At European Union level, various policies target Roma education, still school inclusion has not been achieved for the minority (Alexiadou, 2019). While the European Commission (2011) aims that all Roma complete at least primary school, high rates of non-attendance and dropouts are documented in many countries (FRA, 2014; 2019). Teachers’ prejudices and lack of teacher training in managing diversity are barriers to quality inclusive education for Roma (EC, 2015). Therefore, teachers’ training regarding intercultural competences (EC, 2011) and equal treatment of Roma children (FRA, 2014) have been recommended. Similarly, the new EU Roma strategic framework suggests teachers’ training on inclusive education, diversity, Roma culture and history and also targeted teacher training to prevent discrimination and anti-gypsyism in education (EC, 2020; FRA, 2020). In accordance with the European discourses, Greece’s National Strategic Framework for Roma has recognised the lack of trained teaching staff as a problem in Greek Roma’s education and, thus, actions have been proposed to support teachers in compulsory education, e.g. further training, support from psychologists and social workers, and, offering incentives to teachers (extra creds for pay and promotion when working in schools where Roma students exceed 30% (HR, 2011)). This presentation, examines, the extent to which measures implemented in Greece involve teachers and teacher education, through reviewing relevant legislative and policy documents. Second, it investigates if/how the nine Greek primary school university departments provide Roma-related courses, through analyzing their syllabus. Third, drawing on interview data collected for my doctoral thesis, it discusses -utilising Bourdieu’s concepts- how the teachers in the study contributed to their Roma students’ progression. Preliminary findings reveal a gap between the European policy discourse on improving Roma education regarding teacher training and what is implemented in the Greek context. In the case of Greek Roma who progressed in education, supportive teaching and teacher mentoring were shown to make a significant difference (Gkofa, 2016). However, these teachers have acted as caring individuals, indicating the absence of systematic interventions promoting Roma’s progression by teachers in classrooms. The review of legislative documents of the Ministry of Education shows that Roma-related initiatives targeting teachers are still limited and the same applies to the Roma-related courses provided throughout teachers’ undergraduate studies. These findings are unsurprisingly consistent with the low performance that Greece shows in many aspects of Roma education, such as preschool and compulsory school attendance, segregated schooling and literacy levels (FRA, 2014).

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