Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Policy, Space and the Education of
Gypsy/Traveller and Roma children in
Europe
David Cudworth
DeMontfort University, Leicester, UK
ECPR Fifth Pan‐European Conference, Porto
24th‐26th June, 2010
Abstract
This paper compares educational policy on the inclusion and exclusion of Gypsy/Traveller and
Roma children from England, Spain and Hungary
The paper argues that educational policy produces a space that marginalises these children
within different cultural and political contexts. Comparing the discursively constituted
educational spaces across different regions of the European Union, this paper will identify
common and divergent themes. A key theme is the commonality of institutionalised education
as a sedentarised space that fails to recognise the particular cultures of Europe’s varied
Traveller communities.
Whilst different states of the European Union are increasingly taking seriously the
educational inequalities of such communities, ethnocentrism and assimilationist frameworks
undermine such efforts. A more coherent Europe wide policy may encapsulate a broader
understanding and respect for these communities, in order to ensure their inclusion in the
educational spaces they occupy.
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Policy, Space and the Education of Gypsy/Traveller and Roma children in Europe
‘Access to formal education is more important than ever in enabling individuals to maintain
and develop living standards in Europe’s increasingly knowledge‐based economy. Formal
education also plays an important role in promoting awareness of the diversity within
society, as well as the recognition of our common humanity, providing the basis for our
concepts of democracy and human rights’ (Save the Children, 2001:17).
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Introduction
Gypsy/Travellers and Roma communities are increasingly considered to be Europe’s largest ethnic
minority community (DCSF, 2010). It is widely documented that children from these nomadic
communities experience the lowest levels of education and achievement, and as a result have a
long history of educational underachievement across Europe (Liegois, 1998). One of the main
concerns expressed in this paper is related to integration and that traveller children often lack the
ability to adapt to the life of school due to the school environment being increasing antithetical
with the everyday lives of their homes and communities (Forray, 2003). This mismatch between
home and school is symbolised by a difference between a nomadic way of life and a sedentary one
(Salinas, 2007) which has initially been framed by the tensions brought about by the historical
political and social formation of nation states, particularly in Western Europe during the 18th and
19th centuries, and more recently with the new configuration of Europe since 1989. Sedentarism
becomes synonymous with progress and the development of a national identity and a need to be
settled in order to achieve this; nomadism, as a result, becomes vehemently rejected as a
legitimate way of life (Cudworth, 2009). Action taken by states against those that move around
has been similar across Europe; consisting of spatial regulation in the form of either assimilation
into the surrounding culture (and therefore a denial of the existence of Gypsy culture), or simply
preventing communities settling in certain areas, either coercively or by the legislative structures
of a state (Bancroft, 2001). For example, in Britain much legislation throughout the 20th century,
including the Criminal Justice (year) and the Public Order Act (year), have affected the lives of
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traveling communities, and with subsequent planning laws and the actions of local councils many
have been forced to settle permanently (Cudworth, 2009).
This paper will investigate that despite an ongoing commitment from European member states for
equity and social justice (Liegeois, 2007), many schools often have remained unconducive places
for Gypsies to learn. Apart from this deep rooted prejudice towards people that move around I
would suggest that another key factor involved has been the growing establishment of a European
educational policy paradigm based on the demands of a global competitive economy (Ball, 1999,
Wilkinson, 2006). According to some, particularly Ball (2008), the social justice agenda has become
mere rhetoric as the market increasingly controls and dictates the role of education. According to
Simhandl (2006:110) the repercussions for the acceptance of Gypsy culture amidst such a climate
has continued to be eroded:
‘Pictures of horse‐wagons, stories of the coercive sterilisation of Roma women, and
impressions of illiterate children must be banished from a Union aiming to become the most
competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world’ (Simhandl, 2006:110).
