Abstract:

In the context of current debate on inclusiveness of the Croatian education system, the most common topics are students with disabilities, to some extent regularly Roma students and students of other minority groups, and only a few years ago also refugee, asylum seeker and migrant students. However, even though students with disabilities are the most often represented, the category of siblings of this student population (whose representation can only be guessed given the current data of almost 7% of students with disabilities within the total student population in the school year 2021/2022) can hardly be met. That we can talk about a neglected education-political category is certainly shown also by the fact that neither the legislative framework nor recent educational documents recognize them, and that there is accordingly no systematic approach to working with this student population. It is only in the national scientific discourse possible to cite individual examples of papers on this topic (Wagner Jakab and Torbica, 2004; Wagner Jakab, Cvitković and Hojanić, 2006; Leutar and Štambuk, 2007; Klopotan, 2008; Leutar, Ogresta and Milić Babić, 2008) which are absolutely pioneering and valuable, but at the same time (with regard to the beginnings of direct work with this student population in the U.S. since the 1980s (Chintz, 1981; Lobato and Tlaker, 1985; Atkins, 1989; Meyer, 1993; Gorelick, 1996; Brody, 1998, etc.)), to say the least, insufficient. This paper will therefore try to answer the questions why Croatian education policy does not mention them, why is the direct work with this category of student population still sporadic, rare and unsystematic, what are their needs that the education system should recognize and respond to within the school context in a supportive way, among whose professional tasks we would expect to find them, and, finally, what kind of support pedagogues (as the most frequent school support staff members in schools in the Republic of Croatia) should and could offer to siblings of students with disabilities.

Keywords:

Students with disabilities, siblings, school, school support staff, national education policy.