Untitled - Izglītības iniciatīvu centrs

Elfrida Krastina,. Dr.Paed., (Daugavpils University)
Zenija Berzina, M.A., Zaiga Lucina, M.Paed.,
Daiga Zake, M.Paed. (Centre for Education Initiatives)
ROMA IDENTITY
IN A MULTICULTURAL
SCHOOL
A CASE STUDY
SUMMARY
2005
 Izglîtîbas iniciatîvu centrs (Centre for Education Initiatives), 2005
The Case Study was done by the Centre for Education Initiatives in Latvia.
www.iic.lv
Translation from Latvian - Inara Visocka
The present study has been carried out and published with financial support by the EU Phare programme “Promotion of Integration of Society in Latvia” and the state of Latvia
Centre for Education Initiatives is fully responsible for the contents of this study and it cannot be
considered as the official position of the European Union or the Republic of Latvia.
INTRODUCTION
Inclusion of ethnic minority children in general schools, creation of genuinely multicultural schools is
one of the most effective and most sustainable measures to help overcome prejudices, still alive
among the public, and to promote mutual respect, understanding and positive relations between
various ethnic groups living in Latvia. Providing education for people of various ethnic and cultural
backgrounds in a single educational establishment in one or another way has been quite typical
practice in the educational system in Latvia. Therefore it is an important challenge for the system of
education to turn the difficulties and problems of schools and preschools that the teachers, parents
and students are facing, into advantage for our schools and a benefit for the society as a whole.
In a multicultural society every child has the rights to equal, quality education, as provided by international and Latvian legislation. In view of the fact that it is problematic for many Roma to get quality
education, Centre for Education Initiatives, since 2003, has been particularly focusing on one of the
ethnic minorities of Latvia - Roma - by implementing projects “Quality Education for Roma Children”,
“Roma Child in Welcoming School”. In the course of these projects nine municipalities of Latvia introduced one of the models of a multicultural school, focusing in particular on 5-7 years old Roma
children, with the aim to involve these children in the process of mandatory education as early as
possible, by setting up a number of local and intermunicipal support structures.
The main achievement of the project is the fact that Roma children (aged 5-7), have started and are
continuing their studies at school. How are these children doing, what are their relations with peers,
what are the factors facilitating or hampering effective inclusion, how to increase the impact of the
facilitating factors and decrease or exclude the hampering factors; what answers to these questions
can be found in educational research and practice in Latvia and other countries - these and many
other questions were at our focus as we were trying to find the answers through this study.
Objectives of the study:
Ÿ To analyse and collect theoretical findings about pedagogical-psychological conditions of
multicultural education;
Ÿ To explore how 5 - 7 years old children integrate in a multicultural classroom;
Ÿ To explore, if and how children’s ethnic needs are met in day-to-day teaching and learning
process;
Ÿ To analyse academic achievement of Roma children;
Ÿ To analyse specific issues of pedagogical process in a multicultural classroom;
Ÿ To develop and test in practice a set of functions for teacher assistant for work with Roma
children;
Ÿ To find out parents’ and teachers’ views on inclusive education;
Ÿ To explore forms of cooperation with parents and factors influencing them.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
This study, the results of which we are sharing with wider public, was carried out to explore possibilities of including Roma children in a multicultural classroom in the context of multicultural education.
The study focuses on creating a multicultural inclusive classroom with children of many ethnic backgrounds successfully learning together; emphasizing that inclusion of Roma children in mainstream
education system is a sign of a democratic society. (In a multicultural school tolerant attitude towards
the different is one of the main principles underlying mutual relations. It means that working in a
multicultural classroom teachers have to be aware of specific issues and respect ethnic peculiarities of
children from different ethnic backgrounds.)
This study reflects theoretical findings regarding multicultural education, psychological-pedagogical
conditions of educating a tolerant personality. It also presents analysis of the findings of a study on
integration of Roma children in school, on the necessity to meet children’s ethnic needs, on developing cooperation with parents. The study also gives an assessment of the effectiveness of an innovation
in Latvia, namely, teacher assistant - ethnic Roma. This assessment is based on experience gained in
5-7 year old children’s classrooms in general schools of Latvia.
