European project: Inclusion programmes for Roma in the European Community

Study of the inclusive programmes in the chosen field of education

Interviews:

Most of the interviews are also been taken in the framework of an evaluation of a project of the ministry of education: " Integrated care for children of Gypsies and Travellers" in elementary school.

Also during these interviews questions for this evaluation were asked. Most of the questionnaires have had experiences with this project.

Interview 1: Maria Leimbergen, Sinti from Aalst

Situation:

Maria is one of the few Sinti-women in Flanders who has a positive view of education. As a child she didn't went to school, but very quickly she saw the importance of education. She teached herself the alphabet and now she can read and write. She is one of the first Sinti who has sent her children and grandchildren at an early age to school.

General view:

Maria is very well aware that education is important for the future of Gypsies and Travellers in Flanders and she doesn't believe that it is a danger to the Gypsy culture.

She pleads not for a separate form of education to children of Gypsies and Travellers, but for integrated lessons in regular schools. It is not sensible to put the Rom together.

Problems:

The lack of motivation of the parents is the reason why so little Gypsy children go to school. The parents aren't motivated and the future of their children doesn't interest them. Parents still want to travel, like they used to do in the past, and the fear of putting children to school and staying on the same spot is the fear of becoming a gadgo.

Maria believes that the first step the department of education has to take, is to make efforts to motivate parents and secondly to create adapted courses to the children. There have to be only some inclusive teaching moments for Rom children; this is to master the language and to get acquainted to the school system and the school culture.

Suggestions:

Maria suggests the government that the department of education as well as the schools try to show more interest for the problem of pestering at school, because lots of Gypsy children encounter this problem (take them as they are), and that they make adult education more accessible for Gypsies.

She pleads that firstly they have to try to increase the motivation of the parents. This is possible when you involve the parents in the activities of the school and the education of their children. You have to talk about education and you have to adjust the content of the courses in relation to the lifestyle of the Gypsies.

Interview 2: Annemie Van den Broeck, councillor of social affairs in the community of Morstel (Antwerp).

Situation:

In the community of Mortsel is a caravansite of Rom and Sinti. There is also one of the project schools in which Annemie Van den Broeck is a member of the advice group.

General view:

The government has to organise specific projects to make education possible for Gypsy children. Integration in the regular schools is necessary but it can only be possible thanks to inclusion programmes. Project schools need time, extra support and supervision from the government.

Problems:

The participation of the Gypsies in our regular educational system is very low because their knowledge of the language (Dutch) is inadequate, they don't have any school culture and they live an unstructured life.

Education doesn't fit into the lifestyle of the Rom. Going to school is being influenced by circumstances in the family (travels, festivities and funerals). There is no separation of the different areas in life (living, working, school,). Everything is influenced by one another.

Gypsies and Travellers don't have any say in education as long as they aren't involved. There has to be a special attention to involve the parents. The cause of the high frequency of absences lies in the lack of motivation of the parents.

Suggestions:

We need to organise projects to integrate children of Gypsies and Travellers in regular schools.

There is a need of support by local, federal and national governments. There has to be also a support and supervision in the development of the contents of the courses for the schools who work with this specific target group. This demands direct contacts with governmental services.

Parents have to be more involved in education; this can be achieved through working with projects.

Absences at school can be dealt with when there is more control on the campsites. The government must be stricter in their actions and they have to maintain the rules regarding the absences.

The teachers have to get the opportunity to visit the parents on the campsites and to motivate them.

The content of the lessons should be more adapted to the lifestyle and experiences of the children.

Interview 3: Ingrid Nuyts, extra teacher for the Gypsy children in school Don Bosco in Wilrijk (Antwerp).

Situation:

There is a campsite in Wilrijk that is managed by the local government. The children of this campsite mainly visit the school Don Bosco.

The Social Impulse Fund pays Ingrid Nuyts. This is a governmental subsidy to local projects that are aiming to give more impulses to socially deprived neighbourhoods to reduce this deprivation.

