The implementation of the educational objectives of the Decade of Roma Inclusion is rather sluggish in Slovakia. Despite improved diagnostic methods and material support for the education of pupils with special educational needs, there is not substantial reduction of poor achievements and early school leaving of Roma children. Research to date has focused mainly on the most overt forms of segregation of Roma children in education (SGI 2010, OSF 2012, Amnesty 2013). School achievements and well-being of Roma pupils in ethnically and socially mixed classes are rarely studied (Kusá et al 2010; Hapalová – Kriglerová 2013, Brüggemann - Bloem 2013). The objective of this paper is to provide a brief description of organisational, budgetary, political and cultural barriers of a greater political dedication to the Decade objectives and then explore problems of social inclusion of Roma pupils in ethnically mixed classes, which are sometimes perceived as the sufficient remedy to segregation. The exploration is framed by the theory of structuration of social interaction of J. H. Turner and based on ethnographic observation in 12 Slovak schools. The grounded theory approach is used to guide ethnography and records processing. According to the preliminary conclusions of the ethnographic research, the present organisational framework of instruction limits teachers’ possibilities to intervene positively in students’ relations, to motivate pupils who are not equipped with sufficient cultural and material capital, and to counterbalance incentives provided to Roma children from their parallel social fields.

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