Approaching dropouts among Gipsy pupils: A study of the situation in an Asturian municipality.
Author(s):
María-del-Henar Pérez-Herrero (presenting / submitting) Ángela Antúnez
Conference:
ECER 2015
Network:
04. Inclusive Education
Format:
Poster

Session Information

04 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Session

General Poster Session

Time:
2015-09-09
12:30-14:00
Room:
Poster Area
Chair:

Contribution

Reducing school-leaving among the youngsters has become one of European Union’s highest priorities, as reflected in the main objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy (European Commission, 2010, 2014). Tackling drop-out of school, which is closely linked to truancy, underachievement and academic failure, is so important because it is related to more difficulties in entering the labour market and finding a quality steady job, thus increasing the likelihood of suffering from high levels of social discrimination (Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa, 2014; Resolución del Parlamento Europeo, de 1 de diciembre de 2011). This problem affects the general population, but especially the Roma youth, that has higher drop-out rates and therefore presents an even larger educational and social divide (Álvarez, González & San Fabián, 2010; Caselles, 2005; Fundación Secretariado Gitano, 2013; Gamella, 2011; González & Guinart, 2011). Some research (Álvarez et al., 2010; González & Guinart, 2011) has recently pointed out other factors affecting school-leaving, in addition to economic difficulties and early entry into employment. These are ideological factors, such as adaptation problems arising from intercultural conflict of values, parents’ lack of apreciation for education and lack of interest in school issues. The influence of this ideological component is also confirmed by other authors, such as Derrington (2007), Myers, McGhee & Bhopal (2010) and Rosario et al. (2014). The first one refers to the cultural dissonance as a result of school and home contradictory expectations, and he also notes that school retention depends on Roma students’ adaptive coping strategies, such as cognitive re-framing, adopting a bicultural identity and developping social support networks. Myers et al. (2010) analyzed the Roma parents’ changing perceptions of education and detected anxiety about the transition to secondary education, in addition to their belief that learning literacy and basic numeracy is enough for them, which is also stated by Rosario et al. (2014).

As a result, it is a complex issue that must be examined in order to uncover what factors are involved in its onset and to determine the best strategies to foster retention in secondary education as well as in upper secondary education.

Hence, the paper presented is part of a research that will be performed in the next few years to identify the factors affecting school drop-out among Roma pupils. In particular, the aim of this study is to find out these factors among the Roma ethnic students named çiganos, enrolled in the school of an Asturian municipality (Spain).

Method

A needs assessment of the studied group was conducted in two stages, using in-depth interviews with key informants as the main instrument for gathering data. The first study phase focused on the review of scientific literature and documentation and legal regulations on the topic. In the second one, four semi-structured in-depth interviews were designed and validated. These were applied to four practitioners, the key informants, who were selected due to their experience in providing specialized support to the Roma children and their families from different contexts (school, social and community).The interviews were transcribed and classified on the basis of thematic criteria in order to analyse its contents. Finally, four categories and 31 subcategories were obtained out of 215 units of analysis. Triangulation in data collection and analysis was performed to ensure the reliability of the instruments for gathering data. The categories are “group traits” (including their strengths and weaknesses), “çiganos’s relationship with school and academic learning”, “socio-educational services and agents’ response to çiganos’s needs” and “proposals to address these needs”.

Expected Outcomes

The results show that most of çigano children, youngsters and families’ difficulties take place at school, are related to retention in compulsory and upper secondary education and are associated with high levels of dependence on social aids, low levels of personal and self-care habits, low academic expectations and early drop-out of the school system. There are some other studies that have obtained similar data on the basis of larger samples (Álvarez et al., 2010). Additionally, influence of family’s ideological barriers related to the value of education along with socio-economic, cultural, educational and personal needs were uncovered and linked to early school-leaving. Although the study has limitations because it is a preliminary approach on the subject, we can state that school-leaving among Roma youngsters is a truly challenge for educational practitioners and specifically for school counsellors, who must develop their work in the school context from an inclusive perspective (Álvarez & Bisquerra, 2012). Counsellors also constitutes a linking element between schools, pupils and their families, other professionals who work with the latter more closely, and people who research on this topic at university, in order to become truly collaborative work teams, to find solutions and make preventive and intervention proposals, adapted to this group’s needs.

References

Álvarez, M. & Bisquerra, R. (2012). Orientación educativa. Modelos, áreas, estrategias y recursos. Madrid: Wolters Kluwer España. Álvarez, M. V., González, M. M. & San Fabián, J. L. (2010). La situación de la infancia gitana en Asturias. Retrieved from http://www.observatoriodelainfanciadeasturias.es/documentos/infancia-gitana.pdf Caselles, J. F. (2005). El pueblo gitano y la educación: hacia la integración desde el respeto a la identidad. En C. Jiménez (Ed.), Pedagogía diferencial. Diversidad y equidad (pp. 173-208). Madrid: Pearson Educación. Derrington, C. (2007). Fight, Flight and Playing White: An Examination of Coping Strategies Adopted by Gypsy Traveller Adolescents in English Secondary Schools. International Journal of Educational Research, 46(6), 357-367. European Commission (2010). EUROPE 2020. A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:2020:FIN:EN:PDF European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop (2014). Tackling Early Leaving from Education and Training in Europe: Strategies, Policies and Measures. Eurydice and Cedefop Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Fundación Secretariado Gitano (2013). El alumnado gitano en secundaria: un estudio comparado. Retrieved from http://www.gitanos.org/upload/56/22/EstudioSecundaria.pdf Gamella, J. F. (Ed.) (2011). Historias de éxito. Modelos para reducir el abandono escolar de la adolescencia gitana. Retrieved from http://www.educatolerancia.com/pdf/Historias%20de%20exito_%20Modelos%20para%20reducir%20el%20abandono%20escolar%20de%20la%20adolescencia%20gitana.pdf González, R. M. & Guinart, S. (Eds.) (2011). Alumnado en situación de riesgo social (Vol. 8, Colección Escuela Inclusiva: alumnos distintos pero no diferentes). Barcelona: Graó. Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa (2014). Sistema estatal de indicadores de la educación 2014. Retrieved from http://www.mecd.gob.es/dctm/inee/indicadores-educativos/seie-2014/seie2014-web.pdf?documentId=0901e72b819cf31e Myers, M., McGhee, D. & Bhopal, K. (2010). At the crossroads: Gypsy and Traveller parents’ perceptions of education, protection and social change. Race Ethnicity and Education, 13(4), 533-548. Resolución del Parlamento Europeo, de 1 de diciembre de 2011, en la que se aborda el abandono escolar prematuro (2011/2088(INI). Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, C165 E/7, de 11 de junio de 2013. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/ES/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52011IP0531&from=ES Rosario, P., Núñez, J. C., Azevedo, R., Cunha, J., Pereira, A., & Mourao, R. (2014). Understanding gypsy children's conceptions of learning: A phenomenographic study. School Psychology International, 35(2), 152-166. doi: 10.1177/0143034312469304

Author Information

María-del-Henar Pérez-Herrero (presenting / submitting)
University of Oviedo (Spain)
Oviedo
Ángela Antúnez
Universidad de Oviedo
Oviedo

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