The financial support for the projects and the study comes from the EU Phare Programme and Latvian
national budget; the administrative support comes from the Society Integration Fund. The project
participants include nine municipalities: Aiviekste pagasts municipality council, Jelgava city council
and district council, Jekabpils city council, Plavinas town council, Preili novads/county council, Valmiera
city council and district council and Varkava pagasts municipality council. These municipalities provide co-financing for the project. The project is co-financed also by the Open Society Institute, OSI,
New York City. We are grateful to all supporters of this project.
Centre for Education Initiatives expresses appreciation to all project participants, journalists from
local and central media and authors of the seminars used in the project that are members of the
International Step by Step Association, ISSA, and whose input contributed to reaching of the goals of
the project. The wish to change deep-rooted stereotypes and to make the society of Latvia more open,
ensured success of the project during its implementation period and will serve as a guarantee for
continuation of Roma integration in the society, started by the project.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
SUMMARY
Chapter 1 “Background: Roma ethnity in Latvia”. This chapter gives some insight into the low
socio-economic and educational level of the Roma population in Latvia. Although Roma have been
living in Latvia for centuries, there is a huge difference the desired and the existing attitudes towards
this minority in everyday life. Roma are at the lowest end of the social ladder in Latvia. One of the
reasons for this phenomenon is the relatively low level of education among Roma. Modern society
requires all its members to have developed social and cognitive skills, which are key to a successful
integration into social and technological processes. Lack of quality education prevents access to many
aspects of information, technology, economic life and social relations. It creates a vicious circle: lack
of necessary education, no job, inadequate social security, and the same pattern is repeated in the
next generation of the Roma family.
Roma still have limited opportunities to get quality education and quality job. Deeply rooted prejudices and separating themselves from the Roma minority that is characteristic among the majority of
population, is a reason for direct or indirect social discrimination. It is especially unacceptable in
education because the quality of education leaves an impact on all spheres of life of an individual. It
should be noted, however, that in conversations with Roma they tend to emphasize that their own
attitude towards education has changed and is becoming more positive. The figures, mentioned in the
study, indicate the existence of discrimination and call for immediate solutions.
The Roma culture is a bright part of the cultural mosaic of Latvia. The negative and disdainful attitude
of the society towards Roma is for the most part unjust. One of the biggest challenges today is ensuring for them equal position with other ethnic groups living in Latvia, in the area of education, employment and human rights.
School is the primary formal institution in which a child gets involved; therefore it plays a particularly
important role in creating an equitable society. Schools are models for the relationships, which the
children of today will enter into with their peers at school and later at their workplaces and in all their
future life. Therefore it is essential that schools model those values, which the society wants to see in
the adult society. One of the needs identified by teachers and other staff working in school with Roma
and other minorities’ children, is the lack of knowledge among teachers about dealing with
multiculturalism effect and turning it into an advantage for all children in the classroom.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
Chapter 2 “Rationale and Theoretical Framework for Multicultural Education” analyses the idea
of multiculturalism and gives some insights into the history of multicultural education theories, as
well as presents an overview of approaches and models, known in the world and in Latvia, of
multicultural education and fostering ethnic identity and self-esteem.
Living in a multicultural society it is important to learn about the cultural values of other ethnic
groups, promoting European style integration process in the development of a personality and selfrealisations as early as in the school age. Latvia has not so far developed a single theoretical framework for multicultural education, therefore it is our objective within the framework of this study to
explore research findings tested in Europe and in the world, and to put in the focus those ones, which
help to provide a research - based foundation for our specific study on the inclusion of Roma children
in general school in multicultural education context.
Chapter 3 “Legislative Framework for Multiculturalism” makes a reference to specific documents,
thus clearly demonstrating that international organisations have paid considerable attention to fight
against intolerance, discrimination and racism. Starting with the 90-ties, a number of documents have
been drafted and many conferences have been organised where these negative phenomena have
been discussed on the European and the world scale. European level documents, discussions and
recommendations encouraged to pay more attention to racism problems also in Latvia. It was recognised that several kinds of racism exist also in this country. Among them there is lack of tolerance
towards Roma, although legislation of Latvia guarantees certain provisions for preservation of ethnic
identity and acquiring education.
