Good practices in Roma education in Bulgaria during the years of transition 1

The aim of this paper is to present good educational practices from Bulgaria that relate to Roma education. In the so‐called Years of Transition, educational conditions changed considerably. Non‐governmental organizations have attempted to promote high‐quality education for Roma children. The Bulgarian Ministry of Education has made various changes in legislation which now allow Roma children to receive mother tongue education as well as intercultural education with a focus on Romani language, culture and history. This paper provides a short overview of projects that have been implemented in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, as well as adult literacy and education since the time of transition.     

Intercultural policies and the contradictory views of teachers: the Roma in Catalonian schools

In this article, we examine the contradictions and lack of consistency between various levels of discourse relating to Roma educational policies. Policy-makers have claimed that political interventions would positively impact the progress of Roma. However, the results have been mixed. We argue here that teachers need to re-evaluate their roles as politically aware and culturally informed agents in order to guarantee social justice to a historically disadvantaged ethnic minority. Based on ethnographical fieldwork carried out over a two-year period with Spanish Roma children, both in schools and in their families, this study shows how intercultural policies have failed to impact the educational realities of Roma children.     

The education of Roma children in Romania: Description,difficulties, solutions

In this study the authors discuss the manner in which the Romanian educational system deals with (or fails to deal with) the integration of Roma children in public education. Various educational strategies are discussed that have been attempted in Romania and that could potentially assist the Roma in facing the challenges of the twenty-first century in Romania. We also present a case study focusing on one community that sheds light on the various issues that affect the integration process of Roma children. Our research into a local school shows for instance that there is much willingness on the part of Roma children to participate in mixed schools (Roma and non-Roma) but that there is much reluctance on the part of the majority children and their parents to accept the Roma as their equals.     

Roma Education in Eastern and Central Europe: some personal reflections

In this article I reflect on my experiences working on educational projects involving Roma in Eastern and Central Europe, especially in Bulgaria. I discuss one particular case study, in which a group of educational experts were able to get the Bulgarian Government to accept and later to support intercultural education materials on the Roma. I also outline an educational approach that I would like to call the “bottle party” approach to education, to be contrasted with the “vessel filling” approach. I close by describing a new initiative in informal education in Central and Eastern Europe that revolves around the concepts of empowerment and mentorship.     

Roma pupils’ attitudes towards education – a case study

When analysing the reasons behind the academic underachievement of Roma pupils, some teachers suggest that Roma people do not value education and that Roma children have negative attitudes towards school. With increasing frequency, Roma pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds are being researched and the research primarily adopts the perspectives of teachers and schools’ professional staff. The present study analyses attitudes towards education held by Roma pupils whose socio-economic status is comparable to the majority population and considers their perspective. The research was conducted with Roma pupils attending primary school in Maribor, Slovenia. To collect data, interviews were conducted. The study results suggest that the majority of Roma pupils from Maribor like attending school and value formal education; the majority indicated that they want to complete primary school and continue their education. The results also show that Roma pupils can be highly academically motivated if improved life conditions and improved education opportunities are provided to the Roma population.     

Interculturally trained Finnish teachers' conceptions of diversity and intercultural competence

As schools become increasingly multicultural, teachers need special sensitivity to recognize differences and intercultural competences to be able to support the personal and academic growth of diverse students. This paper introduces newly qualified teachers' conceptions of diversity and intercultural competence in a Finnish context. The teachers in the study graduated from a Masters of Education International Teacher Education Programme, which focuses on intercultural aspects of education and teachers' work. Data for this research were collected and analysed qualitatively by applying a phenomenographical research approach. On the basis of the data interpretation, three different diversity categories were formed: visible and invisible group level differences and individual differences. Conceptions of intercultural competence in educational contexts also formed three qualitatively different categories (1) an ethical orientation including values, interpersonal characteristics and basic orientation towards other people and the world; (2) efficiency orientation including organizational skills and ability to act in various roles and situations; and (3) pedagogical orientation including intercultural pedagogical competences.     

