Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma Reports on: Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Serbia

1
Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma
Reports on Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and
Serbia

• Open Society Institute (OSI) Budapest
• An EUMAP Monitoring Project
• in cooperation with
• - the Education Support Program (ESP) and
• - the Roma Participation Program (RPP)
• To order reports or for further details see
  www.eumap.org

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Report Methodology
Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest

• Main Report Topics
• Basic education indicators
• Types and extent of segregation
• Government educational policies and programmes
• Constraints and barriers to quality education
• Standardised monitoring methodology (2 parts)
• Comprehensive desk review research Data sources
  official statistics, academic research, NGO
  reports, legislation, policy documents, media
  articles, interviews, etc.
• Case studies (3 per country) Data sources
  direct observation, document analysis, semi-
  structured interviews (i.e. with educational
  officials, local authorities, school staff, Roma
  parents and pupils, Roma NGOs leaders, local
  journalists)

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma EF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest

• Basic Education Indicators (1)

• Some main indicators
• High share never enrolled in the education
  system
• est. 15 in Bulgaria and Romania, up to 25 in
  Serbia (i.e. in one study case location)
• Extremely low participation in preschool
  education
• under 7 in Serbia, 20 in Romania, 20 less
  than majority in Hungary, 35 in Bulgaria
• Very low transition to higher secondary
  education
• in Hungary only 20 go on to secondary schools
  providing a baccalaureate
• Consistently high drop-out rates
• esp. in lower secondary education higher in
  segregated educational settings from 4 to 6
  times higher than the national average in
  Bulgaria and Romania, to 15 times higher in
  Serbia
• Total years spent in the education system
• on average about half the national average

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest

• Basic Education Indicators (2)

• Trends in official educational data collection
• Lack of comprehensive educational data
  disaggregated on ethnicity
• No mechanisms to monitor the share of Roma who
  have never been included in the education system
• No reliable systems to measure hidden drop-outs
  (children formally enrolled in school but with
  irregular attendance)
• Missing comparative data to track Roma school
  results against the average or majority population

• This lack of disaggregated data on ethnicity
  impedes
• design of fact-based, efficient and coherent
  policies targeting the educational status of
  Roma and
• evaluation of the impact of governmental
  educational policies

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest
2. Types and extent of educational segregation (1)

• Main types of educational segregation of Roma
• Disproportionate placement in special education
• in Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia
• Deliberate placement in separate classes
  (mainstream schools)
• in all countries (in remedial and catch up
  classes in Hungary)
• Placement in majority Roma neighboring schools
• mostly in Romania and Hungary
• Geographically isolated settings where the Roma
  population is predominant in all countries
• Other specific types of educational segregation
  of Roma
• Bulgaria in social-pedagogical / correctional
  boarding schools
• Serbia school-age children placed in adult
  education schools
• Hungary home schooling (as private pupils)

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest
2. Types and extent of educational segregation
(2)

• Extent of educational segregation of Roma
• Bulgaria 44-70 of Roma pupils learn in
  segregated schools 51 of pupils in special
  education are Roma
• Hungary up to 25 of Roma in segregated primary
  schools in catch up /remedial classes, over 70
  are Roma in special education, 40 pupils are
  Roma
• Romania 13-45 Roma pupils learn in segregated
  schools
• Serbia extent segregation is under-researched

• In all types of segregated educational settings
  attended by Roma the quality of education
  received is invariably lower
• by the design of lower curricular standards
• by the poor human and material resources
  allocated, and
• the low expectations of teachers

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest
3. Government policies and programmes (1)

• Main findings
• A very loose connection between the assumed goals
  in different policy documents and the local-level
  implementation of these measures
• Decentralisation of the education systems
  jeopardises implementation of targeted
  educational policies on Roma, wrt desegregation.
• Progress on integration of Roma in mainstream
  classes and schools
• in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria slow and uneven
• in Serbia implementation of desegregation
  programs has not begun, although envisaged in the
  Decade Action Plan for Education
• Roma NGO involvement
• in Romania and Hungary quasi-absent from the
  desegregation process
• in Bulgaria desegregation is funded and
  implemented only by Roma NGOs

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest
3. Government policies and programmes (2)

• Some outcomes
• Only a very small number of Roma pupils study
  Romanes except in Romania, where almost 10 of
  enrolled Roma pupils study Romanes
• Information about Roma minority history and
  culture and the contribution of this ethnic group
  to the national heritage is missing from the
  mainstream school curriculum.
• Very small number of persons employed as Roma
  Teaching Assistants / Mediators.
• Pre-service teacher training courses dealing
  with tolerance, diversity, multicultural
  education, and anti-bias training are missing
  from the curricula
• In-service teacher training the impact of the
  programmes developed in various projects on
  changing classroom pedagogy has not been
  systematically evaluated
• An example of good practice, in Romania the
  policy of affirmative measures granting distinct
  places for Roma in vocational education, high
  schools and tertiary education

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest
4. Constraints in access to education (1)

• Main trends
• Structural constraints are most evident at the
  pre-school level (insufficient places)
• The connection between residential segregation
  and segregation in education is regularly
  overlooked as a policy issue
• Still lack a real oversight of the assessment
  procedures and the misplacement of Roma in
  special education remains in most countries.
• The burden of incidental costs incurred by a
  regular and full participation to school
  activities affect an important segment of Roma
• Lack of bilingual education for preschool and
  primary school delays adaptation of Romanes
  mother-tongue pupils whose to the school
  curriculum conducive to poor academic
  achievement and early drop-out

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest
4. Constraints in access to education (2)

• Main constraints
• Lower curricular standards
• Poor school infrastructure
• Lack of educational facilities
• Overcrowding
• Lack of qualified teachers for disciplines that
  provide marketable skills (e.g. foreign languages
  / IT)
• Roma parents lack trust in schools
• Negative perception of Roma ethnicity among
  teachers, as in society as large
• School inspectors often have very limited powers
  of enforcement, and lack the mandate to act on
  reports of segregation, or actively support
  desegregation

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Launch of EUMAP reports on Access to quality
education for Roma REF conference, 2-3 April,
Budapest
Main recommendations - across the countries

• Gather and make public statistical data on the
  situation of Roma in the field of education, with
  due respect to the principles of sensitive data
  protection and privacy
• Regularly monitor disaggregated data on Roma
  school enrolment, performance and progression
• Ensure that Roma children have access to free
  full-day two-year pre-school
• Provide free after school educational programmes
  for disadvantaged children
• Provide additional direct social benefits to
  enable the poorest families to meet all the costs
  of education
• Fulfil commitments in regard with desegregation,
  assumed through different policy documents
• Ensure appropriate assessment for special
  education
• Ensure that the incentives offered now to
  families for placing children in special
  education are made available for children from
  socially disadvantaged families in mainstream
  schools

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Equal Access to Quality Education for Roma
Reports on Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and
Serbia

• Open Society Institute (OSI) Budapest
• An EUMAP Monitoring Project
• in cooperation with
• - the Education Support Program (ESP) and
• - the Roma Participation Program (RPP)
• To order reports or for further details see
  www.eumap.org