What Is Setting the Obstacles? Investigating Roma Families' Perspectives About Their Children's School Exclusion

• In Event: Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: International Perspectives on Parent Involvement

Abstract

Studies point to the educational marginalization of Roma children and the failure of most European education systems to include local Roma minorities. This paper presents findings from a study in seven European countries which aimed at investigating Roma children’s school exclusion from the perspective of their families. The study’s findings raise concerns about the role of the school in why many Roma families do not enrol their children at school or withdraw their children from school. The paper argues that schools in the participant countries need to be self-critical about the kind of demands they make, better understand Roma families’ perspectives and find ways to empower them, especially mothers, to be able to better support their children with their education.

Authors

• Loizos Symeou, European University Cyprus

• Eleni Theodorou, European University