Roma And Travellers In Public Education
Roma and Travellersin Public EducationAn overview of the situationin the EU Member StatesMay 2006
EUMCRahlgasse 3, A-1060 ViennaTel. (43-1) 580 30-0Fax (43-1) 580 30-91E-mail: information@eumc.eu.intInternet: http://eumc.eu.intCountry specific data and information contained in this report were provided by the National FocalPoints of the Racism and Xenophobia European information Network (RAXEN). This report isprovided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or legal opinion.2
Roma and Travellers in Public EducationTABLE OF CONTENTSForeword . 4Executive Summary . 61. Introduction. 142. Public education: Inequalities and discrimination. 212. 1.2. 2.Enrolment, attendance, attainment .21Segregation: the hidden curriculum.463. Factors influencing the education of Roma and Travellers . 613. 1.3. 2.3. 3.3. 4.Factors related to pupils, parents and the community .63Factors related to teachers and the peer group .65Factors related to institutional discrimination .66Other Factors .674. National education policies, measures and initiatives . 685. Roma and Travellers in education: a challenge for socialinclusion and anti-discrimination policies. 955.1Legal and policy responses in the EU .965.1.1 Legal initiatives .995.1.2 Policy initiatives .1005.2Perspectives and activities of other institutions.1085.2.1 The Council of Europe .1085.2.2 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.1115.2.3 The United Nations and the World Bank .1126. Conclusions . 1157. Opinions . 117Appendix I . 123Appendix II . 126Appendix III . 1363
ForewordThe objective of this report is to present an overview of thesituation regarding access to education of Roma and Traveller pupils inthe European Union focusing on primary and secondary publiceducation. The report examines a range of available data and informationon the education of Roma and Traveller pupils, as well as nationaleducational strategies and policies in place, highlights problems ofdiscrimination, exclusion and segregation, outlines the main relevantlegal and policy initiatives, as well as perspectives and activities of othermajor actors, and presents conclusions and opinions addressing policymakers in the EU institutions and the Member States.The national studies1 and other sources which form thebackground material for this report show that there is very little up todate official data on the education of Roma and Travellers. Whileacknowledging and respecting concerns regarding data collection onethnic identity and descent, the EUMC considers such data collectionimportant for the development of appropriate and effective strategies atnational and EU level. Such data can be collected anonymously and withadequate safeguards protecting any private and sensitive information.Despite the overall paucity of official data, a variety ofinformation from official and unofficial sources shows that, althougheducation levels vary across countries and regions and across differentRoma and Traveller communities, access to education by Roma andTravellers remains a serious problem. Some Member States have duringrecent years addressed the issue with varying degrees of success, but thesituation remains unsatisfactory. Much remains to be done, particularlyregarding segregation, which, in all its forms, remains the major obstaclefor Roma and Traveller children in the education system. TheCommunity and its Member States need to move forward towards a morecomprehensive and coordinated approach addressing Roma and Travellereducation and the complex array of factors influencing it.The multiethnic European landscape requires the development ofnational education strategies that combat discrimination and prejudice,while encouraging cultural exchange and enrichment in order tostrengthen social cohesion, improve equality of opportunities and1The national studies were drafted by the National Focal Points (NFPs) of the EUMC’s RAXENnetwork. NFPs are organisations in each Member State of the European Union contracted by theEUMC to collect objective, reliable and comparable data on racism and xenophobia.4
Roma and Travellers in Public Educationdevelop social capital. This is not only necessary for improving theproductive capacity of human capital and achieving greater economicprosperity, but primarily because equality of opportunity and access toservices is a fundamental right and key value of the European Union.Combating direct and systemic discrimination against Roma andTravellers and improving their education effectively presents a difficultchallenge. However, strong and determined leadership, better and morecoordinated efforts with active involvement of Roma and Travellercommunities can bring about the necessary systemic changes in thenational education structures that will improve Roma’s and Travellers’education, which so crucially affects their future life chances.Roma and Travellers emerge as the group most vulnerable toracism in the 2005 Annual Report of the EUMC. They facediscrimination in employment, housing and education – as well as beingregular victims of racial violence in all EU member states. The EuropeanParliament Resolution on the situation of the Roma in the EuropeanUnion, adopted in 2005, sent a strong signal to all of us. The Resolutionrepresents a vision of a new partnership based on consultation,cooperation and collective action. It is a partnership united by principleand the rule of law and supported by an equitable sharing of both, costand commitment.I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the preparationof this report, particularly Anastasia Crickley, Chair of the ManagementBoard of the EUMC.Beate WinklerDirector5