Transformative education for Roma (Gypsy) children: An insider's view

In this article I take a close look at the educational situation of Roma children and especially at the impediments that exist regarding their full participation in the educational process. At the present time the bilingualism of Roma children is either ignored or seen as a handicap. There is little appreciation in mainstream education of Roma culture or the Romani language. The challenge for educators everywhere is to adapt one's teaching methods and the curriculum in such a way that school becomes more interesting for Roma children, and also that majority students and teachers become more familiar with Roma culture and history. We suggest several ways to accomplish this.     

‘Recuperando la dignidad humana [Recovering human dignity]’: Shuar mothers speak out on intercultural bilingual education

This paper presents findings from interviews conducted in December 2011, with seven Shuar mothers of children in an intercultural bilingual school in the southern Amazon region of Ecuador. This study had two objectives: (1) to foreground the perspectives of Shuar parents towards intercultural bilingual education (IBE) as implemented in the Shuar pedagogical institute, and (2) to collaborate as an intercultural research team (North American-Shuar) to ensure linguistic and cultural authenticity of data collection, and analysis. As a Shuar mother herself, the co-author shares the same language and culture as the participants, which led to a deeper level of trust and openness in the interviews. Current studies claim that IBE is losing ground, partly because parents want their children schooled in Spanish – the language of power – and see the IBE system as inferior. However, these Shuar mothers expressed a different concern: IBE has been too intertwined with Salesian missions and must become decolonized in order to reflect authentic Shuar cultural values and educational practices.     

Evaluating a project on Roma education

This research note is based on the evaluation of the Comenius project Teacher‐IN‐SErvice‐Training‐for‐Roma‐inclusion (INSETRom). The project represented an international effort that was undertaken to bridge the gap between Roma and non‐Roma communities and to improve the educational attainment of Roma children in the mainstream educational system. The evaluation of the project showed that such projects can impact a teacher's confidence and attitudes, but that implementing new insights poses many challenges.     

Making the Net Work for Intercultural Education

This article examines the use of the Internet in education, and how its use can revolutionise the way children learn, the way they communicate their ideas and the role of the teacher in the classroom. The Internet has some of the greatest potential in the field of education and particularly intercultural education—due to the nature of the medium, cultural, national, gender, racial and national barriers between students can be reduced and communication with any part of the world is immediate, frequent and informal.

There are many challenges for educators using this new medium in the classroom—there is a great lack of training in IT, the schools themselves need to be connected and there must be a fundamental change in the philosophy of teaching. In addition, there is a grave need for on‐line educational content. This article examines three educational websites for young people and presents an example of a group exercise for student publishing.     

Roma in the Romanian Educational System: barriers and leaps of faith

One of the most serious problems facing Romania today is the education of one of its largest minorities, the Roma, especially since such a high percentage — some estimate over 27% ‐‐ of this minority go unschooled and are illiterate. This paper looks at the current situation of Roma within the Romanian educational system, and begins to discuss some of the reasons why the system is failing to educate thousands of Romani children. In addition to this, it will highlight an educational effort to overcome a system, which, unfortunately, works against and not in favour of the education of Roma students.     

Essay on personal field experiences from an intercultural approach

In this article I intend to analyse two of the research projects I carried out among the Roma from a critical intercultural perspective. I shall discuss some of the processes referring to the educational policy of teaching Romani mother tongue in school, considering not only the direct beneficiaries of this policy, the students, but also the Romani language teachers who are also seen as a product of the said policy.     

