Session Information
Contribution
General Description: Children from Roma communities are among the lowest academic achievers in many European countries (Symeou et al., 2009) and the same is true in Greece. In Greek schools, Roma students experience high dropout rates, low performance and higher levels of non completion compared to their Greek (non-Roma) peers (Nikolaou, 2009). Dragonas (2012) has documented the ways in which they continue to experience forms of segregation in educational settings, such as being educated in separate classes inside the mainstream school or allocated to schools which, in some cases, end up with a Roma-only intake. Dragonas (2012) reports that the education of many Roma pupils is often of low quality. Moreover, Nikolaou (2009) argues that non-Roma classmates as well as many educators often hold hostile attitudes towards the Roma students. However, there are some cases of Greek Roma who achieve educational success against the odds. (In my research, I take entrance to higher education as a marker of educational success because in Greek society, higher education holds high symbolic value and is considered to be a lever for social mobility (Sianou‐Kyrgiou & Tsiplakides, 2011; Themelis, 2013). Drawing on a set of in-depth interviews with twenty Greek Roma who have entered higher education, this paper examines what the participants recommend in order to better support the education of Roma in Greece.
Background: In the Greek national context, the Roma are Greek citizens but not officially recognised as a national or linguistic minority group (Kostadinova, 2011). Thus, little reliable data about the Roma in Greece has been collected (Dragonas, 2012). It is estimated that there are around 230,000 Roma in Greece; most are familiar with and use their community language, Romani (Nikolaou, 2009). Many Roma in Greece are settled residents and are traders (Markou, 2008). In Greece, the Roma are frequently reviled and discriminated against. As far as their education is concerned, Greek Roma pupils’ erratic attendance, their higher dropout rates (Mavrommatis, 2008; Kostouli & Mitakidou, 2009; Nikolaou, 2009) and lower attainment compared with their non-Roma peers (Nikolaou, 2009) are regularly documented, despite the implementation of programmes targeting Roma schooling over the last two decades. In contrast to the usual emphasis on Roma’s educational disadvantage, this paper is based on one core research question from my doctoral study where I examine the suggestions made by twenty educationally successful Roma for supporting Roma children’s educational progression.
Research Focus: This paper’s main research question is as follows: ‘What are the participants’ suggestions for improving Roma children’s education in Greece (policy and practice)?’. This paper aims at analysing the participants’ suggestions for improving educational provision for Roma students in Greece and boosting their educational progression.
Conceptual framework: This paper is framed by Nancy Fraser’s (1997) economic, cultural and associational dimensions of social justice in order to explore theoretically and understand empirically what my participants propose for developing suitable policies for Roma’s future educational progression in Greece. In my work, I also draw on Gewirtz’s (1998) analysis of social justice.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Dragonas, T. (2012). Roma mothers and their young children. Country Report: Greece (Unpublished Report). Bernard Van Leer Foundation. Farkas, L. (2014). Report on discrimination of Roma children in education (2014). Retrieved April 15, 2015 from http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/roma_childdiscrimination_en.pdf Flick, U. (2009). An Introduction to Qualitative Research (4th Edition). London: Sage. Fraser, N. (1997). Justice interruptus: Critical reflections on the"postsocialist" condition. New York: Routledge. Gewirtz, S. (1998). Conceptualizing social justice in education: Mapping the territory. Journal of Education Policy, 13(4), 469-484. Kostadinova, G. (2011). Minority Rights as a Normative Framework for Addressing the Situation of Roma in Europe. Oxford Development Studies, 39(2), 163-183. Kostouli, T., & Mitakidou, S. (2009). Policies as top-down structures versus as lived realities: An investigation of literacy policies in Greek schools. In S. Mitakidou, E. Tressou, B. B. Swadener & C.A. Grant (Eds), Beyond pedagogies of exclusion in diverse childhood contexts: transnational challenges (pp. 47-63). New York: Macmillan. Markou, G. (2008). Η προσπάθεια ανάπτυξης μιας εθνικής πολιτικής για την οικονομική και κοινωνική ένταξη των Τσιγγάνων [The attempt to develop a national policy for economic and social inclusion of the Roma]. In S. Trubeta (Ed.), Οι Ρομά στο σύγχρονο ελληνικό κράτος: Συμβιώσεις – Αναιρέσεις - Απουσίες [The Roma in the Modern Greek State: Symbiosis – Denegation - Absence] (pp. 153-188). Athens: Kritiki. Nikolaou, G. (2009). Teacher training on Roma education in Greece: a discussion about the results of INSETRom experience in two Greek schools. Intercultural Education, 20(6), 549-557. Sianou‐Kyrgiou, E., & Tsiplakides, I. (2011). Similar performance, but different choices: social class and higher education choice in Greece. Studies in Higher Education, 36(1), 89-102. Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory (2nd Edition). Thousand Oaks, California; London: Sage. Symeou, L., Luciak, M., & Gobbo, F. (2009). Teacher training for Roma inclusion: implementation, outcomes and reflections of the INSETRom project. Intercultural Education, 20 (6), 493-496. Themelis, S. (2013). Social change and education in Greece: a study in class struggle dynamics. New York; Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Trevor, J. & Newburn, T. (2001). Widening access: Improving police relations with hard to reach groups. London: Home Office, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, Policing and Reducing Crime Unit.
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