Executive SummaryA key European value is equality of opportunity2. This appliesparticularly in education, which influences future life chances and acts asthe main vehicle for social mobility. It is therefore essential to ensure thateducational systems are equitable so that their benefits can be enjoyed byall without any discrimination.Education is a key instrument for promoting social cohesion,which is one of the main three objectives of the 2000 Lisbon strategyaiming at making the EU "the most competitive and dynamic knowledgedriven economy”, because, apart from providing knowledge anddeveloping skills, education shapes attitudes and empowers young peopleto adapt to rapidly changing social and economic conditions. As theEuropean Commission has stressed, efficiency and equity are mutuallyreinforcing.3This report shows that the educational situation of Roma andTraveller pupils remains unsatisfactory despite efforts by the Communityand the Member States, thus largely corroborating earlier report findingsby other bodies, such as the Council of Europe. The present report,however, goes further and provides added value by bringing togetheravailable evidence from all Member States of the European Union inorder to present an overview of the current situation and proposeconcrete measures.Roma and Traveller pupils continue to be subject to direct andsystemic discrimination and exclusion in education resulting from avariety of interrelated factors including poor conditions of life, especiallyhigh unemployment, substandard housing conditions and poor access tohealth services. While some Member States have introduced elements ofcultural or intercultural education strategies and initiatives addressingminorities and migrants, including the Roma and Travellers, it is clearthat more systemic changes have to be introduced to remedy the presentsituation.The report also shows that the availability of official statisticaldata regarding Roma and Traveller education is poor. Most Member2The European Commission has designated 2007 as the European Year on Equal Opportunities.European Commission (2005) Modernising education and training: a vital contribution toprosperity and social cohesion in Europe, Brussels, 30.11.2005 COM(2005) 549 final available /2010/doc/progressreport06 en.pdf (12-102005)36
Roma and Travellers in Public EducationStates need to improve or develop data collection structures andmechanisms covering education, ideally in collaboration with theEuropean Commission and EUROSTAT in order to improve datacomparability by establishing common indicators. This will allow aneffective and accurate assessment of the impact of policies, measures andinitiatives taken at Community, national and local level. The EUMCacknowledges concerns voiced in different fora regarding the collectionof ethnic data, but stresses the crucial importance of the collection andstatistical elaboration of objective, reliable and comparable ethnic datathat will allow robust and objective analyses supporting effectively thedevelopment of appropriate and effective strategies and measures at bothnational and EU level. Such data can be collected anonymously and withadequate safeguards protecting the identity of individuals and any privateand sensitive information.Although Member States provide detailed educational statisticsfor the general population, there is a marked absence of ethnicallydifferentiated data on Roma and Travellers on basic indicators, such asschool enrolment and attendance, as well as on school performance andattainment. The available demographic data may also under-record Romaand Travellers especially when group affiliation is established throughethnic or linguistic self-identification, because the social stigma andnegative stereotypes associated with the Roma and Traveller identity canlead to refusal to identify openly with the group. Furthermore,educational statistics are not directly comparable between countries dueto the different data collection methodologies employed and given thedifferent structures of the educational systems.Therefore, the EUMC considers as particularly commendable therecent decision taken in January 2006 by the government of the CzechRepublic approving a new monitoring system for the collection ofanonymous data on the Roma and Traveller community which covers theareas of education, school attendance, birth rate, migration, wages,unemployment and its length and the age of jobless people, business andshadow business activities of Roma and Travellers, their housingconditions, the equipment of their households and their debts.1. Findings on enrolment and attendance in primary and secondaryeducationThe existing data show that enrolment and attendance in primaryeducation is low in most countries, although in some countries there aremarked regional, lifestyle and other variations between different Romaand Traveller groups (e.g. in Belgium, France and Slovenia), while7