Streamlining for democracy: Intercultural predispositions of the Croatian secondary school population

This work interprets the results of empirical research conducted into the intercultural predispositions of secondary school students in Croatia. Data were collected in 1993 and in 1998, using specially constructed questionnaires in which, for a variety of democratic values, a Likert-type battery of questions, were given to respondents. In 1993 the stratified research sample consisted only of secondary school students, while in 1998 the research sample also included students, parents and teachers. An analysis of the results shows that: (1) students had, generally speaking, affirmative attitudes both in 1993 and 1998 and that the hierarchy of support for these values remained the same; and (2) all three groups examined in 1998 shared a common hierarchy of values. However, they differed in the degree to which they accepted democratic values; teachers ranked the highest, students the lowest. The fact that students' attitudes were much closer to their parents' than to their teachers' leads to the conclusion that schools are not the major factor in the "political" socialization of young people in Croatia. This indicates a need for the introduction of new curriculum in all secondary schools. This curriculum should include educational content that emphasizes democratic values and intercultural relations, and methods that stress students' participation through action, reciprocity, dialogue, and solidarity, led by well-trained teachers.     

Interrupted aspirations: research and policy on Gitano education in a time of recession,in Spain

During the past decade, Gitano students’ school success and its cultural, social and emotional consequences have been largely unexplored, particularly in a new context: the deep economic crisis in Spain. This study reviews and analyses the evolution of the research production and the changing contexts of policy trends affecting the ‘Roma education issue’ as they have developed in Spain during the past decade (2004–2014). The authors take as a starting point the groundbreaking study published in 2004 that focused on trajectories of educational achievement and continuity among Gitano youth, and go on to reconstruct the approaches undertaken by qualitative, quantitative and evaluation research since then, in relation to their contributions to improve policy recommendations. The role played by Spanish and European social and educational strategies addressed to the Gitano/Roma population is critically explored to challenge the controversial notion of a ‘Spanish model of Roma integration’. Finally, the authors argue that the deterioration of public education and the virtual disappearance of social benefits in recent years, in addition to the worrying actions taken against Roma citizens in the EU, are to account for the interrupted aspirations of a whole generation of Gitano/Roma youth.     

Teacher Training with a View Towards Developing Favourable Attitudes Regarding Intercultural Education and Cultural Diversity

An analysis of Spanish multiculturalism, together with the lack of systematic teacher training in the area of intercultural education, a fact which was revealed by a review of the educational programmes and strategies developed in our country, has led us to propose a training course which improves the attitudes of teachers and educators towards intercultural education and the ever‐growing cultural diversity in our country. The study, carried out using a quasi‐experimental methodology and based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, revealed that this type of training programme favours a positive predisposition in teachers towards the development of intercultural programmes in schools, a fundamental element in promoting a further dissemination of this particular focus throughout the whole of the educational system.     

Fertility patterns in the Roma population of Spain

The Spanish Roma population have co-existed with the broader population of Spain, under the same laws and regulations for more than 500 years, but they exhibit very different fertility patterns. The aim of this paper is to determine whether there are factors other than income or education that can explain the larger number of children in Spanish Roma families. Our analysis reveals that the existence of a family business, which is highly labor-demanding, appears to be associated with parental decisions concerning the number of children. Since parental authority, in Roma families, holds sway over children even after their own marriage, the future labor contributions of children are particularly beneficial to the family business.     

Support programmes for Roma children: do they help or promote exclusion?

This article critically examines current education programmes for Roma primary school students in the Czech Republic and the impact of these programmes. The research described here, based on in‐depth case studies, challenges popular beliefs in the ‘success’ of Roma oriented programmes, as well as the stereotypical negative images of Roma parents. The studies also explore the dilemmas experienced by teaching staff and their views of both Roma and the majority ‘non‐Roma’ children.     

Mobilizing intercultural education for equity and social justice. Time to react against the intolerable: A proposal from Spain

Abstract

Education is suffering from the consequences of strengthening neoliberal policies, which impose an education model that serves the interests of the hegemonic economic system. The market rationale is being implemented in schools, moving the interests from equity to efficiency, from equal opportunities to performance. Starting from setting out a panoramic view of the way in which the intercultural focus in Spain has been used, with an approach to the different educational spheres in which we have carried out our work and research –educational policies, teacher education, school practice and education outside the school – we discuss the paradoxes and ambiguities that remove the transformative capacity of intercultural education and propose the reformulation of interculturality as an ethical and political project to subvert inequality by mobilizing to collectively create and enable images of education that contribute to a sustained way of building an equitable and fair society. Assuming our role as academics, we design a specific collective proposal on who mobilizes, with whom, as well as the attributes of the processes to be generated are discussed as well.     