Therefore, I want to argue that a paradoxical situation has been created, whereby the perceived
increase in the marketisation of education in pursuit of a competitive European knowledge
economy, has created a contradiction that exists between the rhetoric of ‘the globalised market’
and that of genuine ‘social democracy’ and the respect of human rights for many Gypsy
communities. Therefore, this paper will suggest that schooling is becoming increasing embedded
within the rhetoric of ‘economism’, whereby education becomes about servicing the economy at
the expense of its social and developmental responsibilities. Although education, in any state, has
always been about servicing economies, especially when considering the growth of mass
education, I would like to suggest in this paper that due to the momentum of globalization and
neo‐liberal thinking, especially with the collapse of the iron curtain and the opening up of trade,
education has become increasingly dominated by market ideology, whereby only certain groups
of children are enabled to achieve (Cudworth, 2009).
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This paper proposes that education policy discursively prevents many children from enjoying
their right to educational equality in many European states, none more so than children from
Gypsy/Traveller communities. In comparing the situation of three European countries, including
England, Spain, and Hungary, this paper will attempt to draw together common and divergent
themes behind the educational underachievement of these groups across different regions of the
European Union.
The theoretical perspective of this paper will draw upon work within spatial theory, but
particularly the work of Lefebvre (1991). By turning our attention to the dynamics of space, the
paper will examine and interpret the spatial questions (or our geographical consciousness) around
issues of power and knowledge that are embedded within the social, demographic and political
production of space. The interpretive significance of ‘space’ is thus used as a concept for the
discursive analysis of policy and its relationship between the productions of space, power and
social action. By using the work of Lefebvre (1991), as a tool of interrogation this paper will
therefore attempt to locate the marginalization of these communities within the context of the
power relations that exist and discursively produced within many schooling structures, that seek
to spatially regulate Gypsies.
The overall aim of the paper is not to arrive at a completed position, but hopefully by analyzing
educational policy as a discursive device in terms of the unequal ‘spaces’ it produces and creates,
it hopefully will stimulate further ideas around regulation, equity, power and space.
Definitions
‘Countless names and descriptions have been foisted upon us. The language used to
describe Gypsies/Travellers is constantly changing and has more to do with government
policy than ethnic identity…..Society has an incurable urge to label us so that they can
painfully squeeze us into a corner of society’ (Reid,1997:32)
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Due to the many different types of ‘Gypsy’ communities that live in many states within Europe
the terminology used to define them has been a problematic and contested issue. According to
Simhandl (2006) EU discourse used to describe these communities first arose in the 1970s when
both the Commission and European Parliament ‘called for an improvement in Roma living
conditions’ (p.97). She argues that as a result the evolution of such discourses resulted in the
separation of Gypsies in to two divided groups: the ‘Eastern Roma’ and the ‘Western Gypsies’.
Western Gypsies include the terms ‘Traveller’ (often used traditionally to refer to Irish, Welsh and
Scottish travellers); ‘Romanichals’ (including the German Sinti and English gypsies for example);
‘didicoi’ and ‘gitanos’ (Spanish for ‘Gypsy’). Other Traveller groups have included ‘New
Travellers’, who adopt a nomadic lifestyle but are not an ethnic group, and circus and fairground
families, or ‘showpeople’, who do not consider themselves as belonging to any particular ethnic or
racial group. Eastern Roma are simply termed ‘Roma’. Each community will refer to one or more
of these terms in order to provide themselves with a clear sense of identity, ethnic, cultural or
‘racial’ status.
Across these groups there is a commonality, albeit complex, that consists of a deep‐rooted belief in
‘nomadism’ and in particular a belief in and need for ‘mobility’ and ‘flexibility’ especially in terms
of employment. So when using these terms, this paper is referring to all groups that are mobile,
whether that be as a lived practice and/or an aspiration.
