced in the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994. In
the 2002 Slovenian census, Muslim pertains to one’s ethnic (and not religious) affiliation. Those who identified their
nationality in previous Slovenian censuses as Bosnians, were placed in the column “regionally identified”.

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Žitnik (2004) underlined that “the share of those (first and second generation) immigrants who
declare Slovenian nationality has not been undisputedly established – but it seems to be relatively
large. Some immigrants have ‘adopted’ Slovenian nationality on the basis of two facts: 1) after
several decades of their lives spent in this country they now actually identify themselves with
Slovenian nation; and 2) the 2002 census, like previous censuses, offered a free nationality choice.
Many immigrants, on the other hand, state Slovenian nationality for other reasons, the most
frequent of which is fear”.

3. Pedagogical intercultural approaches based on autobiographical narratives

In our search for examples of pedagogical intercultural approaches based on autobiographical
narratives we conducted a three-step survey. The first step consisted of web search where we
examined the webpages and web materials provided by different Slovene educational and
pedagogical institutions. These were: The National Educational Institute (http://www.zrss.si),
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department for pedagogy and adult education
(http://www.pedagogika-andragogika.com/), Slovenian Institute for Adult Education
(http://www.acs.si/), Slovenian Institute of Migration (http://isi.zrc-sazu.si/), Faculty of Education
Ljubljana (http://www.pef.uni-lj.si/), Faculty of Education Maribor (www.pfmb.uni-mb.si), Faculty
of Education Koper (www.pef.upr.si). In addition to this we searched via www.google.com using
the following keywords: autobiographical learning, intercultural education/intercultural learning,
intercultural approach, intercultural pedagogy (in Slovene: učna biografija, učni življenjepis,
interkulturno učenje/izobraževanje, interkulturni pristop, interkulturna pedagogika). This first step
gave us directions and links to different experts in the field of pedagogical and educational sciences
in Slovenia. The second step included contacting 14 of the selected experts by e-mail. These were:
Klara S. Ermenc (University of Ljubljana), Dragica Motik (The National Education Institute), Irena
Lesar (Slovenian Institute of Migration), Marija Javornik Krečič (University of Maribor), Petra
Mrvar (University of Ljubljana), Mojca Sikošek (CDI Univerzum), Natalija Vrečer (Slovenian
institute for Adult Education), Monika Govekar Okoliš (University of Ljubljana), Vida Dimovska
(University of Ljubljana), Andreja Hočevar (University of Ljubljana), Mirjana Ule (University of
Ljubljana), Nena Mijoč (University of Ljubljana), Marko Radovan (University of Ljubljana),
Natalija Žalec (Slovenian institute for Adult Education). 11 of them answered our enquiry and two
of them provided additional links to other researchers. 9 of those who answered reported that they
don’t know any examples of the use of pedagogical intercultural approches based on
autobiographical narratives – neither in research nor in practice. One is using the method of
professional autobiographical narrative (the impact of teacher’s professional development and
competences on the process of teaching) in her research and one gave a reference to a special issue
of the journal Socialno delo, 2001, no.2-4 which dealt with the use of the method of
autobiographical narrative in social work, but none of the articles dealt with migrants and their
narratives. Only one article dealt with the so called “ethnically mixed-marriages” (families in which
spouses have different ethnical background) and the author (Sedmak, 2001) used the
autobiographical method in her research. The third step consisted of reading the articles and
materials that we gathered via web search and e-mail enquiry (for list see: References). We provide
the summary of these bellow. Overall our survey revealed that in Slovenia actually no examples of
pedagogical intercultural approches based on autobiographical narratives can be found.

In the search for major intercultural pedagogical approaches based on autobiographical narratives
(oral autobiography, written autobiography such as diaries, letters etc.) in Slovenia we found no
significant production of knowledge from this field of social sciences. In the same time we found a
relevant amount of researches done in the field of intercultural/multicultural pedagogy. Between the

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notions “multicultural” and “intercultural” different authors stress different conceptual differences
or similarities (cf. Vrečer (ed.), 2009; Grobin, 2006; Motik and Veljić, 2007; Pevec Semec, 2008;
Žitnik, 2004). Intercultural is mostly used as a notion in the critiques of multicultural
conceptualizations of social realities. Multiculturalism is by some authors seen as a concept that
implicitly carries the meaning of different cultures that have no impact or contact while living in the
same geographical space. On the other hand, interculturalism presupposes a conceptual frame where
different cultures are in a complex interaction and from this interactions new (mental, social,
cultural) categories are formed. In this sense intercultural pedagogy a key issue in the new reality of
EU (cf. Grobin, 2006).