Latvian legislative framework in educational area is organised in such a way as to create favourable
conditions for the development of every person’s personality, to make everybody competitive on the
job market, to foster also learning of fundamental values of ethnic culture in the global cultural context. However, educating Roma children involves certain challenges: cultural differences, teachers’
limited knowledge about Roma culture, inadequate parent - teacher cooperation and others. Due to
these and other reasons Roma children often drop out of school or preschool thus creating a backlog
in their education right from the beginning. Education for tolerance at preschool and school age
would help to overcome these difficulties.
Chapter 4 “Pedagogical - Psychological Conditions of Educating a Tolerant Personality” discusses
theoretical sources on the influence of ethnic peculiarities on person’s character, his/her world view,
family relations, attitudes towards people of his own and of other nationality. This chapter offers
Ÿ an interpretation of the concept of tolerance;
Ÿ a list of components making up multicultural education environment;
Roma identity in a multicultural school
Ÿ analysis of the process and the benefits of inclusion of children of various ethnic backgrounds in
general school;
Ÿ an overview of active teaching and learning methods in a multicultural classroom, based on the
Step by Step Programme methodology;
Ÿ an insight into experience from other countries regarding training of teachers and teacher assistants - Roma - for work in an inclusive classroom.
Genuine tolerance is a valuable asset of a developed personality, which can be developed through
focused efforts, overcoming intolerance and any prejudice against other cultures. In the pedagogical
process it is important to create a dialogue between different cultures, so that children, through learning about the different, learn to be tolerant to other opinions, learn to be open for the society, at the
same time maintaining their own ethnic identity. Such a personality has his/her own values and
interests and the readiness to defend them, if such a need arises, but alongside with that this person
is able to respect the opinions and values of other people.
Chapter 5 “Study of Inclusion of Roma Children in General School”. Looking for ways how the
acquired knowledge and experience could promote inclusion of Roma in the development of civic
society, it is important to collect, explore and synthesize the findings of the study. One of the key
elements in piloting the inclusion model is carrying out a study of the inclusion of Roma children in
general schools. The study involved documenting the process of change in the classroom, at schools
and in the society. The following paragraphs give a detailed characterisation of the research base of
the study, description of organisation and the methodology used, as well as the analysis of the findings.
Characteristics and organisation of research base. From 2003 to 2005 Centre for Education Initiatives
(CEI) implemented projects “Quality Education for Roma Children” and “Roma Child in Welcoming
School”, where one of the goals was to overcome school segregation with regard to Roma children by
developing and piloting a Roma children inclusion model, which would foster success of these children in general education system. The idea of these projects is underpinned by the conviction that
education of Roma children in general schools should start as early as possible and definitely no later
than at 5 or 6 years of age, because, if the education process is started as early as possible, these
children are more likely to continue their education, thus breaking the pattern, so characteristic of the
Roma culture, of keeping and bringing up their children at home as long as possible. It should be
taken into account that since September 2003 the statutory age for starting education in Latvia is 5-6
years.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
For the purposes of testing and approval of the Roma children inclusion model developed by the CEI,
nine groups/classrooms for 5-7 year olds were set up at the project sites in academic years 2003/04
and 2004/05. Education in these classrooms is implemented in accordance with the requirements of
the national curriculum for general education, while the actual teaching and learning is organised
using the Step by Step methodology. All these classrooms are equipped with furniture and teaching
materials appropriate for 5-7 year olds.
Having assessed the need for educating Roma children, the following nine municipalities got involved
in the CEI projects: Jelgava city and district, Jekabpils city, Plavinas town and Aiviekste pagasts municipality (Aizkraukle district), Preili novads/county and Varkava pagasts municipality (Preili district),
Valmiera city and district. With the help of the local municipality staff and activists from the Roma
community we tried to establish contact with Roma families in order to start communication, to get to
know them, to listen to their needs, so support and encourage them. Supporting and encouraging
Roma parents, early inclusion of their children in general facilitated education system.