The European Perspective
Europe has failed the Roma for centuries. All those struggles fought in the name of civil
society and civic rights fundamentally excluded the Roma. This will have its own backlash
effect. The Roma will come. Today we are paying the price of our historic neglect and,
often, aggression. There are significant numbers of very poor in some of the new EU
member countries, and centuries of exclusion have left their marks. Enlargement must be a
wake‐up call – we need to think of the Roma as part of our future ‘We’ (Sassen, S, 2004:58)
The population of Gypsy communities in Europe is estimated to be between 7 and 8.5 million
(MRG, 2005) and is recorded to be the largest ethnic minority group in Europe. The history of
discrimination directed towards these communities throughout Europe has been framed by the
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tensions brought about by the historical formation of ‘modernity’ and in particular the creation of
European nation states, and a national identity (Cudworth, 2009).
In every part of Europe they are reviled as scroungers and parasites, as incorrigibles and
‘social unadaptables’ (Bancroft, 2001:147)
Gypsy communities have remained in conflict with the structures of power for centuries; the
successful establishment of states favoured a sedentarised population whereby cultural identity
linked people to a particular set of values and geographical space (Okely, 1983). Over the course
of history, McVeigh (1997) argues that such communities have been set up in the minds of the
settled community as ‘others’ in order to justify and legitimate these communities as ‘criminal,
backward, deprived etc.’ (ibid:28). Being settled, then, became synonymous with nation building
and the development of a national identity whereby all individuals were expected to ‘put down
roots’ and remain in one place in order to preserve the process of a national society and a national
identity (see, for example: McVeigh, 1997; Okley, 1983; Liegeois, 1998). Everywhere in Europe it
has been the same historical story whereby communities that move around have been
discriminated against, denied their cultural heritage, experienced forced assimilation into the
surrounding society, and forced to settle in certain places (Bancroft, 2001).
In 1984 the European Commission set about to investigate the situation of Roma/Gypsy and
Traveller education throughout EU states and in 1989 passed Resolution 89/C 153/02 on School
Provision for Gypsy and Traveller Children, which recognised the educational underachievement
of these communities throughout member states and noted:
‘….that only 30 to 40 % of gypsy or traveller children attend school with any regularity, that
half of them have never been to school, that a very small percentage attend secondary
school and beyond, that the level of educational skills, especially reading and writing, bears
little relationship to the presumed length of schooling, and that the illiteracy rate among
adults is frequently over 50 % and in some places 80 % or more’ (Resolution 89/C 153/02)
This resolution also emphasised that such communities had a ‘cultural and linguistic heritage
spanning more than 500 years’ and that schooling was ‘to be subsidised from Community funds
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aimed at improving the situation of gypsies without destroying their separate identity’ (ibid).
Since then a number of EU reports, directives and resolutions have monitored and supported
school provision for Gypsy communities. However, as we will see below, in many European
states positive action taken to sustain and integrate Gypsies in educational policy has not been
forthcoming, particularly in relation to the positive affirmation of their culture and inclusive
schooling. As a result, I would argue that policy continues to set up and produce schools that
alienate and marginalize these groups.
Spatial alienation
For Lefebvre (1991) ‘space’, whether this is a particular open place or building (including a
school), is socially and discursively constructed – a place embedded, often historically, with the
social and cultural ideas attached to it by the individuals that operate and interact within it. He
suggests therefore that space is socially produced and is fundamental to the reproduction of
society as a whole:
Lefebvre notes that individuals are social beings, so that through their day to day interactions
produce consciousness and therefore ideology. This ideology then determines and sustains the
meaning of this space, and defines what goes on within it. Lefebvre contends that this ideology is
entrenched within the power relations inherent in a market economy, and thus used to sustain
and perpetuate the norms and values associated with the dominant class, and therefore
capitalism. Using Lefebvre’s work, Soja (1989) interprets this ideology as a ‘spatial veil’ that
obscures the ‘spatialisations’ of other modes of production’ (1989:50) and thus other modes of
understanding and constructing a space. I suggest that this ‘spatial veil’ can consist of policy
which acts to legitimate and guide particular types of social action (or activities) to take place
whilst restricting others to do so.