Minority schooling and intercultural education: a comparison of recent developments in the old and new EU member states

Comparative reports conducted by the author show different educational approaches concerning the schooling of ethnic minorities in the EU Member States as well as differences in the handling of issues of cultural diversity. Minority schooling in the new EU Member States primarily focuses on the education of national or autochthonous minority groups, in contrast to the old EU Member States, where language and compensatory programs for migrant minority students have been of main concern. In addition, there are also different conceptions of intercultural education in the respective countries. Differences in school achievement of various ethnic groups can be identified despite limited differential data on educational attainment in many countries. This paper addresses two main questions: first, in which ways can different educational approaches be effective in raising the educational attainment of ethnic minorities? Second, in which ways could they be most suitable for preparing all students for living in a culturally diverse society and to encourage tolerance towards cultural differences?     

Estonian teachers in the late 1990s: Their willingness and preparedness for work in a multicultural classroom

Intercultural education is a multidimensional process. Until now, the notion has been understood in Estonia as a process of integrating non-Estonian children, usually of Russian origin, into Estonian society and providing them with the education necessary for success in Estonian society. Actually, this interpretation is just a part of intercultural education. Another issue in intercultural education, and obviously an even more essential issue, is educating all children to be prepared for life in a pluralistic society containing many cultures, peoples, religions and views. This includes teaching people to be tolerant towards cultures that are different from their own. Considering the fact that Estonia is endeavoring to become a member of the European Union, this is one of the most pressing questions in Estonia's contemporary educational policies. This paper is about recent processes in Estonian education, with a special emphasis on training teachers for work in multicultural classrooms. It offers a survey of recent research on the content and prospects of intercultural education in Estonia. The results of three research projects are also presented: (1) the prospects of education in foreign languages in Estonia, as seen by non-Estonian students, parents and teachers; (2) the willingness and readiness of students in teacher training to work in multicultural classrooms; (3) experiences from a course called Intercultural Education at Tartu University, and the opinions and attitudes of the students taking the course. Paljukultuuriline haridus on mitmemootmeline protsess. Eestis oleme me tanaseni moistnud selle all mitteeestlaste, eelkoige vene opilaste integreerimist Eesti uhiskonda ja neile toimetulekuhariduse andmist. Tegelikult on see mitmekultuurilise hariduse uks osa. Teine ja olulisemgi, on koigi opilaste kasvatamine ja ettevalmistamine elamaks kultuuriliselt, rahvuseliselt, religiooniliselt jne. pluralistlikus uhiskonnas. See on tolerantsuse kasvatamine teiste kultuuride suhtes. Euroopa Liitu kaasamisprotsessi taustal on see uks aktuaalsemaid kusimusi Eesti hariduspoliitikas. Kaesolevas artiklis vaadeldakse protsesse, mis on toimunud viimastel aastatel Eesti hariduses rohuasetusega opetajate ettevalmistamisele tootamaks paljukultuurilises klassiruumis. Kokku on voetud paari viimase aasta uurimuste tulemused mitmekultuurilise hariduse sisu ja perspektiivide kohta Eestis. Autorid tutvustavad peamiselt kolme uurimisprojekti tulemusi: (1) muukeelse hariduse tulevikuperspektiivid vahemustest opilaste, lastevanemate ja opetajate hinnanguil; (2) tulevaste opetajate ootused ja valmisolek tootamaks multikultuurilises klassiruumis; (3) Mitmekultuurilise hariduse kursuse opetamise kogemus ning Tartu Ulikooli uliopilaste hinnangud ja suhtumine antud temaatikasse.