Involving Roma parents: analysing the good practice of a primary school in Ghent

Abstract

Recently, societal and academic attention toward the topic of Roma integration has been increasing. With this paper, we aim to make a contribution in the domain of educational research. We explore strategies schools can adopt to improve the involvement of Roma parents. Using a theory-based stakeholder evaluation, we more specifically analyse how the organisational model of a primary school contributes to the establishment of trust between both parties. The results show that the theoretical principles guiding the daily school practices and interventions are aligned with the needs and specificity of the target audience, but are also broadly supported by the school staff. As such, the organizational structure of the school contributes to the support of the school staff for the global school vision and to the overall success of the approach. Nevertheless, some tension remains between team members working on the 'care' aspect and teachers working solely within the classrooms.

Απόψεις Παιδιών Ρομά Πρωτοσχολικής Ηλικίας Και Των Μητέρων Τους Για Τη Σχολική Εμπειρία Και Τη Σημασία Της Εκπαίδευσης: Η Περίπτωση Του Οικισμού Αγία Σοφία Θεσσαλονίκης

“…Οι Ρομά αποτελούν τη μεγαλύτερη εθνική μειονότητα στα πλαίσια της Ευρώπης, με τον πληθυσμό τους να υπολογίζεται στα 11 εκατομμύρια, σύμφωνα με την Υπηρεσία Εσωτερικής Διοίκησης του Βελγίου (Agentschap Binnenlands Bestuur) το 2012 (Wauters, Van Mol, Clycq, Michielsen & Timmerman, 2015). Συνήθως φαίνεται να αντιμετωπίζουν προβλήματα που σχετίζονται με την εργασία, τη στέγαση, την υγεία και την εκπαίδευση (Fundamental Rights Agency, 2012).…”

Building partnerships in education through a story-tool based intervention: Parental involvement experiences among families with Roma backgrounds

“…The poor education trajectories of Roma groups are likely to be explained by a complex network of individual-, familiar-and institutional-related factors ( Ward and Geeraert, 2016 ; Alexiadou and Norberg, 2017 ; Dimitrova et al, 2017 ; Rosário et al, 2017 ; Sime et al, 2018 ; Alexiadou, 2019 ). Parental involvement in the school setting has been highlighted in the literature and educators’ speeches as a solution for the disengagement of children, particularly marginalized ethnic students, such as Roma groups ( Bhopal and Myers, 2016 ; Rosário et al, 2016 , 2017 ; Hamilton, 2017 ; Wauters et al, 2017 ; Sime et al, 2018 ; Schneider and Arnot, 2018 ). Supported by the crucial role of parental involvement in educational outcomes (e.g., positive attitudes towards school, academic achievement), policymakers and school staff have been displaying efforts to enhance home-school relationships (e.g., literacy classes for parents; Gould, 2017 ); or interventions to increase the family’s participation in educational decision-making processes and school activities among Roma groups ( Flecha and Soler, 2013 ; Khalfaoui et al, 2020 ).…”