So for Lefebvre, the mode of production plays a key role in the constitution of the ideology, that
ultimately sets up certain power relations and thus constructs, and ultimately controls, the spatial
order of a given space (1991:71). Few would dispute the idea that global capitalism has subsumed
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every aspect of our lives, and constructed the way we operate and think in a social space, as well
as constructing the very spaces of our environment to this end. According to Lefebvre, all action
has become organised around a particular objective or goal, relating to what is to be produced,
which becomes part of ‘normalised’ human action:
‘..this mental space then becomes the locus of a ‘theorectical practice’ which is separated
from social practice and which sets itself up as the axis, pivot or central reference point of
knowledge’ (Lefebvre, 1991:6).
In light of this, I would therefore argue that the production of school space is determined by the
ideological (conceived) nature of schooling (government policy, the national curriculum (for
example, in the UK), and perpetuated by the “hidden curriculum” ‐ school routines, uniforms,
disciplinary regimes, teacher pupil relationships and so on). According to Gulson and Symes such
ideology becomes:
..central to the administration of the school population, providing the fabric of a
disciplinary technology that, through the spectre of unremitting inspection and
surveillance, enable[s] it to be normalized and classified on a day‐to‐day basis….. (2007:106)
So, in this context, educational policy, is deeply entrenched with certain norms and assumptions
that have evolved over time and act as a discursive device that influences how we think, set up
and operate within the spaces of ‘education’ and ‘schooling’. Current European thinking has
emphasised the importance of creating an education system that can sustain a competitive and
dynamic knowledge based economy (European Council, 2000).
Knowledge is now recognised as the driver of productivity and economic growth, leading to
a new focus on the role of information, technology and learning in economic performance
(OECD, 1996)
The discourse’ of ‘business’ has become firmly embedded in everything done in schools. It has
begun to control the way we think about ‘school effectiveness’, with many schools becoming
obsessed with conformity to a business like agenda at the expense of what children really need out
good examination results, at the expense of all other learning. According to Searle, ‘classrooms
are becoming ‘delivery’ rooms for state‐licensed knowledge’ (Searle, 2001:21), and therefore those
children who do not successfully access this knowledge are perceived to be at a disadvantage.
With many schools and communities failing to listen to, celebrate and affirm positively
Gypsy/Traveller cultures, the lived spaces of nomadism and any specific needs these children may
have, has no discursive (policy) influence in the social production of ‘space’ within the classroom,
or schooling per se. Thus, it could be argued that due to a lack of any positioning of
Gypsy/Traveller identities in the ‘ideological’ space of schooling, current policy consistently
alienates children from these communities.
England
The vast majority of Traveller pupils linger on the periphery of the education system. The
situation has persisted for too long and the alarm bells rung in earlier reports have yet to be
heeded’ (Ofsted, 2003:6).
It is estimated that there are between 200,00‐300,00 Gypsy/Travellers in the UK including several
distinct groups, including: Scottish Travellers; English Gypsies; Irish Travellers, Welsh Gypsies,
show people, bargees and New Age Travellers (Cadger, 2009). The underachievement of these
particular groups is something that has been recognised since 1967.
The Gypsy Council founded in 1966, set up the Gypsy Council Education Trust in 1969 to address
the problems of Gypsy underachievement. Later the National Gypsy Education Council (NGEC)
was founded in 1970 and its offshoot the Advisory Council for the Education of Romanies and
other Travellers (ACERT) in 1973. As a result of pressure from these organisations the
government and local authorities began to look more seriously at the problem of Gypsy/Traveller
underachievement. Consequently, a number of different initiatives in the teaching of these
children were pursued both within and beyond the state sector. These included summer schools of
volunteers, often students and student teachers on summer camps, and mobile caravan schools
and adult education programmes on site and in mainstream schools. In 1988 with the
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introduction of the Education Reform Act (ERA) a specific Grant for the Education of Gypsy and
Traveller Children was established (DCSF, 2009).
