The theoretical background of the research and development presented in this poster, initiates from the early school leaving of Roma and disadvantaged students. One of the European Union's priorities is to improve employability in its member states, for which a reduction in the low-skilled rate is a prerequisite. In Hungary, young Roma people are the most affected in this context (Bocsi et al., 2023) – as early school leaving is not only dependent on school performance but is also strongly influenced by socio-cultural factors (Varga et al., 2024) – and those living in rural areas (Eurostat, 2023). OECD data for 2023 show that the share of 15–19-year-olds in education and training has decreased by 10% since 2010. Tackling this trend requires education policy interventions, which can be truly effective when different sectors and levels of governance work together. These can be categorised as prevention, intervention and compensation in the context of early school leaving (Euridyce, 2014).

Our development is a preventive intervention, as it takes place at ISCED2 level – facilitating the appropriate choice of secondary school. In designing the programme, we considered it important to understand the success indicators of early school leaving prevention programmes. An important aspect of prevention is career guidance (Musset et al., 2018), which involves the development of career-building competences. A systematic literature review in the US (Wilson & Tanner-Smith, 2013) highlights the effectiveness of prevention programmes that are based on mentoring or tutoring. An important factor in the prevention of early school leaving is the development of positive attitudes towards school (Jenkins, 1997; Gottfredson et al., 2010; Stern 2012), which in many cases depends on good teacher-student relationships. Thus, monitoring of pedagogical work is essential. However, the monitoring process is also of key importance for the students, allowing for personalised development (Cabus & De Witte, 2014; Van der Steeg et al., 2015; Davis et al., 2019).

Our research team based its developmental research on the principles mentioned above to help students choose an appropriate secondary school within the framework of a career guidance mentoring programme. It was another principle of the research-development programme to involve the societies and communities who are in the focus of the development. Pupils in the programme are mostly bicultural (LaFromboise, Coleman & Gerton, 1993), thus of similar identities to the children in the primary schools who were involved in the programme. One of the aspects of the analysis is helpers’ belonging to more than one cultural space, their bicultural identity is addressed (DeAnda, 1984). Another focus of the analysis is their perceptions on their supportive roles, as research finds that bicultural individuals, going through upward social mobility are often present in supportive programmes and likely to aim giving back to their (perceived or real) communities (Bereményi, Durst & Nyírő, 2023).

The aim of this presentation is to highlight the role of bicultural peer communities in the analysed research-development process. In this research we inquire about peer mentors’ and Roma university students’ perceptions regarding their roles in the programme. Besides their self-evaluation, we aim at evaluating the development based on the feedback of primary school institutions and their teachers.

This presentation concludes the results of research focusing on the selected external services of the research-development process. We focus on two elements of the mentoring programme that provided career guiding via pedagogically designed services for pupils attending the 10 primary schools. Firstly, peer mentoring was provided by Roma secondary school students (n=25), secondly career guidance workshops were held by Roma university students (n=15). Peer mentoring was an ongoing process and besides community-based programmes, relied on individual mentor-mentee relationships. In three academic years (2022/2023-2024/2025), a sum of 18 45-minutes-long workshops were hosted by Roma university students in each primary schools. The presentation analyses the research-development with data triangulation: the research is based on 1) analysis of documents (process monitoring), and 2) data collection with participants (perceptions of Roma secondary school and university students). Process monitoring is based on the monthly meetings and their documentation with the representatives of the primary schools. In the presentation, we rely on the content analysis of these documents. Between the academic years 2022/2023 and 2024/2025 10 meetings focused on either of the two services. The development of the workshops and mentoring sessions, allows us to analyse the content of the services provided for the elementary school pupils (n=130). Data collection has followed the research ethical guidelines, and the headmaster of the secondary institution has given permission for involving students in the interviewing process. The research-development programme was given ethical licence for conducting research. Research focusing on peer mentoring begin before its initiation, an entering interview was conducted with peer-mentors between December 2023 and January 2024 (N=20, n=20). Besides, in the end of the first mentoring year (May 2024) and in the end of the last mentoring semester (January 2025) focus group interviews were conducted. Data collection focusing on Roma university students has taken place in January 2025, in form of a focus-group interview. Both the semi-structured-, and focus-group interviews were recorded, transcribed and anonymized. They were coded by two independent coders following the guidelines of abductive thematic analysis (Thompson, 2022), via the help of the Atlas.ti software. Results were analysed with descriptive statistics, presenting the frequency and distribution of answers. Quotations from the participants are also used to illustrate categories and to further nuance the results.

This research highlights the essence of an early school leaving preventive programme and its two services provided by bicultural actors. In the research we focused on Roma secondary school students’, and Roma university students’ perceptions of participating in the programme as supporters of primary school pupils. Based on the data collections with them, we acquire an insight into their experiences and their perceived roles in the development. Based on their demographic background, they were also at risk of dropping out and advanced in education in spite of structural discrimination. These experiences encouraged them to participate in such programmes and enabled them to become credible role models for pupils in the programme. Additionally, our results report the process of the development of the services in focus. We collected feedback from those involved in helping the pupils in the programme. This feedback can be contrasted with the process analysis that was continuous throughout the research-development programme. The analysed documents report about the development that was carried out, also it consists of valuable suggestions for further development. The document analysis concludes the perceptions of teachers in the schools, shares their experience on secondary school and university students’ work. Thus, our research has pedagogical implications: the practice described, is applicable in other contexts and some aspects of its possible further development are hindered by the results of this research.

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