Austria's aim to provide equitable education to its citizens is an ongoing process. In 1747 a decree opened schools to all children. From 1891 to 1941 schooling was compulsory for children between 6 and 14. In 1955 the Austrian Constitution guaranteed Austrian minority groups equal access to education. In 1966 and 1976 legislation further guaranteed minority groups' right to be taught in their home language subject to certain provisos. Currently minority groups are supposed to be taught in their horne language for the frrst three years of school and school is compulsory for nine years. This study wished to establish whether minority groups are, in fact, provided with education as provided for by law, and examined the situation in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Canada as well. If Austria is successful, Zimbabwe or South Africa could adapt her policies in their educational situation. / Educational Leadership and Management / M Ed. (Educational Management)

The thesis deals with the topic of poverty and social exclusion in the context of education on the theoretical and empirical level. The theoretical part of the thesis concentrates on summary of poverty and social exclusion. It specifies the fundamental definitions, concepts and causes of its formation. Further, the thesis deals with the risks in the context of education, concentrates on government strategies, educational policy and institutions in the Czech Republic. Also, it describes the situation in the Czech Republic and concentrates on the demographic development of the Praha- západ county. The aim of the thesis is to find out how the social workers of Městský Úřad Černošice reflect poverty and social exclusion and whether it has any influence on school results. As far as the empirical part of the thesis is concerned, it contains qualitative research based on interviews with the social workers. The content of the interviews is based on the content analysis of the topics in the theoretical part of the thesis. Key words: poverty, social exclusion, child protection, equal access to education, risk behavior, education policy, district Prague-west

La gestion d’une entreprise expose l’employeur au risque de discrimination. Dans son acception originelle, la notion de discrimination vise les distinctions reposant sur un critère illicite. La mise en oeuvre effective de la prohibition des discriminations amène le juge à exiger de l’employeur qu’il justifie de façon pertinente ses décisions. L’entreprise est sommée de développer des outils lui permettant d’apprécier de manière objective les compétences de ses salariés. Au-delà de cet objectif initial, la lutte contre les discriminations doit dorénavant faciliter l’intégration d’un public défavorisé. Les notions d’égalité professionnelle, de diversité, d’actions positives et de discriminations indirectes font aujourd’hui parti du vocabulaire des entreprises. Bien qu’elles ne disposent pas toujours de leviers d’action efficaces pour agir, les pouvoirs publics les contraignent à négocier sur certains thèmes pour résorber les inégalités. L’employeur responsable ne peut ignorer cette métamorphose du concept de discrimination. Il doit déterminer les nouvelles frontières de ce risque afin de mettre en oeuvre les dispositifs adéquats pour faire obstacle à sa réalisation. / Managing a company incurs a risk of discrimination for the employer. In its original meaning, the notion of discrimination refers to distinctions based on an illegal criterion. To be effective, the prohibition of discriminations brings the judge to require that the employer give pertinent justifications of his/her decisions. The company is compelled to develop means of assessing in an objective manner employees’ professional skills. Beyond this initial objective, the fight against discriminations must now ease the integration of disadvantaged populations. The notions of equal access to employment, diversity, affirmative action and indirect discrimination are now part of companies’ vocabulary. Though companies do not always have effective leverage for action, public authorities force them to negotiate on certain subjects in order to reduce inequalities. A responsible employer cannot ignore this radical change in the concept of discrimination. He/she must now setthe new boundaries to this risk so as to implement adequate means to prevent its materializing.