Alongside with setting up classrooms for 5-7 year olds, 9 Roma parent support centres were established. The study gives an overview of the functions, objectives and ways of organising work of these
centres. Parents are their child’s first educators and in Roma families upbringing at home historically
plays a special role. Therefore the projects combine home and school education so that teachers and
parents could understand each other and would wish to cooperate either directly or through cooperation with the existing Roma organizations. To encourage and help Roma parents understand their
children’s constitutional rights to get equitable and quality education, and to help parents become
active educators of their children, the Roma parents were involved into various activities during the
project time. It helped to raise their self-esteem and facilitated understanding of the need for change.
Inclusive education is one of the basic concepts of the projects “Quality Education for Roma Children”
and “Roma Child in Welcoming School”. In order to implement it, the project school/preschool teams,
representatives of the Roma community, activists from municipalities and NGOs were prepared for
inclusion of Roma children and for mutual cooperation. The training cycle for adults included: seminars, parent workshops, consultations/counselling and meetings, exchange of experiences. The total
number of participants trained during adult education events is 1297.
Number of the Activity cycle participants in Number of adults in educational events in
the projects
the projects
Roma identity in a multicultural school
During the seminar cycle the following issues were analysed: reasons for inequity with regard to
Roma children in educational policy and practice; how to overcome ethnic prejudices and how achieve
a change in attitude to cultural diversity in school and society and treat it as an advantage rather than
an obstacle.
Parent workshops turned out to be one of the most effective ways of involving Roma parents and
promoting cooperation. Their aim was to involve parents of the Roma children in school activities,
particularly in their children’s learning process by stressing the importance of a good cooperation
with other parents and teachers.
The aim of regular consultations offered in the projects, was to provide support to the Roma children
inclusion process, introduction of multicultural education, promoting tolerance and mutual understanding among teachers who either are or would be working with Roma children, parents, the currently working and potential Roma teacher assistants.
Methodology and organisation of action research. Research of such a complicated process as introduction of multicultural education cannot be limited only to figures. Using observation over a longer
period of time reveals a picture, which is far wider and more diverse. As the research period was only
5 months, we can claim to have gained only a limited insight into situation and identification of the
problems. The possibilities that quantitative methods can offer are limited: what can be measured
precisely are only such aspects as the number of children, educational level, employment, but when
it comes to the attitudes and, in particular, to tolerance, no measurement is possible even over a much
longer time. Surveys, which were one of the data collection methods, used in this study, often reveal
the desired, declarative attitude because people tend to show themselves and the events around them
as tolerant and showing respect for others. Therefore in our study we used both quantitative and
various qualitative methods of research.
The practical part of the research was carried out simultaneously in 9 educational establishments: at 4
schools - Jekabpils Secondary School No.2, Varkava Elementary School, Vilpulka Primary School,
Vircava Secondary School and at 5 preschools - Aiviekste preschool “Jumitis”, Jelgava preschool
“Pasacina”, Plavinas preschool “Rukitis”, Preili preschool “Pasacina”, Valmiera preschool “Buratino”.
These sites were selected in cooperation with municipalities, taking into account a number of factors:
a location, close to the homes of Roma families, training of educators of the respective schools within
the project and their readiness to work in a multicultural classroom. A total of 157 respondents were
surveyed, including 12 teachers, 92 parents, 4 teacher assistants (ethnic Roma), 49 children.
The following qualitative research methods were used in this study: questionnaires, surveys, statistical data processing, reports, interviews, observations, portfolio assessment.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
For quantitative research, questionnaires, developed by the authors of this study, were used. They
were filled out in classrooms/groups of 9 educational establishments and processed, using data analysis
programme SPSS 12.0.1.
Analysis of the findings of the study. The study of inclusion of Roma children in a multicultural
classroom was carried out in three classrooms, which had been opened and functioned within the
framework of the projects “Quality Education for Roma Children” and “Roma Child in Welcoming
School”. For a better understanding of the situation here is background information on these classrooms/groups:
Ÿ Jelgava city preschool “Pasacina”: the group of 5-6 year olds includes 19 children: 11 Latvians, 4
Roma and 4 Russians;
Ÿ Jekabpils Secondary School No2., classroom of 5-6 year olds includes 12 children: 8 Roma and 4
Russians;
Ÿ Valmiera city preschool “Buratino” the group of 5-6 year olds includes 18 children, 10 out of them
are Latvians and 8 Roma.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
Data, provided by school administrations, on the number of Roma children over the last 10 years
show an increase of Roma in general schools. The total number of Roma children learning in the
project schools in 2004/05 was 24, which makes up 5.3% of the total number of children in these
schools. The total number of Roma children in the project preschools is 30, which makes up 3.6% of
the total number of children in these preschools. Since 2000 there are Roma children in these schools
who continue their studies after 6th grade. In 2004 5 ethnic Roma children finished 6th grade.