However, despite these commitments, government reports throughout the 1990s and into the
early 21st Century continued to report that the low attendance at school of Gypsy/Travellers
children was still acute ‐ a major obstacle in their educational success which still needs to be
addressed. Therefore, the focus of much current intervention has been to enable children to
access education during ‘travelling time’:
‘Where pupils have a mobile lifestyle their education can be interrupted in many ways:
seasonal movement as a result of work, including on a travelling fair or circus; travelling to
attend important family and annual traditional events such as festivals and horse fairs; all
year round mobility because of a lack of a secure place due to inadequate site provision
nationally. To protect the continuity of learning for Gypsy Traveller pupils Dual
Registration is permitted’ (DfES, 2003:7).
According to the DfES publication Aiming High: Raising the Achievement of Gypsy Traveller
children (2003), schools are therefore required to become flexible in their admissions procedures in
order to provide stability in provision, thus allowing for and accommodating ‘dual registration’
with other schools:
‘To protect the continuity of learning for Gypsy Traveller pupils dual registration is
permitted. If parents inform their ‘base’ schools or the TESS that the family will be
travelling and intend to return by a given time, the school may keep the child’s school place
for them and record their absence as authorised. The child can register at other schools
whilst the family is travelling’. (DfES:2003:7).
Therefore in theory, and now in law, Gypsy/Travellers are compelled to have LEA’s allocate them
a ‘base’ school in order to ensure their ‘continuity of learning’ (ibid) and thus schools may both
keep the child’s school place open when travelling and authorise their non‐attendance
accordingly.
However, within the current school structure this is often very difficult to achieve, especially with
an emphasis on attendance targets which are monitored by Educational Welfare Officers (EWO’s)
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(Ofsted, 2003:8). Much of the way school life operates, and the way the curriculum is delivered
(Tyler, 2005:25) continues to be at odds with a nomadic existence. Children also face
discrimination and bullying, especially in secondary schools, some of which is from teachers
(Ofsted, 1999). Even when enrolled at a school, many children from these communities find
themselves disproportionately excluded from state schools, once enrolled, for reasons of non‐
attendance alone (ibid).
The DfES publication (2003) also recommends that schools provide training to raise staff
expectations, knowledge and understanding of these communities and to provide a curriculum
that is culturally relevant and affirming. However, the official curriculum of most schools often
fails to incorporate positive images of these communities in terms of what is delivered in
classroom teaching and the representations in children’s work on display.
‘The curriculum is neither appealing to young Traveller children, nor flexible
enough.…There is a feeling that what they are being taught doesn’t reflect their lives –
when they’re looking at images they are thinking, ‘where am I in here, where do I fit in?’
The child is left asking what this has to do with them.”’ (Lorna Daymond, Head of TESS,
Norfolk, as cited in The Guardian, 9 December 2003)
As Ivatts (2005) notes, although the current climate of British educational policy is one of
promoting ‘inclusion’, it is clear that the emphasis of both central and local government on ‘paper
inclusion’ – such as acceptable statistics on attendance and achievement – ignores an ‘invisible
culture of exclusion’ whereby Gypsy/Traveller pupils find that they are not genuinely accepted by
schools (Ivatts, 2005: 5).
Spain
‘..the extension of democracy and free schooling to the whole of Spanish society
without discrimination of any kind has not proved to be a successful framework for
the Gypsy minority’ (ACERT, 1993:111)
Spanish Gypsies are the largest ethnic minority group and consist of between 650,000 – 800,000
people (Salinas, 2007:33). These groups ‘continue to suffer from a far higher degree of poverty,
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exclusion and vulnerability than the majority of the population’ (ibid). They are on the whole
sedentarised, and have been so for more than 300 years, something that is unique to Spain.
(Salinas, 2007:33). Yet despite this and the fact that they are the largest ethnic minority in Spain,
their culture is simply not considered positively by the rest of the population. They are also not
included in policies, and where they are the focus is on ‘problematic’ issues such as
marginalisation, unmanageability and absenteeism (ibid:46).
