TITLE OF THE PUBLICATION
The gypsy children education. A proposal for inclusion in
school
SURNAME AND NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
García Guzmán, A.
PUBLISHER
REICE - Revista Electrónica Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia
y Cambio en Educación
PLACE AND DATE OF PUBLICATION
Facultad de Formación de Profesorado y Educación de la
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 2005.
TYPE OF PUBLICATION
Research
LANGUAGE OF THE DOCUMENT
Spanish
LANGUAGE OF THE REVIEW
English
THEMATIC AREA
Integration of immigrants students
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
The article approaches to the schooling of gypsy children, an ethnic
group very present in Spain and with a high rate of school and social
exclusion. School absenteeism and failure have a high incidence
among this group, which reinforces, as well, the subsequent
tendency towards social exclusion. It analyzes a study carried out in
2002, which reveals that, even though there has been a significant
change, in relation with the previous study carried out in 1994,
nowadays most of gypsy children are schooled, it is common that
children leave school early after they are 15 years old, something
even more frequent in the case of the girls. It is estimated that only
one of 100 gypsies attends to university.
Among the suggested causes that explain these results, the
following are considered:
a) Related to the school and social context itself which, even
though it is presented as "equal opportunities", it is very
hierarchical and with a monocultural educative focus:
• Low qualification from the teachers for multicultural
education.
• Lack of representation of this minority in schools.
• Strong aversion towards gypsy students.
• Lack of socio-affective communication between teachers and
gypsy students, who have different relation strategies, and
lack of information and preparation from the teachers.
b) Related to their own families:
• Scarce school traditions of this group for everything related to
schools and the educative aspects of their children.
• Scarce family support for the subjects taught in schools.
• Lack of communication between families and schools.
• Poverty and marginality, being the latter one of the main
causes of school absenteeism and failure, since, once
they are old enough to work with their parents, children
leave school and "are left for themselves", in an attempt to
overcome poverty.
The article finishes contributing with aspects that should be taken
into consideration when facing the reduction the rates of school
absenteeism and failure, which go through a socio-educative
proposal for an intercultural education.
COMMENTS ON THIS PUBLICATION
This work presents an analysis about one of the ethnic groups that
present one of the greatest difficulties in social and school
integration in Spain and Europe, the gypsy ethnicity. This group
supposes the clearest paradigm of how social exclusion is many
times associated, not with the country of origin, but with cultural
identity. The gypsy ethnic group has been considered at school risk
due to the high rates in school absenteeism, dropouts and failure
that present the young students, which redounds to the maintenance
of the social exclusion and continues the discrimination towards this
group. This work analyzes which factors are responsible for this
results, as well as the best ways to solve the problem. An element
that must be highlighted in this material is that, working from the
analysis of the evolution of this group in relation with the subject
matter, identifies two groups of factors that could be contributing into
the problem: those related with the group itself, with the families and
their customs; and those related to the socio-educative context itself.
This way, in relation with the latter, it analyses how from the
dominant culture are transmitted, more or less explicitly, several
messages that intervene or favor the lack of motivation from these
students. The article finishes with a specific suggestion based on a
truly multicultural and intercultural education that promotes
acceptance, respect and appreciation to different lifestyles and
cultures. Moreover, several methodological and didactical
considerations are proposed in order to be considered towards the
execution of an intercultural plan with ethnic minorities in general,
covering that way, the necessities not only from this ethnic group,
but from all those that are not part of the cultural and lifestyle
majority.
Name of Compiler
Rosario del Rey
Name of Institution
University of Seville
Role in the institution
Research