More information
Description
The 24 months project increases the institutional capacity of five schools with a high percentage of vulnerable Roma children from Arges and Dolj counties, to ensure effective inclusion and quality education of Roma pupils alongside all children.
In order to attract Roma pupils from vulnerable families to school and better integrate them, the project provides training for partner schools teachers that work with Roma pupils, and involves parents and tutors, and pupils in common (Roma and Non-Roma participants) activities.
In the project:
- 75 teachers will develop skills and knowledge on efficient communication in friendly learning environments, curriculum design skills, education for active citizenship.
- 6 teaching materials on an inclusive and multicultural environment will be elaborated for the partners schools.
- 75 Roma and Non-Roma parents will increase their degree of tolerance and adaptation by taking part in awareness-raising activities on anti-discrimination.
- 250 Roma and Non-Roma pupils will be integrated in a multicultural environment and participate in social inclusion awareness-raising activities.
Summary of project results
According to the Strategy of the Romanian Government for the Inclusion of Romanian Citizens Belonging to the Roma Minority for the period 2014-2020: “Two out of ten Roma children do not go to school, the most frequent reason cited being the lack of financial resources. Over 80% of Roma parents say that they want at least secondary education for their children, but more than 75% of Roma children do not finish 8 grades. Regarding illiteracy, out of the total number of illiterate people in Romania, 27.4% are Romanian citizens belonging to the Roma minority".
In this context, the project "We Open Our School to All Children" addresses a number of five schools located in two development regions: the South-Muntenia Region (Arges County) and the South-West-Oltenia Region (Dolj County) with a high percentage of Roma students, with a significant number of students with parents who have left abroad ,and with students from families with a precarious financial situation.
The Association: Institute for the Development of Educational Evaluation cooperated with the selected schools from Arges and Dolj counties to increase the institutional capacity of the five schools to ensure effective inclusion and quality education for Roma pupils alongside all children. The consortium was created to generate a more inclusive educational process for the Roma children already registered in these school units, to better integrate them into the school community and to attract new Roma students in the schools.
In order to achieve this aim, the project was designed as follows:
The first objective of the project: diversifying teachers communication skills in a multicultural environment, consisting of students of different ethnicities, religions and social situations was achieved by implementing training courses for the partner schools teachers: Effective Communication for an Educational Climate Prone to Learning, Competencies for Curriculum Design, and workshops: Education for Active Citizenship in Schools, and Differences Bring Us Closer, Violence Separates Us. Under this objective, six teaching materials related to an inclusive and multicultural environment were elaborated: Through knowledge - towards solidarity and cohesion in the community, Common cultural heritage, Respect for others begins with self-respect, Legislative foundations of intercultural education, Interest and respect for the values of cohabiting ethnic groups, Way of thinking and way of being.
The second objective: increasing the degree of tolerance of parents belonging to the partner schools was achieved by implementing learning/awareness activities related to anti-discrimination, social inclusion and tolerance, human/child rights for Roma and Non-Roma parents participating in the project.
The third objective: integrating students into a multicultural school environment was achieved by implementing the following extra-curricular activities for Roma and Non-Roma children: Through knowledge – towards solidarity and cohesion in the community, Common cultural heritage, Respect for others begins with self-respect, Interest and respect for the ethnic groups values, Way of thinking and way of being.
Within the project:
75 teachers from the partners schools, who are working with Roma children, developed their knowledge on school multicultural environment, communication, participation and diversity by taking part in the two accredited training courses and two workshops designed specially for them.
75 Roma and non-Roma parents and tutors increased their knowledge on interculturality, anti-discrimination, social inclusion and tolerance, human/child rights by taking part in five roundtables.
In order to decrease discrimination in the partner schools, 250 students, Roma and Non-Roma, participated in extra-curricular activities and developed their knowledge on cultural diversity, solidarity and cohesion, self respect and respect for the other, children rights.
The project followed a logical succession, starting with teachers’ training that work with Roma scholars, continuing with awareness and learning activities for Roma and Non-Roma parents and guardians and with extracurricular activities for Roma and Non-Roma students.