Intercultural education mostly remains in the domain of the individual but may carry long term
political results. In difference to the multicultural approaches – where cultures are mostly seen as
isolated categories or realities – the intercultural approach in education must by necessity produce
new qualities and new knowledge that in the same time preserves the previous qualities and exceeds
them (a sort of aufhebung we may say). EFIL (European Federation for Intercultural Learning)
already in 1970 defined intercultural education as a form of learning where pupils are engaged in
thinking about differences as crucial points and a source for wider consciousness and not as
obstacles or deviations from established norms (Grobin, 2006: 35).

Some authors redefine and use the concept of multiculturalism as a synonym for interculturalism
(cf. Vrečer (ed.), 2009). A specific for Slovenia after 1991 (after the independence) is the
conceptual move from “Yugomulticulturalism” to “Euro/Anglo-centric” notion of multiculturalism
(Pevec Semec, 2008: 2). Most of the above mentioned authors are concerned with theoretical,
methodological and practical issues of an intercultural/multicultural pedagogy by which migrants
would be able to participate in a normal pedagogical process but none of the mentioned authors
concentrate systematically on second generation migrants.

Different authors (Ermenc (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007), Motik (oral source, 2010), Lesar (year not
stated), Mrvar (2004), Javornik Krečič (2006)) stress the importance of intercultural approach in
learning and intercultural competence of teachers. Some of them are quite critical about the ways in
which these are being implemented in practice. Irena Lesar from the Slovenian Institut of Migration
in her article Response of Slovenian teachers to children of migrants from ex-Yugoslav countries
(summary published at http://isi.zrc-sazu.si/?q=node/106) reports that the results of her study show
that Slovenian teachers feel considerably less responsible for achievements of migrant children than
for the achievements of other children, and, furthermore, do not feel responsible for migrant
children’s successful inclusion in the class. The question therefore is where this feeling of
irresponsibility towards migrant children felt by teachers comes from. For this reason, Lesar
concludes, it is necessary to pay utmost attention to making teachers aware of their key role in
implementing moral and educational goals of education as well as teaching them to be more
sensitive to the real problems of migrant children and to be better prepared for intercultural
education.

Klara S. Ermenc is also very critical regarding the implementation of intercultural learning in
elementary schools. She argues that the hidden and official curriculum of Slovenian public
elementary schools work together to develop an ethnocentric and Eurocentric frame of mind when
judging other cultures. This presents an obstacle for the professed promotion of intercultural
learning and valuation, and fosters the social marginalisation of ethnic minorities. She also reports
that since independence, Slovenian schools have not collected data on the pupils’ ethnic origins, and
the teachers—as could be seen in the study—generally prefer not to have knowledge about this
(Ermenc, 2005: 11).

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Dragica Motik from The National Education Institute told us that their institute is involved in
different projects that aim at improving the implementation of intercultural learning in elementary
schools. They are the main authors of „The strategy for education of children of foreigners in
kindergartens and schools“, a paper which defines the categories of foreigners and their children
(and surprisingly totally excludes the migrants with Slovene citizenship and their children!), states
some compulsory measures that the schools and kindergarten must partake, and gives some broad
principles and recommendations, for example that the children of foreigner should start attending
kindergartens at least two years before they enter elementary school so that they could learn the
Slovene language; that their language and culture should be respected etc. The far most important
issue that this strategy is concerned about is assuring that children of foreigners properly learn the
Slovene language. Dragica Motik also told us that they are not satisfied with the implementation of
the intercultural approaches in elementary schools. They only play an advising role and cannot
supervise the actual implementation which is mostly left to the teachers themselves. Regretfully the
teachers still mostly try to assimilate the pupils rather than integrate them through an intercultural
approach. The research methods they have been using in their survey are mostly inquiries and
questionnaires and not interviews and/or autobiographical narrative.