In the 1970s, especially with the death of Francisco Franco which eventually signalled Spain as a
democratic state many Gypsy associations were set up to promote participation. There are now
over 600 Gypsy associations, although none of them have many members and represent less than
1 percent of Spanish Gypsies (ibid:34). Government representation was eventually established by
the formation of An Advisory Committee for the Gypsy Development Programme, which
includes state‐sponsored Gypsy Associations. By the end of the 1970s the Spanish Association of
Teachers with Gypsies was also established to improve school engagement and achievement.
More recently in 2006 the State Council of Gypsy People was set up within the Ministry of Labor
and Social Affairs, in order to create official lines of communication between these communities
and government.
The Spanish political system is characterised by a high level of devolution and is divided into
seventeen autonomous regions responsible for education, health, social services, culture, urban
and rural development, housing and social issues. Therefore there is often disparity across these
regions in terms of quality of service. Within these regions although Gypsy participation is
reflected in the political system, such involvement is merely advisory with limited actual decision‐
making power to ensure access to resources and budgets. However, Spain does have one elected
Gypsy representative in national parliament (Juan de Dios Ramirez Heredia) as well as a couple of
Gypsy political parties, although neither party has gained any significant prominence throughout
Spain.
The only piece of education legislation concerning Gypsies since the beginning of democracy was
the implementation of bridge schools, initially created for children with physical disabilities. Such
schools bought about the segregation of Gypsy children from many public schools and also were
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only for those children from the lowest socio‐economic status as recognised by the Catholic
Church and the Ministry of Education (Salinas, 2007). In 1983, although not specifically aimed at
Gypsy children, a Royal Decree was passed in order to address the barriers that could be
responsible for the low achievement of certain children in the education system; these included
social status, low socioeconomic levels and place of residence. This Decree recommended certain
areas should have more teachers, resources and support services and a more flexible system when
gaining admission to schools. This also saw a move to a more integrated system (ibid).
Between the period of 1978 and 1988 Gypsy children became increasingly welcomed in many
schools, although they often found themselves being segregated and being offered compensatory
education that took place in separate classrooms, or in special action schools, very much like the
bridge schools (Yagues, 1989). Those schools that did successfully ‘integrate’ Gypsy children,
many non‐gypsy parents complained about the increase in school failure among non‐Gypsy
children (ibid).
The main problem in Spain seems to be due to a lack of legislation that relates directly to
supporting Gypsy children (Etxeberria, 2002). This despite the Resolution in 1989 and an overall
body of Spanish educational legislation (M.E.C. 1991) that has gone further to promote equal
opportunities, respect and cultural solidarity, specific legislation aimed at Gypsies, like the Aiming
High programme in England, has not been forthcoming. Even the current Education Law passed
in May 2006, although acknowledges cultural diversity and intercultural education, does not
recognise or refer specifically to Gypsy culture. According to Salina:
‘There is a generalised policy – although no one dares voice it explicitly – of avoiding
investment in Gypsy‐related matters, due to the assumption that Gypsies have the same
opportunities as everybody else and that they are not attending school because they are not
interested’ (Salina, 2007:46)
Hungary
“Although Hungary has a history of successful integration of minorities, the Roma
community as a whole still await successful and realistic integration within the
system.”(UNESCO, 2007:19)
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Roma are Hungary’s largest ethnic minority and estimated to be between 800,000 to one million
(UNESCO, 2007). Being such a large community, on paper, Hungary has been committed to their
educational equality for some fifty years or so. In 1961 a resolution was passed to improve the
schooling of Gypsy children in Hungary. In 1971 it was reported that one‐quarter of twenty‐to
twenty four year old Gypsies finished primary school. It was also reported that the education
system was not flexible enough to cater for the needs of these children (Forray, 2003:71). It was
suggested that the culture of the school was at odds with Gypsy culture, and the parents were
‘unfamiliar with the school’s middle‐class language and regulations’ (ibid) Unfortunately, at that
time, similar to Spain, Hungary responded by creating segregated Gypsy schools, which usually
consisted of ‘special schools’ traditionally created for ‘handicapped’ children.