It was found during the study that there were no dropouts among the Roma children who started their
school on 1 September in the pilot classrooms, set up by the project “Quality Education for Roma
Children”. The only reasons for being absent are sickness or difficulties getting to school in the winter
time (lack of transport, lack of warm clothing for children to enable them to walk to school). Parents
are satisfied with the inclusion process of their children. Surveys show that children go to school/
preschool with pleasure, feel free and relaxed there and increase their knowledge.
Teacher survey included 11 teachers. Teachers’ responses confirmed that Roma children are willing to
go to school. According to teachers’ assessment, mutual relations between Roma children in the classrooms are “good” (18 %) and “very good” (82 %), while the relations with other children are described
as “good” (91%) or “sooner good than bad” (9%).
Mutual relations between Roma children
Relations between Roma and other
children
Observations in groups/classrooms also lead to the conclusion that children are friendly, support
each other, learn and play together and do not perceive their ethnic differences as an obstacle.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
Teachers’ assessment, analysing integration of Roma children in classroom learning process is not so
unanimous as their assessment of children’s mutual relations:
Integration of Roma children in classroom learning
process
In this study we assessed not only mutual relations between children but also teacher - children
relations. For 4 teachers out of the 11 teachers surveyed, this was the first year of working with Roma
children in the classroom, while others already had some prior experience in communicating with
children of different ethnic backgrounds. Relations between Roma children and teacher are predominantly described as “good” or “very good”.
How is children’s ethnic needs met - cultural interaction. Inclusion of elements of the Roma ethnic
culture, language, traditions and history in the classroom environment and the teaching-learning
process is an important project aspect in the integration process of Roma children. To find out, what
influences people’s views of the Roma and mutual relations between people of various ethnic groups,
a “Self-evaluation” survey was carried out, in which 32 respondents (Roma, Latvians, Russians - teachers, parents municipality staff and others) participated. Participants of this survey expressed their
attitude to people of other ethnic backgrounds, peculiarities of their culture; they recalled situations
when they had felt left out; tried to explain what is shaping their attitudes towards people of other
ethnicity. All of the survey participants recognise that they feel bad when the community around them
treat them unjustly and they also admit that it is important to mix in the community in order to get to
know other people better.
The survey shows that the attitudes towards the Roma population are influenced by a number of
factors: information that appears in the media, experiences by friends, relatives and one’s own life
experiences, day-to-day contacts with representatives of this ethnic group in work or household situations. Definition of cultural differences revealed such aspects as: traditions, language, values in the
Roma identity in a multicultural school
family, mentality, temperament and these differences were described as the bases for a diverse social
life and cultural enrichment. Some respondents additionally point out that cultural differences are
important, they complement each other and definitely are a valuable and interesting asset that can be
used for learning.
One of the indicators of an inclusive classroom is the classroom environment which reflects traits of
Latvians, Roma or any other ethnic group represented in the classroom, Culture symbols, works of
art, books, music and other materials are naturally integrated into the everyday environment and
activities of the classroom and school. The classroom environment at the focus of our study has to
include elements of the Roma culture.
One of the ways to meet children’s ethnic needs in the group/classroom is to introduce in the environment at least some elements of culture of the different nation/ethnic group to which the child belongs.
Among cultural elements, which we observed in the classrooms, were books, titles in a child’s mother
tongue; all children in the group learning songs and poems in several languages, toys, characteristic
of different nations, dolls in national costumes, pictures, describing ethnic traditions, habits, celebrations or everyday work traditions. It is impossible to create an inclusive classroom atmosphere and
foster respect to the Roma language unless children are given an opportunity to learn about the Roma
language. The teachers, involved in the project very highly appreciated the children’s books that were
translated (10) and published (5) in Latvian/Roma languages.