4. Some good practices about autobiographical narratives in adult learning for

migrants and second generation of migrants
We found little references on educational programs based on autobiographical narratives.
Theoretical approaches are mostly homogenized (there is no wider evidence of diversificated
theoretical production) and there is almost no evidence of examples of good practices; mostly we
found approximations to it: a pedagogical approach that does not stand on autobiographical data but
contains fragments of such practice, like: “my hidden identity”, “I was falsely accused”, “this is
me”, “people like me”, “my values” etc (Pevec Semec, 2008: 6).

Since in Slovenia we have two legally acknowledged national minorities (Italian and Hungarian) in
some regions there is a common practice of bilingual education. Some parents enrol their children
deliberately in this schools where the majority of the pedagogical process is done in the minority
language (for example in Italian) (Pevec Semec, 2008: 4). From the research (interviews) we
conducted it is evident that some parents (second generation migrants) enrol their children – in our
case – in Italian schools because of the supposition of a lesser degree of stigmatization: they feel
more comfortable as a “minority among a (official) minority”.

Motik and Veljić (2007) propose an educational model (for teachers and students/pupils) on
intercultural/multicultural basis with the scope of expansion of consciousness about this problems (a
multicultural classroom has to present a challenge for the teacher not a burden to carry). Their
proposals are different models of education that “sharpen” the sense for managing a multicultural
milieu (the classroom).

i) The primary schools “Livada” in Ljubljana, “Zali rovt Tržič” and “Stopiče”
and the Secondary nursing school in Ljubljana are public schools where an
implementation of multicultural education is in practice. This is due to the
increasing realizations of the existence of multicultural classrooms (and
indeed realities). In the case of the secondary nursing school the main
discourse is the discourse on “social sensibility” because the students will be
working with people of different “descents”, social strata and disabilities

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 while in the primary schools the main discourse is based on a “new”
multicultural reality of the classrooms.

ii) The methods of multicultural education were implemented in the primary

school in the subjects: “Environmental education”, “Musical education”,
“Slovenian language”, and “Arts”, while in the secondary school in the
subjects of “Health education” and “Classroom hour”. The presented case
studies are at some points essentialistic: “In their souls, their blood they keep
their melos” (Motik and Veljić, 2007: 63). Most of the cases of best practices
are based on “nationalistic” and folkloristic grounds. In primary schools
teachers managed “projects” based on autobiographical narratives of the
pupils where they talked about “the nations of their origins”, “roots”,
“customs” (folk tales, songs, traditional wear). The teachers noted a radical
change in the behaviour of the pupils when they spoke in their mother tongues
or talked about themselves. At the same time the pupils became aware of the
Slovenian culture and costumes. This project lasted from a few days to the
entire school year. The scope was to get knowledge of festivals, costumes,
folklore, music of classmates and their own culture and increasing the social
sensibility for life in a multicultural milieu. In the secondary school the
programs were mostly concentrated on the auto reflexivity of students and
thus stimulating a more open perception of any kind of diversity (elders,
migrants etc.). (cf. Motik and Veljić, 2007: 57-94).

5. Concluding remarks
On the basis of our extensive research it could be concluded that the issue of second generation of
migrant is not substantially explored in Slovenia. There are no precise data about ethnic structure
avaliable. Some remarks about the terminology need to be underlined. Scholars in the field of
studying migration do not widely use the term SGM. Furthermore, on the basis of reading and
phone interviews it can be concluded that the preferred term in use is “immigrants and their
descendants/offspring” (“priseljenci in njihovi potomci”.) With this category the immigrants from
ex-SFRY are denominated and among them many of them have Slovenian citizenship.
The statistic about immigrants on labour market is reported: here the immigrants are represented as
foreign workers, i.e. people without Slovenian citizenship. It is not possible to establish among
them how many of them may be SGM. Some other categories of people and the satistics on them
were explored for the purpose of the Bridge SGM research.
The usage of autobiography is neglected in the educational programs in Slovenia. Autobiography,
life history is widely used in socio-cultural anthropology and ethnology and also in migrant
research, but the issue of educational biography is quite neglected. Here a lot of work shoud be
done in the near future. Janko Spreizer did a short interview with a person from the Slovenian
Insititute for Adult education who developed the project connected with autobiography in education
and reported that in practice the issue is not accepted by practitioners.
Some models of good practice were found, yet on the other hand and through the eyes of
anthropology they are full of essentialism which could have perioulus effects.

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of
the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information
contained therein.

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