In 1993 Gypsies were finally recognised as an ethic minority group, putting more pressure on
Hungary to ensure respect for their individual rights and include them more fully into wider
society, and therefore schools. Another act in 1993 and subsequent amendments in 1996 and 2003
led to the permanent abolishment of the segregation of Gypsy Roma in schools. Such legislation
provides evidence for Hungary’s commitment towards the promotion of social integration and
inclusion with an emphasis on preserving the identity, cultural values and language of the Gypsy
population. However, despite this commitment Roma children are continually segregated within
schools in many parts of Hungary (OSCE, 2000:73) and in 2000 80% of Gypsy children continued
to be educated in the separate schools (UNESCO, 2007).
Conclusions: Cross‐Cultural Comparisons
From looking at the education systems in the countries outlined above, it is clear that the
schooling of Gypsy children comes in a variety of forms as is different from one EU member to the
next, much of which being inadequate. However, one of the corresponding themes involved
seems to be the wider persistence of discrimination and prejudice directed towards these
communities. Therefore, what appears to exist is a European wide lack of appreciation for Gypsy
15
cultures, and therefore a lack of provision suited to the interests, lives, and values of Gypsy
community. European education systems continue to perpetuate a certain set of social and
cultural systems within schools that is often at odds with the lived experiences of many Gypsy
communities. Education policy thus acts as a discursive device that alienates Gypsy children
from the culture of school, and as a result the conceived nature of schooling perpetuates myths
and attitudes that encourage the spatial regulation of Gypsies and their culture.
This is particularly clear in Spain where there are no support programmes in place that specifically
recognise the type of provision Gypsy children may need in order to educationally succeed. And
where there is specific provision in place, as in the UK with the Aiming High programme, the
curriculum and teaching materials do not recognise or accept the positive existence of Gypsy
culture. In Hungary the picture is pretty much the same, and where we do see the schooling of
Gypsy children, this consists of ‘special’ schools which were initially created for the slightly
‘handicapped’. In Spain, these were known as bridge schools, which were segregated schools for
Gypsy children, initially set‐up for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Such schools
deliver a basic curriculum that fails to provide children with the necessary skills to continue in
education beyond as very basic primary level. With Gypsies segregated in ‘special schools’, where
they receive a sub‐standard education, the perpetuation of them as “misfits” and “disabled”
attributed by their cultural identity, further provides justification of them being spatially invisible
in public schools.
Therefore, with many schools and communities failing to integrate, listen to, celebrate and affirm
positively Gypsy/Traveller cultures, they become an ‘unseen’ minority ethnic group, who are
ultimately ‘othered’ and therefore spatially marginalized. The lived spaces of Gypsy
communities and any specific needs children may have, has no discursive influence on policy
construction. Thus, this paper argues that due to a lack of any positioning of Gypsy/Traveller
identities in the ‘ideological’ space of schooling, educational policy consistently alienates children
from these communities.
16
Also with the emphasis of educational policy directed towards a globalised ‘knowledge economy’,
schooling has become embedded within the values of ‘economism’ and ‘business’ at the expense
of the social democratic values of education. Such discourses are played out in European policy
construction which justifies and perpetuates a particular set of notions deemed necessary for the
future development of today’s technological ‘global’ society, and becomes a ‘common sense’
strategy for the good of all. Thus the school space becomes entrenched with values that reflect the
requirements of international economic competition, or economism, based on the ‘knowledge
economy’ whereby information and knowledge have become ‘business products’ and firmly
embedded as the main factors of production and requirements of European trade links. As a
result, for many Gypsy children who experience poor attendance and a lack of support in many
education systems, they are often perceived as ‘misfits’ and thus politically, culturally and socially
marginalised.
So, finally, although it is clear that the education of Gypsy communities has become a major
concern throughout many countries in Europe and much improvements have been made,
particularly since 1989, there is a still a lot of work to be done if Gypsy children are to succeed
equally with their non‐gypsy counterparts where their culture is politically, culturally and socially
recognised.
17
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