The multiethnic environment in the project classrooms was further enhanced by the teaching aids,
which were created during the parent workshops and which reflect features of the Roma culture:
Roma style clothes for dolls, self-made books in Latvian/Russian/Roma languages, table games about
characteristics of different nations, room decorations, observing national traditions, various titles/
notices to be used in the classroom to learn more of the Roma language elements.
Notes taken during observations by specialists of inclusive education testify that elements of
multicultural education are present in all project classrooms, that the teachers’ training level considerably facilitates teacher cooperation for implementation of bilingual education, as well as the fact that
inclusion of Roma children in general schools should be carried out as part of a more complex approach, namely, by
Ÿ setting up educational environment, appropriate for children;
Ÿ training teachers and Roma teacher assistants for work with Roma children and parents;
Ÿ encouraging and training Roma parents and leaders of the Roma community,
Ÿ creating prejudice-free attitude of the public towards Roma.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
Roma teacher assistant. Teacher S. Kolomenska from Bene Secondary School stresses that it is important that Roma children who learn in school, are taught by Roma teachers, “because no Latvian teacher
can do what a Roma teacher can, and that is - to find a balance between the civic patriotism and the
Roma patriotism!”
The key to success in this case is involving teacher assistant - an ethnic Roma in classroom work. It is
a novelty, introduced by this project and was one of the key topics of this study. The main function of
the Roma teacher assistant is to help the 5-7 years old Roma children overcome difficulties caused
entering an alien cultural environment (different language, routine of the day, certain rules). Thus
help is provided also to the teacher, to be able to better involve Roma children in learning activities
and to establish cooperation with Roma families. Roma teacher assistants helped to make the Roma
language heard in the classroom, introduced to characteristic features of the Roma ethnic group.
Roma teacher assistant worked in the groups/classrooms of 5-7 year olds in 3 general schools: Jekabpils
Secondary School No.2, Valmiera city preschool “Buratino” and Jelgava city preschool “Pasacina”. The
total number of Roma children in these classrooms was 20. Three Roma mothers worked in these
classrooms as teacher assistants. In the interviews during the research they explained the benefits of
their activities in the classroom. All teacher assistants were satisfied with the opportunity to work
with children. They helped the children who had difficulties understanding what the teacher is saying, explained the tasks and tried to do everything exactly the way it was modelled and demonstrated
by the teacher. Roma teacher assistants expressed their appreciation to teachers for their understanding attitude towards children and were glad that their children enjoy going to school/preschool and
told that other parents also feel satisfied.
Teachers, analysing the work of their Roma assistants, stress that they have made a really good
progress in their work, compared to the situation at the beginning of the academic year. When such
practice was started, it had been something so new and unusual that both teachers and their newly
made assistants had felt confused. Initially the teachers did not know what they can ask from their
assistants and were afraid to put too high demands, but gradually they developed very businesslike
cooperation. Although teacher assistants have different levels of education and different life experience, all of those assistants who worked in the project were willing to participate and help educating
Roma children. They were provided with consultations on a regular basis, and the topics for consultations were dictated by specific needs of each place and each assistant.
Schools also provided consultations for the whole teaching staff with the aim of facilitating the process of change, because it is important to achieve a change in the whole attitude and environment of
the school, which is an important precondition for creating optimal positive learning experience for
Roma children at an early age at school.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
Specific features of pedagogical process in a multicultural classroom. In our interviews with teachers
we also identified problems that emerge working with Roma children:
Ÿ Language difficulties. Although Roma children learn the Latvian and Russian language quickly,
part of them at the beginning of their schooling are able to communicate only in their mother
tongue - the Roma language.
Ÿ Insufficient cooperation with parents. Parents, as a rule, are not aware of the role they play in
their children’s education process and tend to avoid teacher-parent meetings (on the other
hand, the Roma parents gladly come to school events where their children are participating).
Ÿ Teachers do not feel professionally prepared to work with ethnic minority children. There is also
lack of flexibility.