She works with Gypsy toddlers and tries to lead them to school and make them acquainted with our school culture. The most important goals of this work with toddlers is to give them learning experiences in our language and to motivate them to also attend primary school and higher educational institutes.

General view:

Educational inclusion projects have to be organised for toddlers because it is important at that age to get acquainted with the school culture and the language.

It is very important for the participation of the parents to have an intermediary between the school and the Gypsies and Travellers. This person has to be a confidant(e) who's competent to talk with the parents and who can motivate them in sending their children to school.

The children have to be integrated into regular schools.

Ingrid wonders if our education fits into the Gypsy culture because she notices that other Gypsy children are pestering the children who are trying hard at school. Reading and writing is more than enough for most of them.

She believes in the value of specific projects because those projects can bring the school closer to the Gypsies and Travellers. These projects have to be organised by the government and have to receive sufficient means and support from that government.

She wonders if a school like Steiner or Freinet (the experiences of the children is the starting point in the educational work) is not better for Gypsies. Maybe these working methods are more suitable to fit Gypsy children in our educational system.

Problems:

According to Ingrid there is still a threshold fear, as well for parents as for children, to attend our schools. The differences between our culture and the Gypsy culture is to big, the language is unknown and there is an important lack of concentration.

There are too many absences and these results in the crossing of names on the student lists by the administration of the department of education. This has to be prevented.

There is no moving up to secondary schools.

Suggestions:

The government is responsible for the organization of inclusion programmes. Projects need extra financing and support (extra means, extra teachers). Gypsy projects have to start in kindergarten.

Intermediaries are necessary between schools and parents. This confidant(e) can motivate the parents.

The government must be more attentive that Gypsy student move on to secondary schools.

The department of education and other governments must have a wider view on the problems of Gypsies and Travellers and they have to engage competent people for the job.

Interview 4: Martine Van De Velde, teacher of Centrum Deeltijds Onderwijs in Laken (Brussels)

Situation:

In 1996 the CDO (school for students 15-18 years, part-time study and part-time work) took part in a European project to stimulate the employment of young Gypsies from the age of 15. The project targeted Roms who lived in and around Brussels.

The CDO attracted mostly boys because the school organised theory lessons to obtain a driver's licence. These lessons were given on demand of the students.

The project was cancelled by Europe in 1998, but the school continued to receive Gypsies and to give special attention to them Thanks to this project, the school became well known with mostly Roms but also Sinti and Travellers.

General view:

Inclusion programmes are necessary to help Gypsies to find the way to school. The participation of the parents is important in the organisation and development of these projects. We have to consider the demands of the Gypsies.  In this project the Gypsies requested the driver's licence lessons.

Learning to read and write is also important to them because it makes it easier to fill in their administration. During the project, and also now, the CDO tried to spend an important amount of time in reading and writing.

Martine pleads for integrated education but she asks separate language classes to learn Dutch. She also believes that it is important to promote kindergarten and to stimulate Gypsy parents to bring their children to school at an early age.

Problems:

The gap between our schools and the Gypsies and Travellers is still too big and this is partly due to our lessons that aren’t adapted to the experiences and lifestyles of Gypsies.

It is not sensible to stop projects after a short period of time, even if they don’t demonstrate specific results after two years. This shows the lack of insight and interest of the government in the problems of Gypsies and Travellers. There is also a great absence of means and money to manage and organise these kinds of projects. The government (local, national, federal or European) has to provide the necessary financing and support.

Gypsies and Travellers still know great difficulties to sign their children in the secondary schools. This is a result of the nomadic lifestyle and the great number of absences, as well as a result of the strict admission conditions in secondary schools.

Suggestions:

We need confidant(e)s to get Gypsies and Travellers to school. Those persons need to be intermediary between school and our target group.

The government has to organise these educational inclusion programmes (local, national or European government) but they also have to take responsibility to provide the necessary support and to show interest in the project.

