Roma communities are one of the most marginalised groups in European society, experiencing profound and multiple exclusion which includes educational segregation, low achievement and attainment (Rostas, 2012). How can one of the greatest educational challenges in Europe be overcome? The workshop participants argue that robust interventions, desegregation and the development of inclusive schools are essential to reverse exclusion.

The contributors will seek to identify some of the causes of exclusion and reflect on the effectiveness of policy and advocacy frameworks in promoting inclusion, desegregation and community engagement. The papers will focus on case studies in Serbia, Slovakia and Romania but reference will also be made to other European states.

A guiding point for the discussion will be the concept of Inclusive Schooling which aims to eliminate social exclusion that is a consequence of attitudes and responses to diversity in race, social class, ethnicity, religion, gender and ability. Advocates of inclusive education contend that education is a basic human right and the foundation for a more just society (Ainscow and Sandill 2010). In addition reference will be made to Inclusive Community Development (ICD), which is asset based, builds on existing skills and cultural practices (Ryder, Rostas and Taba 2014; Gilchrist and Taylor 2011). It is a form of mobilisation that comes from the grassroots and is organic and centred upon a community’s concerns and uses these as the building blocks for organization. It will be posited in the symposia that ICD is essential to make a reality of legal and policy directives which support desegregation. Another reference point for discussion will be Critical Race Theory which places a strong focus on the recognition of the experiential knowledge of excluded communities in defining their exclusion (Matsuda et al. 1993) this is coupled with activist agendas which incorporate commitments to social justice and change and recognition that racism is a central factor in a social order which rests on intersectional oppressions including economic, racial and gender exclusion (Hylton 2012).

References to inclusive schooling in the symposia will include discussion of good practice projects and initiatives including the work of the Roma Education Fund (REF)[1]. REF seeks to promote effective models for inclusive Roma education through strong partnerships with national and sub-national education authorities and with substantive Roma participation. In 2015 REF celebrates its tenth anniversary and part of the seminar will consider how through the Educational Conference for Educational Research (hosted by the European Educational Research Association EERA) REF can promote across Europe strong partnerships between Roma communities and schools. This will include discussion as to whether a specific Roma network can be established in EERA and or whether this goal can be achieved through other initiatives involving EERA, community organisations and schools

The Roma Education Fund hopes that the ECER symposia will attract practitioners and researchers working with other educationally marginalised groups and ethnic minorities and that there will be opportunities to share good practice and experiences

[1]To find out more about REF visit

http://www.romaeducationfund.hu/

See REF publications

http://www.romaeducationfund.hu/publications

Ainscow, M., and A. Sandill. 2010. “Developing Inclusive Education Systems: The Role of Organisational Cultures and Leadership.” International Journal of Inclusive Education 14 (4): 401–416. Gilchrist, A., and M. Taylor. 2011. The Short Guide to Community Development. Bristol: Policy Press. Hylton, K. 2012. “Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk: Defining Critical Race Theory.” Race Ethnicity and Education 15 (1): 23–41. Matsuda, M. J., C. R. Lawrence, R. Delgado, and K. W. Crenshaw. 1993. Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory Assaultive Speech and the First Amendment. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Rostas, I., ed. 2012. Ten Years After: A History of Roma School Desegregation in Central and Eastern Europe. Budapest: Central European University Press. Ryder, A. Rostas, I & Taba, M (2014) ‘Nothing about us without us’: the role of inclusive community development in school desegregation for Roma communities, Race Ethnicity and Education, 17:4, 518-539, DOI: