Teacher Training on Roma Education in Greece: a discussion on the results of INSETRom experience Georgios Nikolaou Assistant Professor University of Ioannina.

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.