A programme can only be started when we listen to what the Gypsies have to say and what their expectations are.

The projects have to be of a long duration, because you can only see progress in the school behaviour of Gypsies and Travellers after several years.

Kindergarten must be promoted and stimulated to learn our language and to get acquainted with our school culture. There must be a special attention for the language education and separate classes must be organised only for these courses.

The admission conditions in secondary schools must be more flexible for Gypsies to be admitted in a school or an institute for part-time school/part-time work. The government has to keep severe control on absences.

Maybe a kind of distant learning can be valuable, so the Gypsies can keep up with their lessons during their travels.

Interview 5: Lut Jacobs, social worker on the campsite of Roms in Leuven

Situation:

Lut Jacobs is employed by the city of Leuven. She supervises the campsite and keeps social permanencies on the caravan park, owned by the city. One of her duties is to get the children to school. The children of this camp attend the project school (Appeltuin in Leuven) or a community school in Holsbeek that used to take part in the project of the Flemish Government.

General view:

The social worker on the campsite or another confidant(e) can play an important role in the stimulation of parents and children to go to school.

Gypsy parents have to learn to be logical when they talk about the importance of learning to read and write. They have to be prepared to give a great deal more for it. Lut thinks that the intentions don’t have to come from the gadgo.

She believes that the Gypsies recognize themselves in the objectives of our education because it can help them to find new openings for the future. They are always searching for new economic fields and education can help them finding those new possibilities. Besides, Gypsies ask for a kind of education that can be valuable to them, and reading and writing fulfils this need perfectly. But they can’t have much say in other fields of education because they don’t have the notion to see what education can offer them.

Lut doesn’t believe that the Belgian government has done a lot of effort regarding Gypsies and education and the organisation of inclusion programmes. The political intentions of Europe aren’t satisfying to encourage a national government to organise special inclusion programmes for Gypsies. She believes that these educational projects are a strategy of Belgium to satisfy Europe.

An important condition to get children to school is the organisation of transport from and to the schools. The initiative has to be taken by the government.

Active controls concerning the attendances at school are necessary, but absences can’t be a relevant problem in the issue of education of Gypsy children.

Problems:

Until now, the government does not take the problems of Gypsies and Travellers seriously and they don’t take any trouble to learn more about these people. This results in a bad coaching and support of the educational projects.

The school going of Gypsies and Travellers is still interfered by the nomadic lifestyle and the fear of the unknown.

Even teachers don’t have a good perspective on the problems of the group. This leads to non-efficient work with Gypsy children.

Suggestions:

The government must be open to our target group and their problems and they have to organise a better support. Either they take responsibility in the coaching or they engage capable organisations or persons to do this job.

A confidant(e) between the Gypsies and the gadge is important to make them more acquainted and involved in the education of their children.

Teachers can get to know the group better by spending time on the camps. This can help them to be more oriented towards children of Gypsies.

The government has to provide transport to get children from and to the schools. This can give the government an opportunity to keep controls on the absences.

Interview 6: Mrs. Thomas, headmaster primary school Holsbeek

Situation:

The school of Mrs. Thomas is situated in Holsbeek (Leuven). Near the school is a campsite of Roms. For several years the school took part in the project of the Flemish government, department of education. But last school year the project was being transferred to another school in Leuven. Still a few Rom children are attending the school of Mrs. Thomas.

General view:

When Mrs. Thomas and her school participated in the education project of the Flemish government, she realised how important it is to have such inclusion projects to get Gypsy children to school. These projects can help to encourage education and to stimulate Gypsies to come to school, but the responsible government has to provide for extra teachers and extra means. Those projects have to be also for kindergarten.

It is obvious to integrate the Gypsies into regular classes because that's the only way they can learn our language.

The presence of an intermediary is necessary to keep in contact with the parents.

It is important to give teachers the chance to visit the campsites during the starting phase of a project. This is necessary to get used to each other’s culture.

Organisation of transport is needed to get the children to school.

Problems:

The cultural gap between Gypsies and non-Gypsies is still the cause of the problems in the school going of the Gypsies. Still today they don't experience school as an important part of their life.

Mrs. Thomas notices that most of her Gypsy pupils do not continue to go to secondary school. Maybe the department of education doesn’t take this problem seriously.

She also believes that travelling is an obstacle to attend school every day. She wonders if a kind of distant learning by correspondence can help during travelling.

During all those years Mrs. Thomas participated in the project of the department of education, she never saw any positive evolution in the educational policy of the government. The problems of Gypsies and the schools aren't being taken seriously!

Suggestions:

An intermediary who has gain the faith of parents and teachers and who visits the campsites regularly, can keep control on the attendances and absences of Gypsy children.

Teachers must have contact with the group at the school, but also outside the school.

The first acquaintances with our education can be organised on the caravan sites. It gives the children time to adapt and to learn our language. But later on the children have to attend the regular schools and be integrated in normal classes.

When you organise these inclusion programmes, you have to provide for extra teachers, extra means and a good support.

Schools need to have the chance to develop and to work with special methods.

The administration of the department of education must be more flexible in the registration of absences. Gypsy children are to easily cross of the lists of attending pupils.

Inclusion programmes have to be organised in kindergarten. The children have to be integrated in the regular courses.

The contents of the lessons must be adapted to the life experiences of the Gypsies. And maybe a kind of distance learning during travelling can be a solution to keep up in school.

Mrs. Thomas pleads to involve the target group in the specific measures that already exist in our educational policy to reach to difficult and sociably weaker students. She refers to the special measure "onderwijsvoorrangsbeleid" and that aims mainly at children of migrants.

Interview 7: Lieve Maesmans, former employee of Vlaams Centrum Woonwagenwerk

Situation:

Lieve worked in Limburg as a social worker and had a lot of contact with Travellers. Later she became the staff member of education in the VCW. This job involved also the supervision of the project schools. ("Integrated care of Gypsy and Traveller children in primary schools")

General view:

Inclusion projects for Roms are absolutely necessary to involve them in our education. Lieve believes that the government has to take responsibility in organising these projects. It must be organised on the level of European, national or federal authorities.

Inclusion measures for Gypsies and Travellers are needed not only in the field of education, but also in other social fields. That is why there has to be a good cooperation between the different departments of ministries and more particularly between the departments of education and welfare.

During the development of projects it is obvious to organise conferences with the target group. The discussions must take place with representatives of the group.

Lieve thinks that the government at this moment doesn’t have an inclusion policy regarding Gypsies and Travellers because they don't have any knowledge and insight in the problems of these people. She believes that the Gypsies and Travellers are willing to cooperate and to take part in our education as soon as their culture is being taken seriously and respected. It is wrong that the government tries to adapt these people. Lieve experienced in her work that Gypsies and Travellers are prepared to work on the improvement of their situation, when they get the opportunity to be heard.

There is only one important inclusive measure taken in Flanders regarding Gypsies and Travellers. This is when the group was accepted as one of the ethnic minorities in the Flemish policy of ethnic minorities.

Problems:

The problem of attending school is caused by our society and the society of the Gypsies and Travellers. Our society and our government is not aware of the need of specific help for these people because the group is too small and too unknown. Besides they don't have any insight and knowledge regarding this group. We aren’t hearing the group itself because they don't have any representatives who have an important impact on the whole of the group.

To continue integration, the Gypsies and Travellers have to be taken seriously and till now this hasn't been the case. In former days migrants weren't been taken seriously either. But this group has done everything to take part in the debate and in the policy and they are now much more integrated in our society.

The precariously living conditions of Gypsies and Travellers are one of the mean causes of the problem of the absences.

The work with Gypsies and Travellers is too much stigmatised as social welfare work and receives financing as such. This policy implicates that the work can be to narrow.

Suggestions:

The government must be open to the problems of the target group.

