The pandemic of Covid 19 brought unseen challenges to all parts of Czech society but schools and education was among the hardest hit with contact education suspended for most of the 2020 and half of 2021. The weight of the education was shifted on families as they had to provide places for education and often support to the teacher who could not usually do much about the environment in which the learning took place. But it was not just environment itself with its space and noise limitations and computer issues, it was also and very importantly the ability to support the children in learning itself, the cultural capital that had to be activated and the general capability of the family to give the education priority and place in the family business. It is not surprising that families differed in this particularly difficult it was for Roma families in socially excluded localities. Between 2008-2021 our team conducted longitudinal ethnographic research of Roma attitudes towards education and many related issues. We observed that in pre pandemic times Roma mothers held school in good regard but it was seen as a safe space where parents can put their children and not worry about them, however their ability to support the children and to understand school tasks was very limited. They often said that they are finally learning it with the children as various NGOs provided support to the children in after-school supportive teaching lessons. But due to several lockdowns that happened through the year this support was hard to reach and parents had to rely on their own means under the typically challenging circumstances of life in social exclusion, particularly cramped and overcrowded apartments. 

In our paper we will describe key concepts, problems and strategies that families employed to cope with the online education in the context of all intellectual and social upheaval that the pandemic brought to the society.

This paper builds on 14 years long anthropological reserach (2008-2022) conducted in an area in Czech republic with extensive social exclusion problems related mainly to large Roma minority settled here. Our research is fundamentally based on ethnography, consisting mainly of informal semistructured interviews and participant observation. During the participant observation we participate in casual conversations that allow us to observe the sentiments amidst the public, watch local potitics and relationships in practice. Interviews for this paper were conducted with Roma parents, their children and NGO workers who support Roma in the area.

Roma families living under social exclusion conditions face normally severe challenges in terms of living space, commuting, family time coordination and lack of cultural and social capital. Pandemic of Covid 19 brought new level of these issues and amplified all structural problems that were already there. As this is an ongoing research we cannot present here definitive outcomes but we expect to bring key strategies and concepts that Roma families in social exclusion used to cope with the pandemic situation and online education.

Bittnerová, D., Doubek, D., & Levínská, M. (2011). Funkce kulturních modelů ve vzdělávání [Function of Cultural Models in Education]. Praha: Fakulta humanitních studií, UK. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change. Psychological Review 84(2), 191-215. Doubek, D., Levínská, M., & Bittnerová, D. (2015a). Roma as the Others. Intercultural Education 26(2), 131-152. DOI: 10.1080/14675986.2015.1027084 Doubek, D., Levínská, M., & Bittnerová, D. (2015b). Pomoc a pořádek: kulturní modely v pomáhajících profesích [Help and Order: Cultural models of Helping Professions]. Praha: Fakulta humanitních studií, UK. Fónadová, L. (2014). Nenechali se vyloučit. Sociální vzestupy Romů v české společnosti [They resisted exclusion. Social rise of Roma individuals in the Czech society]. Brno: Masarykova Univerzita. Levínská, M., Bittnerová, D. and Doubek, D. (2019). Roma Minority in the Czech Republic, Óhidy, A. and Forray, K.R. (Eds.) Lifelong Learning and the Roma Minority in Central and Eastern Europe, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 71-95. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83867-259-120191005 Levínská, M., Doubek, D. (2019). “Struggle” for Trust – Unintended Consequences of an “Integration Project”. International journal of bias, identity and diversities in education, 4(2), 14-27. Levínská, M., Kohout-Diaz, M., Bittnerová, D. (2020). Les élèves Rom de République tchèque face au processus de la globalisation inclusive dans Sociétés inclusives et reconnaissance des diversités. Le nouveau défi des politiques d’éducation. Coord. B. Garnier, J.-L. Derouet, R. Malet (Eds.). Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, p. 121-138. Levínská, M., Bittnerová, D. (2021). Social justice in education from the perspective of the Roma in the Czech Republic – A case study. Hungarian educational research journal. DOI 10.1556/063.2021.00085 Levínská, M. (2021). Educational Path in Social Exclusion. In M. Kohout-Diaz, M. Strouhal (Eds.), Cultures of Inclusive Education and Democratic Citizenship: Comparative Perspectives (s. 173-199). Praha: Karolinum Idea Cerge EI. (2022, January) PAQ - Život během pandemie. [PAQ – Life during a pandemic] Retrieved from https://idea.cerge-ei.cz/paq-zivot-behem-pandemie/paq-zivot-behem-pandemie Noskovič, M (2022) Education of children in COVID 19 period from the point of view of Roma mothers. (Dissertation). Retrieved from https://is.cuni.cz/studium/dipl_uc/index.php?id=7aa8598f6bd9b7cb213c6e753562b09d&tid=1&do=xdownload&fid=120408028&did=234169&vdetailu=1 Vorlíček, R. (2017). Sociální dynamika a interetnické vztahy v prostředí základních škol [Social dynamics and inter-ethnic relationships in the basic school environment] (Dissertation). Retrieved from https://dspace.cuni.cz/handle/20.500.11956/93464 Vláda ČR [Office of the Government of the Czech Republic]. (2022, January) Zpráva o stavu romské menšiny za rok 2020 [Report on the status of Roma minority in 2020]. Vláda ČR© 2009-2017. Retrieved from https://www.vlada.cz/assets/ppov/zalezitosti-romske-komunity/aktuality/Zprava-o-stavu-romske-mensiny-2020.pdf