absenteeism is a persistent, common and serious problem affecting allRoma and Traveller pupils. Low attendance and high absenteeism ratescould indicate on the one hand that pupils and parents are not convincedof the importance of education and on the other hand that schools tend tohave a more permissive attitude towards their attendance. It could alsoindicate that a number of Romani and Traveller children from poorfamilies might have difficult access to schools. In many countriesenrolment, especially in primary education, has reportedly improved inrecent years, while in others it remains critical.The available evidence indicates that transition to secondaryeducation is low and that dropout rates increase with age, as a result of aneffort to find gainful employment or because of low performance,possibly a combination of both. Statistical data on the educationalperformance of Roma and Traveller pupils especially in reference to thenational average are particularly scarce, but the available evidence,mostly from surveys, indicate that they perform worse than average andthus have a lower chance of attaining an educational qualification leadingto worthwhile employment opportunities.2. Findings on segregation practices in Member StatesFormal and informal practices of segregating Roma and Travellerpupils persist, despite strategies and policies that have been developed tocombat them. Although systematic segregation no longer exists aseducational policy, segregation is practised by schools and educationalauthorities in a number of different, mostly indirect, ways sometimes asthe unintended effect of policies and practices and sometimes as a resultof residential segregation. Segregation has taken place within aclassroom by sitting Roma pupils in a different part of the room.Arrangements have also been made to instruct them in separateclassrooms within the same school (following the same curriculum or a“simple version”). Schools and educational authorities may segregatepupils on the basis of a perception of “their different needs” and/or as aresponse to behavioural issues and learning difficulties. The latter couldalso lead to the frequent placement of Roma pupils in “special schools”for mentally handicapped children, which is still a worrying phenomenonin Member States like Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.However, steps are being taken to review testing and placementprocedures taking into account the norms and behavioural patterns of theRoma and Traveller children’s social and cultural background.8
Roma and Travellers in Public Education3. Findings on factors influencing access to education and attainmentAccess to education and the educational attainment of Roma andTravellers is affected by direct and systemic discrimination and exclusionin education and influenced by their overall conditions of life, which areinvariably characterised by high unemployment, substandard housing andpoor access to health services creating a vicious circle of poverty,exclusion and marginalisation that affects their ability to participate inand benefit from education. However, other factors are also criticallyimportant for educational attainment: Forms of exclusion related to the documentation required forenrolment or the direct and/or indirect costs of education;Forms of school or classroom segregation, including wrongfulassignment to special education for the mentally handicapped;Absence of Roma and Traveller related material and information incurricula (particularly history and social science curricula) and lackof resources relating to pupils’ experiences;Teachers, who are not properly trained to deal with ethnicallymixed classes, not sufficiently supported in their work byintercultural mediators and not adequately paid risking earlyburnout and developing an indifferent attitude;Prejudice expressed in harassment, racial slurs and scapegoating atschool;Lack of pre-school education crucial for early assimilation ofschool norms and expected behavioural patterns, but also fordeveloping proficiency in language;Low educational level of parents affecting their ability to supporttheir children in learning and lowering their aspirations;Parents’ experiences of discrimination and prejudice preventingthem from realising how formal educational qualifications can betranslated into improved life and employment chances.4. Challenges faced in a process of policy changeIn their efforts to address these issues some Member States havetaken steps to reform their educational provisions, as well as their overallRoma strategies. However, the evidence suggests that progress is oftenslow and difficult mainly due to resistance by local government andpressure of non-Roma parents. There are several reports of strongnegative reactions by parents, as well as by school and local authorities(e.g. in Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Spain)9