There must be more cooperation between the different departments because the problems of Gypsies aren't particularly in one field; it crosses different fields (living, working, education).

Europe has to organise inclusion projects for Rom so there can be a good coordination and a similar approach in all of Europe. There should also be agreements on the European level concerning distance learning for Gypsies who still travel. This form of education should be organised in combination with regular education. For example: Europe can indicate schools that are known to Rom and where they can turn to, to get help with their school work during their travels.

Lieve sees a solution to the problem of absences: install a central admission point (a school or an office of the department of education) and let the Gypsies go to a random school that can change regarding their place of stay.

She is also convinced that a great deal of problems is resolved when the housing situation is being dealt with. Give the Gypsies and Travellers legal campsites where they can stay permanently in one neighbourhood. This results in a steady school going that isn't influenced anymore by the precarious sites.

The government should finance the work with Gypsies and Travellers as such and not strictly as welfare or educational projects. This work is categorical because it is necessary to work with the people in the field. Lieve believes that daily contacts with the group are important and the work has got to start from these contacts.  

Interview 8: Frie Vandermoortel, teacher of the primary school in Holsbeek

Situation:

Frie Vandermoortel teaches seven years in the school in Holsbeek. Since her employment, the school participated in the project of the Flemish government, department of education, because of the presence of a campsite of Rom in the neighbourhood.

Frie teaches reading and spelling to weaker students. Last year, when the school wasn't part of the projects anymore, she had still two Gypsy children in her class.

General view:

Gypsy children should be taken in regular classes, in normal schools. But there is need of special language classes to teach Dutch to these pupils.

Frie believes in the necessity of special projects to increase the school participation of Gypsies.

The difference in language and culture is still a threshold to take part in our education.

Problems:

Gypsies aren't used to the school structure and regularities, and this makes it difficult for them to frequently attend school.

The school is still very unknown for them.

Not knowing the Dutch language is an obstacle in the teaching of Gypsy children.

Suggestions:

The government should stimulate the education of Gypsies. They can do this by keeping more controls on the campsites and by organising transport to and from the schools.

Separate language classes are necessary to teach Gypsies our language.

Inclusion programmes are needed, but this demands extra teachers. The Flemish government should do a step in the right direction when they fit our target group in the specific educational measures (OVB, ZVB).

Interview 9: Mr. Van Der Gucht, headmaster of the Regenboogschool, primary school, in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek (Brussels)

Situation:

Several years Mr. Van De Gucht is head of a primary school in the hart of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. It's a neighbourhood with a great population of migrants and the school has pupils of more than ten different nationalities, of who are also Gypsies (Rom and Sinti from in and around Brussels).

In 1984 the school started an own Rom-integration project with the cooperation of the councillor of education of the city of Molenbeek. For a while the Regenboogschool received the support of the VCW in the framework of the educational project of the Flemish government. But since many years the school works without specific governmental support in their work with Gypsy children. The organization "Rom-Integratie" was founded and it took the initiative to buy a small bus for the transportation of Gypsy children to school and back to their caravan sites.

General view:

Mr. Van Der Gucht pleads for integrated education, but believes in the necessity of separate language courses.

The lessons should be adapted to the group and their life experiences, but they should not be organised on campsites.

It is impossible to motivate the parents, but you can stimulate the children. You have to anticipate this.

Teaching of Rom should be stimulated at the age of three.

Problems:

The most important problem is the lack of structure in the life of Gypsies.

Suggestions:

Mr. Van Der Gucht asks the government to give more attention to and provide more means for multicultural schools.

Interview 10: Wout Vanreusel, teacher of the Appeltuin (Freinet), primary school in Leuven

Situation:

Wout started in 1993 as a teacher in the project of Holsbeek. Since 1999 he works in the Appeltuin, a Freinet school in Leuven, to which the project of Holsbeek was transferred. He teaches to Rom-children from the campsite of Holsbeek.

General view:

To be acquainted with our education, it is necessary to try and sent Rom children to kindergarten.

