Social Inclusion with Indigenous Peoples Kathleen E
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Social Inclusion Open Access Journal | ISSN: 2183-2803 Volume 4, Issue 1 (2016) Multidisciplinary Studies in Social Inclusion Editors Caroline Dyer, Pat Dudgeon, Waikaremoana Waitoki, Rose LeMay, Linda Waimarie Nikora and Ulf R. Hedetoft Social Inclusion, 2016, Volume 4, Issue 1 Thematic Issue: Multidisciplinary Studies in Social Inclusion Published by Cogitatio Press Rua Fialho de Almeida 14, 2º Esq., 1070-129 Lisbon Portugal Academic Editors Caroline Dyer, University of Leeds, UK Pat Dudgeon, University of Western Australia, Australia Waikaremoana Waitoki, University of Waikato, New Zealand Rose LeMay, Wharerātā Group, Canada Linda Waimarie Nikora, University of Waikato, New Zealand Ulf R. Hedetoft, University of Copenhangen, Denmark Managing Editor Amandine Gatelier, Cogitatio Press, Portugal Available online at: www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion This issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY). Articles may be reproduced provided that credit is given to the original and Social Inclusion is acknowledged as the original venue of publication. Table of Contents The European Struggle to Educate and Include Roma People: A Critique of Differences in Policy and Practice in Western and Eastern EU Countries Christine O'Hanlon 1-10 Mediating Structures in Sámi Language Revitalisation Erika Sarivaara and Pigga Keskitalo 11-18 Social versus Spatial Mobility? Mongolia’s Pastoralists in the Educational Development Discourse Ines Stolpe 19-31 Practicing Teachers’ Reflections: Indigenous Australian Student Mobility and Implications for Teacher Education Beverley Moriarty and Maria Bennet 32-41 Livelihoods and Learning: Education for All and the Marginalisation of Mobile Pastoralists. By Caroline Dyer. London: Routledge, 2014, 215 pp.; ISBN 978-0-415-58590-3 (Hardcover), 978-0-203-08390-1 (E-Book). Alan Rogers 42-43 Wholistic and Ethical: Social Inclusion with Indigenous Peoples Kathleen E. Absolon 44-56 Repositioning the Racial Gaze: Aboriginal Perspectives on Race, Race Relations and Governance Daphne Habibis, Penny Taylor, Maggie Walter and Catriona Elder 57-67 Social Exclusion/Inclusion for Urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Maggie Walter 68-76 More Than a Checklist: Meaningful Indigenous Inclusion in Higher Education Michelle Pidgeon 77-91 Climate Change, Mining and Traditional Indigenous Knowledge in Australia Tony Birch 92-101 Social Exclusion of Australian Childless Women in Their Reproductive Years Beth Turnbull, Melissa L Graham and Ann R Taket 102-115 Romanian Roma: An Institutional Ethnography of Labour Market Exclusion Janne Paulsen Breimo and Loreni Elena Baciu 116-126 “I Like to Play with My Friends”: Children with Spina Bifida and Belonging in Uganda Femke Bannink , Richard Idro and Geert van Hove 127-141 Social Inclusion (ISSN: 2183-2803) 2016, Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 1-10 Doi: 10.17645/si.v4i1.363 Article The European Struggle to Educate and Include Roma People: A Critique of Differences in Policy and Practice in Western and Eastern EU Countries Christine O’Hanlon School of Education & Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK; E-Mail: [email protected] Submitted: 3 June 2015 | Accepted: 16 November 2015 | Published: 15 February 2016 Abstract Multiculturalism is an established feature of the UK and other European States since the establishment of the Treaty of Rome in 1959. Enlargement has brought EU membership from six (1952) to twenty eight members since its foundation, and allowed free migration across its borders. However, many countries, in spite of agreements to adhere to ‘demo- cratic’ practices, deny minority citizens their full rights, particularly in education contexts. Some recent accession EU States have education systems that are less adaptive to expected policy responsibilities. It is a more unstable aspect of Eastern Europe because of the failure of many of these countries to reduce social and educational inequalities and to establish rights for minority groups, particularly the Roma. An educational focus is used as a platform to highlight issues re the segregation, and discrimination against, Roma children in Europe, typically through the use of special education, which is not suitable for them. Europe generally, both East and West has failed to fully integrate the Roma. Often, insti- tutional blame is placed on Roma communities, rather than situate them socially and economically due to ingrained structural inequalities. Stereotyped categories are often used to ‘label’ them. Countries with high Roma populations, four in Western and five in Eastern Europe are evaluated and compared in relation to the education of Roma children. Keywords education; EU; inclusion; minority rights; Roma; structural inequality; Western and Eastern Europe Issue This article is part of the issue “Educating Nomadic People”, edited by Caroline Dyer (University of Leeds, UK). © 2016 by the author; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY). 