Session Information
05 ONLINE 39 A, Alternatives, Transitions and Tackling Stereotypes
Paper Session
MeetingID: 815 4349 6051 Code: 7rjdFC
Contribution
Access to and completion of non-compulsory secondary education is highly unequal for Roma versus non-Roma. The report prepared by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2015) shows that 48% of Roma children in Europe do not attend compulsory secondary education. The data on non-compulsory secondary education or tertiary education show a worse situation, as 95% of Roma boys and girls are not in these educational levels. Guzmán et al. (2021) indicate that among the factors that contribute to this inequality in vulnerable groups are the negative expectations they have of themselves with regard to life at school. Educational and non-educational experiences contribute to the consolidation of expectations regarding academic success.
Other research shows that, for example in Hungary, preservice teachers consistently discriminate against Roma students. They are often denied entry to higher track secondary schools and directed to lower track schools. This leads to ethnic tracking bias (Bruneau, et al., 2020).
Access to university also becomes a challenge because of "cultural distance". The literature shows that, in general, secondary school Roma students find it difficult to imagine university life. Roma girls are particularly disadvantaged, with more than half of them over the age of 16 dropping out (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2015; McGhie, 2017).
After a decade of policies for Roma inclusion in education in Europe (FRA, 2012), the progress achieved still shows a lack of approaches that support a greater presence of Roma students at the university (Padilla et al., 2017), despite being an issue of great importance. INCLUD-ED: “Strategies for inclusion and social cohesion in Europe from Education”, the large-scale research project carried out in 14 European Union countries between 2006 and 2011, identified successful educational actions that are effective interventions in employment, health, housing and participation, getting students back into the education system and continuing in higher education. Special focus was put on vulnerable groups, considering higher education as an important pathway out of poverty and social mobility (Flecha & Soler, 2013).
In this paper, we sought to understand more about how students have managed to overcome the barriers they face due to the discrimination they suffer as Roma students in order to access non-compulsory studies, such as the baccalaureate, leading to higher education, with the aim of contributing to further deepening their knowledge and skills.
Method
Researchers in this study followed the Communicative Methodology of research (Gómez, Puigvert, & Flecha, 2011; Puigvert, Christou, & Holford, 2012), validated and promoted by the international scientific community due to its social impact as a result of the egalitarian dialogue that researchers establish with research participants. This methodology has been found to be particularly beneficial for minority communities, as their voices have not been historically included in scientific studies (Gómez et al., 2019). Following the scientific and ethical rigor of the Communicative Methodology, researchers informed the school Principal about the study, its procedures and aims, and the Principal gathered consent of the families for their children to participate and be audio-recorded for the purposes of this study. Prior to this, the study was reviewed and approved by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili's ethics committee for research on people, society and the environment. The techniques implemented have included communicative life stories as well as the review of secondary sources and scientific literature. Communicative life stories involved two Roma boys and three Roma girls in the final year of compulsory secondary education. Moreover, four in-depth interviews were carried out with two members of the school team, the mother of one of the pupils and a Roma volunteer at the school. To analyse the data, an analysis matrix has been designed in which two dimensions -exclusionary and transformative- and four categories have been established: application of certain successful educational actions; high expectations; community involvement in school decisions; and the promotion of positive Roma references. Within the exclusionary dimension we have identified the obstacles the Roma students found when dealing with the factors that perpetuated the situations of educational and social exclusion. Contrary, the transformative dimension has included data on the impact of the educational actions in Roma children.
Expected Outcomes
The results show that young Roma students, despite being a group at high risk of social exclusion, can achieve educational success if they carry out actions endorsed by the international scientific community that are proving to have social impact. Among the actions identified, we find successful educational actions such as interactive groups (Valls & Kyriades, 2013) or the extension of learning time (Morlà et al. 2020), where children, instead of being segregated into low-level groups, are offered the human and academic support necessary to achieve educational success. These SEAS would not be possible without an environment of high expectations towards the children by all the agents of the educational centre (families, teachers, volunteers, etc.) which produces a change in the students' own expectations. In the case studied, the active participation of the educational community in the centre’s decision-making process has been highlighted, which has allowed for greater monitoring of pupils by families in communication with the teaching staff. This also breaks the false stigma that Roma families are not interested in their children's education (Khalfaoui et al. 2020; Garcia Yeste, Morlà & Ionescu, 2018). Finally, the visibility and promotion of positive Roma role models, in this case Roma people who had completed or were completing university studies, was another key factor in Roma students wanting to continue their post-compulsory education. The dissemination of research such as this shows the possibility of transforming educational centres in order to improve the lives and futures of the Roma children of the future and enrich society by making it possible for a greater diversity of people to access different professions.
References
Bruneau, E., Szekeres, H., Kteily, N., Tropp, L.R., & Kende, A. (2020). Beyond dislike: Blatant dehumanization predicts teacher discrimination. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 23(4), 560-577. http://doi.org/10.1177/1368430219845462 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2015). Analysis of FRA Roma Survey results by Gender. https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2013/analysis-fra-roma-survey-results-gender European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) (2012). The situation of Roma in 11 EU Member States - Survey results at a glance. https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/situation-roma-11-eu-member-states-survey-results-glance Flecha, R. y Soler, M. (2013). Turning difficulties into possibilities: Engaging Roma families and students in school through dialogic learning. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(4), 451–465. Garcia-Yeste, C., Morlà, T., & Ionescu, V. (2018). Dreams of Higher Education in the Mediterrani School Through Family Education. Frontiers in Education, 3(79). doi: 10.3389/feduc.2018.00079 Gómez, A., Padrós, M., Ríos, O., Mara, L.-C., & Pukepuke, T. (2019). Reaching Social Impact Through Communicative Methodology. Researching With Rather Than on Vulnerable Populations: The Roma Case. Frontiers in Education, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00009 Gómez, A., Puigvert, L., & Flecha, R. (2011). Critical communicative methodology: Informing real social transformation through research. Qualitative Inquiry, 17(3), 235–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410397802 Guzmán, P. Gonzalo Cifuentes Gomez & Maria Veronica Santelices (2021) Secondary students’ expectations on transition to higher education, Educational Research, 63(2), 164-179, http://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2021.1915173 Khalfaoui, A., García-Carrión, R., & Villardón-Gallego, L. (2020). Bridging the gap: engaging Roma and migrant families in early childhood education through trust-based relationships. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28(5), 701–711. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293x.2020.1817241 McGhie, V. (2017). “Entering University Students: Identifiying Enabling Factors for a Succesful Transition from School to University” Higher Education, 73(3), 407-422. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0100-2 Morlà-Folch, T., Ríos González, O., Mara, L.C., & García Yeste, C. (2020). Impact of the extension of learning time on the learning space of the platform for people affected by mortgages Tarragona. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 24. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2019.100369 Padilla-Carmona, M., González-Monteagudo, J., Soria-Vílchez, A. (2015). The Roma in Spanish Higher Education: A Case Study of Successful Trajectories. Revista de Educación, 377, 187-211. Puigvert, L., Christou, M., and Holford, J. (2012). Critical communicative methodology: including vulnerable voices in research through dialogue. Cambridge Journal of Education, 42, 513–526. doi: 10.1080/0305764X.2012.733341 Valls, R., & Kyriakides, L. (2013). The power of interactive groups: how diversity of adults volunteering in classroom groups can promote inclusion and success for children of vulnerable minority ethnic populations. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(1), 17–33. http://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2012.749213
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