The paper is about the ethnographic research that I planned for my doctorate in Education. It considers ethnography as a resource for attaining intercultural aims and therefore it is based on the perspective of Anthropology of education and Intercultural education (Gobbo 2000,2009a, 2009b, 2009c,2009d,21 2010)

My research question developed from the European Project INSETRom and from participation into INSETRom teachers training course (Gobbo and Peano 2009).

My participation to the training course brought me into contact with teachers and schools. At the end of the training I decided to carry out fieldwork in the classroom where a teacher participating into the Project taught. The aim was to understand how the training and the theoretical perspective that structured the former might have changed the educational relation with the Roma pupil enrolled in this classroom.

The paper will present and discuss the findings resulting from one year of a classroom fieldwork and in particular those concerning the limited change in the teacher–Roma pupil relationship and the transformation of myself from participant observer into an active “supporter” of the Roma child’s learning process.

More specifically, my presentation will deal with, and analyze, the changes that the active educational role I took brought to the pupil’s sense of agency and trust in himself. I also plan to  reflect on how my direct educational involvement with the pupil contributed to a greater understanding of his agency, the classroom roles and ways, the effects it had both on the child’s successful learning and on research methodology.

Gobbo 2000, Pedagogia interculturale, il processo educativo nelle società complesse, Carocci editore, Roma Gobbo, F. and Peano, G. 2009. A European project for Roma pupils’ educational inclusion. Paper presented at ECER 2009, 26-8 September, in Vienna. Gobbo 2009a, “INSETRom”, in Educazione Interculturale, volume 7, numero 3 (ottobre 2009) Gobbo 2009b, L’educazione alle differenze – l’attenzione alle differenze, in Identità italiana tra europa e società multiculturale, Fondazione Intercultura onlus Gobbo 2009c, The INSETROM project in Turin (Italy): outcomes and reflections, in Intercultural Education, Vol. 20, No. 6, December 2009, 523 – 535 Gobbo 2009d, Teacher training for Roma inclusion: implementation, outcomes and reflections of the INSETRom project, in Intercultural Education, Vol. 20, No. 6, December 2009, 491 – 494 Gobbo 2010, Un progetto europeo per l’inclusione degli alunni Rom nelle classi multiculturali. Riflessioni e proposte, in Madrugada n.77, Marzo 2010 Peano 2007, Equilibrismo emotivo e narrazione etnografica, in Gobbo (a cura di) 2007, La ricerca educativa per una scuola che cambia, Imprimitur Editrice, Padova. Web sites http://www.iaie.org/insetrom/ http://www.far.unito.it/insetrom