1. Introduction cation provides children and young adults with the necessary skills to enter employment and advance Roma people form Europe’s largest ethnic minority and general social cohesion. Therefore the right to educa- have for centuries made up an intrinsic part of Europe- tion is correctly embodied in international conventions an society. But despite efforts at national, European and European Union (EU) documents. Education is also and international level to improve the protection of the only social right explicitly included in the European their fundamental rights and advance their social inclu- Convention on Human Rights (European Court of Hu- sion, many Roma still face severe poverty, profound man Rights [ECHR], 2011). social exclusion, constraints to utilising their basic There are between 10 million and 12 million Roma rights, and discrimination. These problems affect their living in the EU, at present comprising 28 countries. access to quality education, which, in turn, undermines The most recent EU accession countries, situated in their employment and income prospects, housing con- Eastern Europe include: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, ditions and health status, limiting their overall capacity Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The highest numbers to fully exploit their potential. of Roma populations, reaching more than 5%−10% of General development of any society depends upon the population live in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, high quality, inclusive and mainstream education. Edu- Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. These are the coun- Social Inclusion, 2016, Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 1-10 1 tries that will be examined in this paper, together with quences: the lack of information renders policy and the western EU countries of France, Italy, Portugal and planning ineffective and makes it impossible to moni- Spain, because they are distinctive as western Europe- tor changes. Inadequate data also perpetuates vast an countries with the highest number of Roma per cap- disparities in access to quality education. Inadequate ita population. information will continue to enable governments to In recent years Romanian Roma have migrated evade responsibility for failing to create, fund, and im- throughout Europe, especially to Italy, Spain and plement effective programs for Roma inclusion. What France. In Spain and France they join Romani commu- is known for certain, however, is that only a tiny minor- nities of several hundreds of thousands—over half a ity of Roma children ever complete school, and the ed- million in the case of Spain—although again not com- ucation to which they have access is typically vastly in- prising anywhere near the % age total of the Eastern ferior (Open Society Foundation, 2006). European countries mentioned above. Roma make up Recently, two political initiatives (and policy around 0.64 per cent of the general population of frameworks) have highlighted the importance of edu- France and 1.60 per cent of the population of Spain, cation for Roma inclusion: the Decade of Roma Inclu- 0.5 in Italy and 0.3% in Portugal (Chan & Guild, 2008). sion (DRI) 2005−2015, and the EU Framework for Na- Roma who live in the European Union are EU citi- tional Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020. The zens and have the same rights as all other citizens. A Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005−2015 is a political significant number of Roma live in extreme marginali- commitment at international level including nine gov- sation in both rural and urban areas, and in very poor ernments in Eastern Europe, which aims to reduce so- social-economic conditions. They are disproportionally cio-economic gaps that separate the Roma minority affected by discrimination, violence, unemployment, from other European citizens. Both policy directives poverty, bad housing and poor health standards. emphasise the need for national governments to estab- The EU and Member States have a joint responsibil- lish action plans and strategies for the educational inclu- ity for Roma inclusion and use a broad range of funds sion of Roma children, alongside strong monitoring in their areas of responsibility, namely the European mechanisms up to 2020. Two essential areas for im- Social Fund (ESF), European Regional Development provement are seen to be Roma educational access and Fund (ERDF) and the European Agricultural Fund for ending educational segregation, with the emphasis on Rural Development (EAFRD) to support the