EMOTIONS, FEELINGS, AND EXPERIENCES IN A MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM

ABSTRACT The Bulgarian educational system is multicultural – in terms of ethnicity, religion, and mother language. The common ethnic groups in the country are Roma, who are the most heterogeneous minority community, Bulgarian Turks, Pomaks, Jews, Vlachs, Armenians, and others. Roma students often have learning difficulties with various etiologies. In these populations, some students do not speak or have a poor command of the Bulgarian language, both in writing and sometimes in spoken language. However, these children and young people need to be educated. Roma students and their parents need active communication and cooperation in this regard. The report presents the results of a study of the emotions and feelings experienced by teachers when working with Roma students and non-Roma students, as well as the emotions and feelings experienced by teachers in communication with the parents of these two groups of students. The research methodology contains eleven concepts characterizing different emotions and feelings and a five-point Likert-type scale measuring their degree of expression. The study was conducted on a sample of 193 teachers. The research results show that teachers often experience stress, fatigue, helplessness, and nervousness when working with Roma students. Joy, serenity, and enthusiasm are too low. When communicating with the parents of Roma students, the emotions experienced are identical. The work of the same teachers with non-Roma students is accompanied by positive emotions and experiences – joy, enthusiasm, vigilance, and calm. Negative emotions and experiences are of low expression. Teachers feel the same emotions and experiences, but in a different order, during their communication with parents of non-Roma students.