Within the ACADE-ME project, funded by the European “Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values” (CERV) program, the persistent issue of social inclusion of roma people is addressed, particularly through access to and success in education.
To better explore this issue from the perspective of the partner organizations across various European countries, today we publish a contribution from the lead partner, Ljudska Univerza Lendava.
The article examines the root causes of poor academic performance among roma youth, highlighting how discrimination, prejudice, and lack of resources continue to significantly hinder the empowerment of their community. Education, awareness-raising, and the promotion of positive role models are key tools to combat anti-gypsyism and foster a more equitable and inclusive education for roma youth.
The Contribution of Ljudska Univerza Lendava
The causes of poor academic outcomes for roma youth are complex, as educational failure does not solely depend on individual shortcomings but is also closely linked to structural and cultural factors deeply rooted in society.
Cultural diversity often does not align with the prevailing standards and expectations in schools, leading to a disconnect between the home and school environments. This community generally continues to face prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination in education due to their cultural differences.
Many families live in conditions of extreme poverty, which affects access to education for children, adolescents, and adults. Lack of material resources, inadequate housing, and limited access to preschool education are just some of the factors that make it difficult for young people to get a good start in their educational journey.
Educational professionals often debate the low learning outcomes within the roma community. Unfortunately, this fails to counteract the widespread negative attitude toward education and promote the development of measures to address educational difficulties through specific adaptations.
In a survey conducted in Turkey, many roma individuals expressed a strong sense of guilt for their lack of education, directly linking it to their poverty. This sentiment often emerges in interviews with roma youth we are in contact with: many of them blame themselves for their academic failures, attributing them to allegedly inferior abilities compared to “others.” As a result, they perceive themselves as inadequate and believe they are primarily responsible for their school failures.
The family environment is always a determining factor. The primary habitus of children in the community is often incompatible with the practices and expectations of the educational system.
Analyzing this situation through Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, this incompatibility can be interpreted as “a product of anti-roma socialization, as most roma children tend to believe what is conveyed by the majority, in this case by teachers” (Gezing and Greenfields 2017, p. 37).
roma children frequently face various challenges, including low parental education, lack of support for home learning, and precarious social and economic conditions.
These factors negatively impact their motivation, self-esteem, and academic performance. Furthermore, the limited capacity of the school system to adapt to their needs, coupled with the lack of specific training for teachers, highlights the insufficiency of the necessary support.
These aspects, along with family involvement, are crucial to ensuring the effective integration of roma students into the educational process.
roma students have diverse backgrounds when entering school, having developed thought patterns and habits that complicate their integration into the formal school environment.
Moreover, teachers are often unaware of what it means for a child to face contrasting cultural influences (Marovič 2010, p. 251).
In their minds, two cultural traditions, two languages, and two lifestyles coexist, as the family and surrounding social context do not offer consistent socialization. This mental complexity profoundly affects the formation of the child’s identity.
Many roma children still enter the education system from a background isolated from mainstream social currents, stemming from a lifestyle that socio-economic changes and political legislation have severely disrupted over the past decades.
Isolation, often caused by the humiliation that roma children still frequently experience in the school environment, generates ambivalence toward the education system and the non-roma literate environment, a sentiment that is particularly transmitted to subsequent generations.
roma children are often excluded from the school environment due to inappropriate behavior. The new behaviors roma children learn at school often loosen their sense of community cohesion, which is familiar to the roma community.
The direct consequence is a weakening of their social acceptance and sense of belonging in both communities. This leads to a cultural discrepancy between acceptable behavior in roma culture and in the school environment, which can result in social exclusion from one or the other. However, it is more common for them to be excluded from both groups.
Community relations between roma and non-roma groups are therefore crucial for children’s education. In fact, the degree of integration is one of the decisive factors for their academic success. Parents often hesitate to send their children to school due to “fear of insults, bullying, and even physical abuse, emphasizing how their culture is not respected by classmates, teachers, or the education system as a whole” (Munda and Peček 2013, p. 139).
The hostility that many roma children continue to face in school constitutes a serious impediment to their full integration and is also reflected in frequent absences. For many parents, avoiding school is the only strategy to protect their children from exposure to stereotypes and prejudices to which they are constantly subjected.
“Absenteeism and irregular school attendance have a harmful effect on education, as roma often fail to meet the standards of the dominant culture, which impacts dropout rates” (Harding 2014, p. 26).
In 2005, social workers Elichova and Dvořáková conducted an in-depth study on the psychological characteristics of roma children, finding manifestations of hostility and aggression in them, accompanied by a negative self-view, an unfavorable perception of their abilities, pessimism, and a marked dependence on others. They also observed that roma children rely heavily on the emotional and concrete support of others, a consequence of immaturity and lack of self-esteem.
“Children who express a negative worldview, feel threatened and insecure, perceive themselves as inferior, are less successful and less socially integrated” (Kosmač Brezar 2010, p. 236).
According to a 2002 study by Booker, tensions between teachers and families can quickly arise when teachers perceive that roma children enter school unfamiliar with institutional norms and expectations.
“Many parents, in fact, remain concerned that the formal knowledge acquired at school is not only in conflict with the traditional skills of their community and related values but may also compromise the abilities passed on in the home environment” (Levinson 2008, p. 36).
These parents, influenced by their own negative educational experiences and awareness of their poor education, express their fears mainly by avoiding dialogue with teachers.
It is undeniable that a child raised in a disadvantaged environment, with illiterate parents, may not receive adequate family support in their educational journey. As highlighted by Šiftar in 1970, the parents of roma children often tended to hide their low level of education from teachers. Aware of their limitations in assisting their children with schoolwork and motivating them to complete assignments, this made their educational commitment even more complex.
Gobb, a Slovenian academic, in a study conducted by Munda and Peček in 2013, argued that roma parents wanted their children to succeed in school and recognized the importance of education for their children’s future. While knowing that their children needed to complete their homework, they often regretted not being able to help them. The evidence showed that they felt powerless in convincing their children to attend school regularly.
They were aware, in fact, that consistent attendance would help demonstrate to teachers the seriousness with which they approached education. Many parents, however, could not support their children with schoolwork due to their limited education but firmly denied being disinterested in their children’s education.
Analyzing the root causes of educational failure among roma is essential to reclaim their right to public space. This awareness is as important as the implementation of policies and programs supporting roma education. However, such programs often “fail because the results are short-term, and the policies and programs do not fully consider the situation of the roma” (Gezing and Greenfields 2017, p. 38).
Unfortunately, the external world rarely has the opportunity to learn about the examples of good practices developed, as they are more familiar with negative experiences based on the process of internalizing social norms.
In this context, the activities promoted by the ACADE-ME project aim to make a significant contribution to addressing the educational and social challenges of roma youth, promoting inclusion and equality through greater awareness and training for all involved parties
