Inclusive education in Bulgaria immanently implies consideration of the specific needs of children and students from traditional ethnic minorities and those with refugee status. The main goal of this article is to make a comparative analysis of the needs of students from traditional minorities and refugees, in the educational system in Bulgaria, on a study of normative documents, statistical data, documented educational practices, research, on the basis of which to outline the similarities and differences between the specific educational needs of the two target groups.

While the traditional minorities are about 15% of the Bulgarian population, the refugees are relatively few. The largest ethnic minority in Bulgaria is the Turkish - about 10%, followed by the Roma - about 4,5% and some - less than 1%. Children with refugee status are from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, etc., the number of children with temporary protection from Ukraine is significant. The commonality in terms of educational needs of the children of the two groups both due to differences in mother tongues and in particularities arising from religious affiliation. In Bulgaria, the dominant religiosity is Christian Orthodoxy, about 10% of the population are Muslims (mainly Turks). The majority of refugees in Bulgaria are Muslims, while Ukrainians are mainly Orthodox Christians.

In the Bulgarian normative framework in the field of inclusive education, in relation to children and students with socio-cultural differences, emphasis is mainly placed on the opportunities to study Bulgarian language in additional hours as the main language of instruction in Bulgarian schools. While for refugee children and those with temporary protection it is about the initial acquisition of the Bulgarian language, for children from the Roma and Turkish minority it is intended to compensate for the insufficient mastery of the Bulgarian language in the previous stages of education. These differences in the degree of mastery of the Bulgarian language are reflected in the educational needs of the children themselves, for which there are different opportunities to satisfy them - both in a school environment (for children from traditional minorities and refugees) and through the assistance of non-governmental organizations (for refugee children and with temporary protection from Ukraine), which organize free Bulgarian language courses for children and adults.

However, there is no regulation regarding the components of the own socio-cultural identity of children from ethnic minorities, migrants and refugees, although there are a number of good practices in school made possible by other types of policies, for example in the field of intercultural education, as in relation to children from ethnic minorities, as well as with regard to children with refugee status.

Regardless of the general need - the knowledge (written and spoken) of the official Bulgarian language, there are also some specific differences in the needs of children and students from traditional minorities, who were born and grew up in a Bulgarian environment, and those who are migrants and refugees from non-European countries - mainly related to the adaptation to the way of life in Bulgaria. This also necessitates placing specific emphasis in the preparation of teachers for work with children with different socio-cultural identities, depending on whether they are from traditional minorities or newly arrived migrants and refugees.

Keywords: Inclusive education, traditional minorities, migrants, refugees, special needs.