Identifying the Causes of Educational Disadvantage of Roma in Europe: An Exploration of the Teachers' Perspectives

• In Event: 65.055 - Challenges to Change

Abstract

This paper addresses the educational disadvantages of Roma in Bulgaria. The purpose of the paper is to: a) identify causes of Roma’s poor academic performance; b) examining the perspectives of the Bulgarian teachers. The study examined how the experiences of teachers frame their perspective of Roma students and how those perspectives affect their teaching. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with ten teachers in four Bulgarian schools. Results revealed that:1) the majority of the teachers reported insufficient knowledge about Romani culture and pointed as main cause of academic underachievement that education is not valued among the Roma; and 2) when teachers had some knowledge about the Romani culture, they sought opportunities to collaborate with parents and employed culturally relevant teaching.

Author

• Veselina Lambrev, University of Hawaii - Manoa