to an increase in the number of Roma pupils in mainstream schools.Where government policies on Roma and Travellers do exist, at times,lack of adequate budgetary planning leads to delayed or inadequateimplementation of targeted educational measures. Member States differin their approach to education policies for Roma and Travellers: somehave developed and implement a variety of education policiesspecifically targeting Roma and Traveller pupils, while others addressthem within a wider anti-discrimination or intercultural education policyframework. In both cases, however, the information available regardingmeasurable impact and sustainability of these policies is very limited. Avariety of innovative projects have also been implemented in severalMember States often with EU Community financial support. In particularthe PHARE programme was extensively used during the accession phaseof the ten “new” Member States with some positive results, whicheventually influenced policy decisions.The European Union and its Member States face a difficultchallenge in combating discrimination against Roma and Travellers andimproving their equal access to education. However, more balanced,sufficiently resourced policies with active involvement of the Roma andTraveller communities can bring about the necessary systemic changes inthe national education structures and improve their education, which socrucially affects their future life chances.5. EUMC OpinionsThe opinions of the EUMC, addressing the major factorsinfluencing the situation of Roma and Travellers in education andhighlighting the urgent need for comprehensive and focused action atnational and local levels with the active participation of representativesfrom Roma and Traveller communities are mainly4:General policies and measures 4Member States and local authorities should address factors affectingRoma and Travellers in areas such as education, housing,employment, health, and the attainment of personal documents in acomprehensive manner through the implementation of action planstargeting these groups. The National Equality Bodies should beresponsible for monitoring the situation systematically;A detailed presentation of the EUMC’s opinions is available at the end of the report.10
Roma and Travellers in Public Education Member States should develop specific policies and measurespromoting respect and appreciation of Roma and Traveller historyand culture particularly by involving journalists and the media.Educational policies and measures Member States must also ensure that the legal measures expresslyprohibiting any form of direct or indirect segregation into differentschools or classes with effective, proportionate and dissuasivesanctions are in place and implemented by the relevant authorities. Member States should deploy specific desegregation measures wheresegregation of Roma and Traveller children exists ensuring thatdesegregation measures are properly implemented at the local level. Member States should actively encourage Roma and Travellers toenrol by removing unnecessary administrative barriers and ensuringthat they are provided with the necessary documentation. M
educational policy, segregation is practised by schools and educational authorities in a number of different, mostly indirect, ways sometimes as the unintended effect of policies and practices and sometimes as a result of residential segregation. Segregation has taken place within a classroom by sitting Roma pupils in a different part of the room.
and migrant Roma are ethnic groups under the Equality Act 2010. Other groups, such as New Travellers, may be considered to be cultural groups. Each of the actions in the Welsh Government’s Enabling Gypsies, Roma and Travellers plan aligns to the themes and priorities of Prosperity for All: the National Strategy for Wales and, in turn the goals
national data collection sources on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations. In Kingston, 0.1% of its school children are Gypsy Roma, lower than both London at 0.14% and England at 0.3% (2015/16 data). In terms of health, Gypsies and Travellers are amongst the most deprived in England; they continue to suffer from poor health and lower life .
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(Bristol Eastern European Roma and Bristol English Gypsy/Irish Travellers) were used as a framework from which to build the matrices for the other communities, incorporating additional or adapted interventions based on the interviews. See Table 2 for the intervention ideas that were taken to the York workshop.
Friends, Families and Travellers’ Health and Social Care Briefing: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Equality and Inclusion Avoiding Stereotypes Awareness of Gypsy, Traveller and Roma culture and the challenges faced are often depicted in negative ways, with a focus on the problems faced.
DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE Of the 49 people interviewed, 29 of them (59%) were women, 20 of them (41%) men. the two largest cohorts were Irish travellers (37%) and new travellers (35%).the two smaller cohorts were Gypsies (22%) and Welsh travellers (6%).47% of respondents lived on unauthorised sites, the larg
South Korea (Wave 2) 1. Banned entry/ transit of travellers coming from Daegu & Cheongdo 2. 14-day quarantine for inbound resi-dents & long-term pass holders from these two areas 14-day quarantine for foreign travellers coming from South Korea Banned entry of foreign travellers coming from South Kor
No Hassle Travellers Virtual Travellers Rejuvenators % of Target Group Households EQ Segments Kelowna, BC (CY) 39.5 10.2 79 West Kelowna, BC (DM) 15.6 17.8 138 Vernon, BC (CY) 14.1 11.2 86 Summerland, BC (DM) 11.2 34.3 264 Penticton, BC (CY) 10.1 9.4 72 Osoyoos, BC (T) 8.0 49.8 384 Oliver, BC (T) 1.6 10.8 83 Top Geographic Markets Market .
