teacher training on roma education in greece: a discussion on the results of insetrom experience...
TRANSCRIPT
Teacher Training on Roma Education in Greece: a discussion on the results of INSETRom experience
Georgios NikolaouAssistant Professor
University of Ioannina
UNIVERSITY OF IOANNINA
Structure
The Roma situation in Greece The Education of Roma pupils in Greece INSETRom project: the Greek context Needs Analysis Teachers training Conclusions
The Roma situation in Greece
First testimony dated 1068 AD in which the Roma are referred to as “Athigani”
They moved to Greece in the 14th century Roma Christians and Muslims (in Thrace) Approximately 230,000 Roma live in Greece The most important populations are located in
Northern Greece, North-western and Western Peloponnesus, in Epirus and Aitolokarnania.
Non-homogeneous population
The Roma situation in Greece
Language: two main groups of Romani: Vlach and Non-Vlach
Roma are active in retail trade, seasonal work positions, music and dance
The traditional professions such as blacksmith, junk or animal trader have been abandoned
Until 1955, apart from the Muslim Roma living in Western Thrace, the majority of the male population was formally described as “of unknown origin” and/or “without nationality”
Roma Education in Greece
For decades, Roma did not have the right to enrol in school, since they were not naturalized
Currently the majority of Roma are illiterate, especially women
School failure and dropout rates are very high among young Roma
Problems are mainly identified in Greek language but less so, in mathematics
Causes of Roma’s inadequate schooling The identity, the culture and the life style of Roma Schoolmates are hostile towards Roma A large percentage of educators has hostile
attitudes towards Roma The school is an unpleasant experience for the
Roma students and boosts their school dropout rates
Roma parents argue that Greek schools do not provide the kind of professional support and knowledge that their children need. “waste of time”
Causes of Roma’s inadequate schooling School represents a different culture from
their own lifestyle Bilingualism of Roma Marriage at a very young age nomadic way of life child labour the lack of pre-school education and the
schools’ schedule
Educational Policy for the Roma Students integration Integration in the “regular” schools Since 1997, the Greek governments supported by
EU funding has financed several important educational projects targeting the Roma population
Special classes, remedial school, travelling Roma pupil’s student card
The Greek Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs claims that the implementation of the “Gypsy Children Education” project (Εκπαίδευση Τσιγγανοπαίδων) in 1997, followed up by the project “Integration of Gypsy Children in Schools” (Ένταξη Τσιγγανοπαίδων στο Σχολείο) in 2004, reduced dropout rates from 75 per cent to 24 per cent.
Educational Policy for the Roma Students integration In order to improve enrolment rates, hampered in many cases by
bureaucratic requirements for formal documentation and proof of vaccination, the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs established in 2000 the “Roma Student Card” enabling Roma pupils to enrol without further formalities wherever they travel during the course of the school year
Between 1998 and 2001, the project was implemented in several regions around Greece. The project resulted in among other things, training 3,000 teachers, developing and producing new training and educational materials, the implementation of a large number of reception and supplementary teaching classes as well as organizing events to create awareness
Since 2002, Roma families have also benefited from a financial support measure for every child enrolled in primary education.
Educational Policy for the Roma Students integration According to different reports by NGOs such as the
Greek Helsinki Monitor , Roma children continue to suffer from exclusion and have not been totally integrated in the school milieu.
Teachers often blame the inadequate information about Roma culture, history and particularities as reasons for their not being effective in the classrooms.
Worse, the segregation of Roma pupils and parents from school and social life continue to exist, accompanied by mutual suspicion and sometimes hostility
Educational Policy for the Roma Students integration silent tolerance of Roma student dropouts and
segregation in different schools or ‘annexes’ separated from the mainstream student population
In other cases Roma they may be enrolled in the mainstream schools but pulled out to receive education in special or preparatory classes, where they spend all morning without any educational interaction with Non-Roma peers.
Finally, there is the practice of placing Roma pupils in mainstream class, without the provision of any educational support or measures to increase their interest and ability to follow up with the school programme
The reasons for this continuing situation the critical social situation and poverty endemic in
the Roma population which critically inhibits Roma families from supporting the education of the their children,
the total lack of social welfare and specific measures by the government for Roma and other cultural minorities, and
widespread stereotypes and prejudices regarding the Roma coupled with both overt and covert efforts to promote cultural preservation of the majority.