The work with these children should be done out of different angles: welfare, education, psychology, ... like the educational approach in a Freinet school. Wout believes that a method school can offer more to keep and respect the culture of the Gypsies.

The Gypsies ask for a more functional education. But they don't ask for socialisation or integration, that's only a demand of our society and our system.

Wout notices that after all these years as a teacher of Rom, the parents still aren't interested in the education of their children. That's why he doesn’t experience any progress in his work.

But still he believes in the necessity of social workers on the campsites. Those people can stimulate the parents to put their children in school.

Education to Gypsies must be integrated in the regular schools, but there must be a specific support to these children. Wout pleads for the development of a special policy for the education of Gypsies, as there exist already a policy for children of migrants.

Problems:

Gypsies are weaker in their social development and this is a cause of their problematic education.

The lack of interest and stimulance of parents is an obstacle in the school attendances of the children.

The government does not take enough care and does not give enough support.

Suggestions:

The government must provide more professional guidance. There is a need of information coming from the government. It is also necessary to create more structure in the work with Gypsies. And the problems of this group have to be taken more seriously.

The government must take special measures in their education policy to favour the group of Gypsies and Travellers, comparable with the OVB, ZVB policy for migrants.

It is also very urgent to do something about the secondary level of education of Gypsies. 

CONCLUSIONS

If we conclude from these interviews, we can say that there still has to be done an important amount of work to improve the educational level of Gypsies and Travellers in Belgium (more particularly in Flanders).

The government has to be more seriously involved in the organisation of inclusion programmes for this group of people.

When developing special educational projects, it is needed to guarantee the participation of parents; to provide with extra financing, means and professionals; and more important to obtain more insight and knowledge about the cultural differences of Gypsies and Travellers.

It is notable that schools and teachers are open and willing to make extra efforts to improve the integration of Gypsy and Traveller children in our educational system, but it is striking to see that the government still shows a lack of interest regarding this problem. They don’t take this group seriously and it seems like professionals, working with these people, are being stigmatised along with them.

Everyone involved in the education of Gypsies and Travellers is convinced of the necessity of inclusion programmes. And everyone believes that it is the responsibility of the government (national or European government) to organise and to supervise these projects. There has to be cooperation between the different departments of ministries (welfare, education, housing, employment) when developing the programmes, because the problems of Gypsies and Travellers aren’t linked to one social field only. There is no separation in the different areas of life.

This brings us also to the problem of the many absences. The precarious lifestyle (no legal campsites) of Gypsies and Travellers is a cause for frequent absences at school. We have to consider this when working with them.

Children of Gypsies and Travellers will evolve in school when they are integrated in regular classes but they need special attention to learn our language. Either separate language classes or introduction lessons on campsites are necessary to be able to attend our schools. The language problem can be easily solved when parents are stimulated to bring their children to kindergarten. The government also has to take initiative regarding this matter.

Not only the stimulation of kindergarten is needed, also the guidance towards secondary school is an important problem.

To proceed with an inclusive educational policy, the government needs to keep more control on the school going of Gypsies and Travellers. They can do this by organising the transportation of children to and from the schools (counting of pupils), by engaging social workers on the caravan sites or by giving teachers the chance to visit their students in their environment. Intermediaries or confidant(e)s between parents, children and school are very important.  

The Flemish (and Belgium) authorities have to take urgent action if they want to achieve a good educational policy for Gypsies and Travellers. The unique projects that have been organized by the Flemish Government, department of education, aren’t satisfying but can be a departure for the developing of inclusive measures. We have to learn from these experiences and try to take each other our responsibilities in the work with Gypsies and Travellers. It is essential to have a good and structured cooperation between every one involved: parents and students, teachers and headmasters, social workers and the different departments of ministries.

But the most important observation is that the group of Gypsies and Travellers, and the work involved, has to be taken more seriously by the policy makers. You can’t achieve anything or work constructively when this is not guaranteed!