Ÿ Prejudices against Roma among the school staff and parents of other children.
Teachers admit that there is a serious lack of knowledge and skills of working with children from
different ethnic groups, how to manage their work so that the child’s personality is not undermined.
Teachers are aware of the need for new, different methods of cooperation, working with parents of
Roma children, in order to get them interested in their children’s learning. The different approach of
people from other cultural backgrounds to problem-solving, their different idea about the importance
of education and the role of school sometimes made teachers confused, and they feel insecure working in a multicultural classroom. Teachers now want to get a deeper understanding of the history,
culture and family traditions of the Roma people.
All teachers, involved in the study, appreciate the role and activities of Roma teacher assistant in the
classroom, noting that it allows to devote more attention to individual work with Roma children. The
assistant facilitates understanding between the teacher and the child, the child and the teacher. With
their behaviour, their attitude they are a model, showing how to give support and help. Teacher
assistants, by observing the activities of the teacher and the children, very soon see the importance of
working regularly. Gradually they understand the need and importance of educating children.
Roma teacher assistant is also called a mediator in teacher work with other Roma parents. This person
helps to explain specific situations to parents and the other way round -helps the teacher understand
wishes of parents. It was stressed that the Roma assistant was a great support to all children of the
group, irrespective of their ethnic background, and is very welcome by all children.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
CONCLUSIONS
This study also involved literature analysis and a review of the most essential theoretical findings
about the historical aspects of multicultural education, its specific features in Latvia and in the world
and of conditions for creating a multicultural school. The study of literature revealed the fact that the
sources available in the Latvian language basically reflect the experience of other countries and there
are practically no studies about Roma education in Latvia. There is also lack of research on creating
multicultural schools in modern Latvia. The main theoretical assumptions are taken from foreign
sources. It leads to the conclusion that teachers have little opportunities for self-education on the
topic of multicultural education, although it would be a topical need, considering that Latvia has
joined the European Union, which certainly increases the phenomenon of multiculturalism in our
education.
The model of the Centre for Education Initiatives for inclusion of Roma children and creating a prejudice-free society that was fully introduced in 9 schools of Latvia and partly introduced in approximately forty schools of Latvia, is operating successfully. In the practical part of the study it was found
that all 5-7 year old Roma children who started their studies during the project, have successfully
socially integrated in their classrooms or groups; they feel satisfied and show a considerable social
growth. However, integration in the teaching-learning process presents certain difficulties, which can
be explained mainly with shortcomings in differentiation and individualisation of pedagogical process. The study showed that pedagogical practice could be significantly influenced through classroom
observation, carried out by a skilful teacher. The possibilities that a multicultural, diverse classroom
can offer for the development of every child can be revealed only through a long and focused observation. However, teachers lack relevant skills, therefore there should be special focus on these skills
during pre-service and in-service teacher training courses.
The experience of developing schools as integration centres shows that their development can significantly change the process of inclusion of Roma children in the classroom and integration of Roma
families in the society. In all places where this study was carried out, Roma families feel encouraged
to use their constitutional rights to equitable and quality education for their children. The Roma are
satisfied with the pedagogical process because intercultural approach to the learning process takes
into account also ethnic needs of their children. Teacher assistant - Roma, working in the classroom,
plays a particularly important role in the inclusion of Roma children. However, in the future it is
necessary to develop a more precise methodology of work of teacher assistant in the classroom and
for cooperation with families, and a further education course for teacher assistants should be developed. In view of the topicality of the Roma education problem and the findings of the study regarding
the role of the Roma teacher assistant in addressing this problem, possibilities should be sought to
pay for the teacher assistant - Roma’s work from the local or national budget.
Roma identity in a multicultural school
LIST OF LITERATURE
1. Amata S. Nav obligâti zîlçt, zagt vai tirgot narkotikas.//Ieva. 2003. Nr.32, 10.-13.lpp.
2. Apine I. Mazâkumtautîbu vçsture Latvijâ. /-R.: Zvaigzne ABC,1998.
3. Aðmanis M. Politikas terminu vârdnîca.-R.:Zvaigzne ABC, 1999.
4. Bunks J. Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform./Multicultural Leader, Volume1, Number
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