The INSETRom Project in Greece Our effort focused on: a) identifying the educational needs of
teachers, b) developing and applying the training
modules in order to provide in-service teacher training and
c) evaluating the training modules and teachers’ training with regard to the improvement of relations between school teachers and Roma parents.
The Schools 11th and 33rd Primary
Schools of Larissa Roma is the majority of the
population in this area similar characteristics: low
social and economic status of the population, large presence of Roma, overcrowding, increased number of children facing learning difficulties and insufficient infrastructure
The Schools11th Primary School of Larissa
31250%
17829%
13421%
Total N1
Roma N2
Non Roma N3
33rd Primary School of Larissa
31051%
16727%
13322%
Total N1
Roma N2
Non Roma N3
The two schools share the same building (double – shift schools with morning and afternoon schedules)
Both of them are integrated in the Project “Roma Children Education”
Language of communication: Greek
The personnel of the schools
Young or middle age teachers Few of them have a post – diploma training They choose to work to these schools,
because they think that it is a “challenge” for them.
The investigation
Need Analysis Interviews with Roma parents Interviews with Roma students Interviews with teachers
The training Questionnaire “before” and “after”
The implementation Participative observation
Findings (Need Analysis) Need analysis
More information about Roma history & culture More training on teaching methods adapted in a
multicultural classroom. Less theory More practice More lessons about the real needs of Roma: “I don’t get
much from school courses, but music and dance are good” The Roma parents want that their children stay at school.
Even if someone say: “I did not go to school and therefore do not insist on my children finishing school”, others wanted their children “to learn to read and write” .
They believe that their children “need more help, but they cannot support them in their homework”
For the teachers the greatest challenge is to “persuade the parents and also the students on the value of schooling”.
The Training
Four whole day meetings of seven hours each took place at one 33e Primary School of Larissa, during April - May 2009.
26 participants. They were teachers and two between them were the principals of the participating schools
In Greece, the teacher training curriculum was adjusted to the topics that appeared of the most interest to the teachers: Culture and enculturation (4 h.), Roma history (4 h.), Roma culture (2,5 h.), Intercultural education (5 h.), Classroom management and methodology (4 h.), Stereotypes and prejudices (2,5 h.) and Teacher – Parent Communication (6 h.).
The teachers’ opinion about the seminars
Question 1: Please circle the number that best represents your assessment of the following aspects of the training
‘Excellent’
‘Good’ ‘Poor’ ‘Bad’ Not Answer
Coverage of content 14 10 1 0 1
Clarity of presentations 13 12 0 0 1
Training Methodology 9 15 1 0 1
Duration of training 5 19 1 0 1
Professionalism of Trainers 21 4 0 0 1
The teachers’ opinion
Otherwise, teachers predicted that they will continue to face difficulties in teaching classes with Roma children. In particular, they appeared to believe that Roma children will keep having a lot of absences from school which will continue to accumulate learning difficulties and that Roma pupils and the rest of the pupils will resist collaborating.
They also said that the Roma culture will continue to be an obstacle
Conclusions
The implementation of the INSETRom project underlined the crucial importance that teachers become more acquainted with Roma history, culture, and way of life. Teachers acknowledged the fact that they lack skills and knowledge in that regard.
Current methods in teacher education are not sufficient to adequately prepare teachers for working with diverse classrooms
There is a discrepancy between special educational approaches (i.e. reception or preparatory classes, pull-out programmes) for Roma pupils and policies for their full integration into mainstream schools.
Conclusions teachers were satisfied with the INSETRom training programme.
Given that several teachers had previous experience from other training courses on Roma education, a benchmark existed that allowed for a comparison between the different training experiences. The INSETRom training and, in particular, the implementation phase turned out to be a new experience for teachers
the short duration of the training and the implementation, limited the potential to acquire sufficient competencies to effectively target the problems that may arise in classrooms when working with Roma students
certain degree of “fear of gypsies” still exists and thus further work is needed to dispel the myths and stereotypes that are apparently deeply rooted
It can be seen as a positive sign that teachers regard the training as very useful for other teachers, if it maintains its intra-school character, becomes more flexible and if emphasis is put on involving Roma families within the entire framework of the programme
Conclusions
It would be desirable if parts of the training package of the INSETRom project were incorporated in other programmes of in-service training as well, i.e. those implemented by the Ministry of Education’s Hellenic Pedagogical Institute, the OEPEK [Organization for the Training of Teachers] and IDEKE [Institute for the Lifelong Training of Adults], as well as teacher training programmes carried out by Greek universities.