At the beginning of this millennium, the rights and prospects of European Roma have received more political attention than ever before, owing to the number of Roma refugees fleeing the war in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and, later on, to the number of Roma moving across Europe after the accession of Central and Eastern European nation states to the European Union. The arrivals of Roma refugees and migrants have too often kindled a perceived sense of insecurity among local populations in turn based on ingrained prejudices. Also in regions where Roma have been living for centuries most of them face ongoing subordination and discrimination. In most European nation-states, administrative and legislative policies have been enacted that are inclusive of, and reinforcing the educational/integrational mission of schooling, and are all aimed to contain what is perceived as the “Roma problem” by the local populations. International and European institutions increased their political efforts towards Roma inclusion, and, at least at the international level, the political commitment to Roma education seems to be stronger than ever and it cannot but interrogate both researchers and educators, since the role of education research is both responsible for the design and evaluation of education policies and programs, and for the construction/legitimation of Roma identities and cultures on which policies, programs and the mainstream education discourse are built.

If such questions are more often raised with regard to the Roma, it cannot be neglected that the desire to control those who live a non sedentary life – Travellers, circus, fairground people, migrant pickers, etc. – continues to be exercised and education was seen as what could guarantee their assimilation and settlement most satisfactorily. In the 1980s, the relevance of cultural diversity and of diverse cultural realities supported the aim of integrating marginalized populations through intercultural education. Their educational situations, prospects and provisions vary depending on the attention devoted to them by local and national governments, as well as on the policies and specific programs that are launched and implemented. Recognizing the social relevance and the fact that scholars interested in the education of Roma, Travellers and “occupational nomads” furthermore face a fast developing and strongly politicized field of research, the planned symposium will focus on emerging trends in education research concerning children and youth from the above groups.