This article explores how Roma pupils in Norway experience school. Using portraiture methodology, I narrate the experiences of Leah, Hannah and Maria, focusing on their situation before and after the ...transition from elementary to lower secondary school. The article demonstrates how children negotiate and are negotiated by, intersecting racializing and gendering structures, using decolonial perspectives. One key finding is the complexity in how the schools’ knowledge discourses, and subsequent practices and attitudes, play out in the girls’ agency. I emphasize the need to produce counter-narratives by identifying agency, rather than depicting Roma in positions as either exotic or marginalized. Overall, the article addresses how coloniality still produces and upholds structures of inequality that render groups like Roma as non-existent in education. Turning the lens towards the inadequacy of an educational system that struggles to recognize the need for radical structural change, the article challenges a strong metanarrative within research and public debate that depicts “the different Roma culture” as the main explanation to low educational attainment among Roma pupils. I argue that the agency of Roma in Norway, who historically have resisted formal education experienced as forced assimilation, represents a unique opportunity to critically examine and rethink how inclusion is understood and operationalized in schools. Thus, knowledge about how school is experienced by Roma pupils today constitutes a vital contribution to the needed effort to decolonialize the educational system.
The goal of this empirical study is to describe power constellations that are generated in interactions between Roma pupils and their teachers, and also to summarize the basic findings of this ...research and to point out some real situations that can occur during the teaching lessons. The first part of the thesis describes the differences in the social interaction of Roma pupils. The second part is focused on the authority of the teachers and also on using this authority during the lessons. The third part is focused on pupils‘ strategies that are created based on the requirements of teachers. The basic findings of the research are selected in the methodological section. The research survey revealed five power constellations, which are the subject of this empirical study. The empirical study suggests how teachers and pupils define and shape relationships. From the present paper, a lot of influences are involved in the formation of power constellation, ranging from the personality of the teachers, socializing in school, through family upbringing to cultural differences.
In this article, we will discuss the case of fair and inclusive schools that are considerate of the specific and unique needs of their pupils and offer quality education for all. We will highlight ...the most important indicators of inclusive education and focus on research that confirms the importance of the teachers’ willingness to establish good interpersonal relationships with their pupils. In the empirical section, we will introduce the results of our qualitative study. Based on interviews conducted with 20 mothers and 20 primary school pupils in two Slovene Roma settlements, we explored how pupils and their mothers perceive teachers’ attitudes towards Roma children. Our findings were very promising, for they showed that the interviewed pupils and their mothers had a positive experience with the teachers and their pedagogical work with Roma children. However, we should not ignore the few cases that pointed to ethnic discrimination towards Roma pupils.
This open access volume provides an understanding of the different aspects of success, school continuity and social mobility among European Roma, including the motives justifying the high rates of ...school dropout and failure among this group. It offers a critical and reflexive perspective about social reality from a multidisciplinary and transversal point of view, sharing knowledge and practices in different countries about the articulations between Roma families, individuals, school and public policies. Over time, there has been an increase in the educational attainment of European citizens, but there are still persistent inequalities between Roma and non-Roma, including gender inequalities, which greatly affect Roma women. The volume explores the issue of Roma education and includes chapters from Western European, South and Central and Eastern European researchers using different theoretical and methodological perspectives. The intersection of this diversity and plurality of standpoints makes possible to obtain a comprehensive view on the education and schooling of European Roma.
This open access volume provides an understanding of the different aspects of success, school continuity and social mobility among European Roma, including the motives justifying the high rates of ...school dropout and failure among this group. It offers a critical and reflexive perspective about social reality from a multidisciplinary and transversal point of view, sharing knowledge and practices in different countries about the articulations between Roma families, individuals, school and public policies. Over time, there has been an increase in the educational attainment of European citizens, but there are still persistent inequalities between Roma and non-Roma, including gender inequalities, which greatly affect Roma women. The volume explores the issue of Roma education and includes chapters from Western European, South and Central and Eastern European researchers using different theoretical and methodological perspectives. The intersection of this diversity and plurality of standpoints makes possible to obtain a comprehensive view on the education and schooling of European Roma.
The task of initial teacher education is to prepare student teachers (ST) to accept responsibility for improving the education of all pupils, including Roma pupils. Thus, knowledge of ST's attitudes ...regarding such pupils at the onset of initial teacher education is a key for the creation of teacher education programmes that challenge implicit beliefs and biases. The main focus of this paper, therefore, is ST's perceptions concerning the causes of learning underachievement amongst Roma pupils and who is primarily responsible for these pupils' learning achievement. Research was conducted at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the Teacher Training Faculty at the University of Belgrade in Serbia. The results suggest that ST do not consider themselves likely contributors to Roma pupils' learning achievement, which leads to an attitude of minimal responsibility. The majority of ST attribute Roma pupils' learning underachievement to their parents' disinterest in schooling, Roma pupils' lack of motivation, and their non-acceptance by peers. The implications of these findings for teacher education programmes are subsequently discussed.
When analysing the reasons behind the academic underachievement of Roma pupils, some teachers suggest that Roma people do not value education and that Roma children have negative attitudes towards ...school. With increasing frequency, Roma pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds are being researched and the research primarily adopts the perspectives of teachers and schools' professional staff. The present study analyses attitudes towards education held by Roma pupils whose socio-economic status is comparable to the majority population and considers their perspective. The research was conducted with Roma pupils attending primary school in Maribor, Slovenia. To collect data, interviews were conducted. The study results suggest that the majority of Roma pupils from Maribor like attending school and value formal education; the majority indicated that they want to complete primary school and continue their education. The results also show that Roma pupils can be highly academically motivated if improved life conditions and improved education opportunities are provided to the Roma population.
In many countries, there is a growing need for teacher awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences, what is often called culturally responsive teaching. This is why teacher education ...institutions are making significant efforts to require student teachers to enrol in courses that focus on understanding, tolerance and acceptance of differences in others. Determining beliefs of student teachers towards the diversity of pupils at the onset of their studies is critical for providing teacher education that more efficiently challenges implicit beliefs and biases. The main objective in this paper is therefore to determine the initial beliefs of student teachers concerning the Roma population, Europe's largest ethnic minority. Research was conducted at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the Teacher Training Faculty at the University of Belgrade in Serbia. The results of the study suggest that most student teachers are in favour of schooling Roma pupils in regular schools; however, most of them would not like to have them in their classes. Most student teachers are aware of the discrimination against Roma pupils in schools; however, they are not ready to engage in closer interactions with Roma families. The implications of these findings for teacher education programmes are subsequently discussed.
The research presented in this paper aims to challenge the belief held by some education professionals that Roma pupils do not value education. The research sample included groups of Roma pupils from ...two countries (Slovenia and Serbia) and from different socio-economic backgrounds. The results suggest that the majority of the pupils are aware of the importance of education. However, there are significant differences in their sense of identification with school. Roma pupils from families whose socio-economic background is comparable to that of the majority population are more appreciative of educational success, feel more accepted by teachers and classmates and are better able to connect education with their own lives. Roma pupils from families of lower socio-economic background associate school with failure, discrimination and rejection by teachers and classmates. Barriers to these pupils' learning and social participation may be related to their tendency to drop out of the compulsory education.
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