Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 8(57) No. 1 - 2015

A RESEARCH PROJECT ON ABSENTEEISM AND DROPOUT: THE CASE OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN

Elena-Lidia DINU1

Abstract: The results of this research project have led to a great number of statements in relevant terms of acceptance and commitment. In this specific case, the individuals involved in the survey were mostly Roma people from ten villages of Central and Southeastern Romania (Zizin, Târlungeni, Râşnov in Braşov County; , in , Hăghig in Covasna County; Adjud, Bilieşti, Sihlea, and Tâmboieşti in Vrancea County). I assume that well-established approaches to gather information about absenteeism and dropout have substantial predictive validity. Beside this aspect, the project was supported by UNICEF Romania and the University of .

Key words: qualitative study, marginalized groups, dropout.

1. Theoretical Background ƒ Employment (research coordinated by the professors Elena and Cătălin In Romania, the Roma people subject Zamfir in 1992); (with all the related social issues/ ƒ Education (research coordinated by implications) has been constantly on the the professors Elena and Cătălin headlines of the newspapers for a long Zamfir in 1992); time. ƒ Social services; At the national level, a number of ƒ Health; policies and specific programmes (aimed ƒ Fight against discrimination; at improving Roma people's living ƒ Roma people’s adjustment to conditions) have been introduced by the society; Government. Likewise, academic and ƒ Absenteeism. scientific institutions and also non- The Ministry of Education, Research governmental organizations developed and Youth and its partners set up six projects (both in partnerships and on their types of specific programmes aimed at own) focussed on Roma communities implementing Education for Roma living in Romania. The key-issues for people in the period 1990-2008 [2]: those programmes/projects and the main 1. Programmes built and sponsored by main aspects to investigate were [1]: the Ministry of Education, Research and Youth on its own. They mainly involved:

1 Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest. 80 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VII • Vol. 8 (57) No. 1 - 2015

a) Reserving a certain number of b) Awarding scholarships to young places for Roma students in Roma students; universities and in colleges; c) Establishing a network of b) Teaching the Gypsy (Romani) cultural/linguistic mediators (over language in universities; 600) to help Roma students c) Arranging summer schools to integrate at school. teach Gypsy (Romani) 5. Programmes developed by the language and history (1999- Ministry of Education, Research and 2008); Youth within the Government d) Earmarking funds to hire programmes. In this case: Gypsy language and Roma a) All activities were coordinated on people’s history teachers the basis of the overall (1990; 1992-2008) etc. Government Strategy aimed at 2. Programmes built and sponsored by improving Roma people’s living the Ministry of Education, Research conditions and school attendance; and Youth. Among others: b) Some European strategic projects a) Romani CRISS (1994-2008); were developed by the b) UNICEF (2001-2008); Government (e.g., „Everybody to c) “Ruhama” Foundation – Oradea be enroled in the first class”, etc.). (2007-2008) etc. 6. Programmes built by the Ministry of 3. Programmes built by the Ministry of Education, Research and Youth from Education, Research and Youth and a legislative perspective [maybe it's sponsored by UNICEF in Romania. better to say “actions/ measures taken They mainly involved: by the Ministry of Education, a) Editing educational materials Research and Youth from a legislative and auxiliary textbooks on perspective]. They mainly consisted Gypsy and Roma people’s of: history and traditions (2001- a) Order on hiring of school 2008); mediators, No. 25 436/28 January b) Earmarking funds to establish 2008; summer schools to teach the b) Order regarding the progress of a Gypsy language and the Roma few activities specific to the Roma people’s history (2001-2008); people’s school house, No. 42 a) Applying EPA test (education 622/25 October 2006; priority areas) etc. c) Other decrees, resolutions, and 4. Programmes built and developed by executive orders. the Ministry of Education, Research On this line, the European Commission’s and Youth [and financed] through EU main objective is to improve this ethnic funds within the PHARE Programme group’s living conditions. (designed to help disadvantaged In the European context, the educational children and pupils). They mainly situation of the Roma communities has consisted of: been analyzed for years: “out of an a) Development of the PHARE estimated 10-12 million Roma people Programme (designed to help living in whole Europe, some 6 million disadvantaged children and pupils live in the EU, half of whom are of school - especially, coming from Roma age” [3]. Usually, the number of those who families); attend school does not represent their DINU, E.-L.: A Research Project on Absenteeism and Dropout... 81 totality, as the absenteeism rate is very 3. Project Primary Objectives high. In recent years this situation has been This research was aimed at slowly evaluated by the researchers, substantiating the SAI through a recording spectacular results in most cases sociological understanding of the social [4]. processes that are put in motion in Advertising campaigns promoting communities, schools and families projects aimed at helping Roma people are involved in the programme, contributing being conducted on the media to awaken thereby to the impact of the initiative in the citizens' consciences regarding Roma near future. On the basis of empirical people's issues. This has resulted into a evidence, a list of priorities ahead of the higher level of awareness and a greater formulation of effective and sustainable commitment to support actions/initiatives policies regarding equal opportunities in aimed at helping Roma people in poor education was proposed. The assessment areas. A remarkable example is the School proposal followed up the development of Attendance Initiative – SAI Project, the SAI project, after an implementation introduced from 2010 to 2013 and launched period, diagnosing a few issues and by an advertising campaign whose main recommending optimizing actions such as: slogan was “Come to school!” (thousands - A sociological description of the of posters with this caption were distributed existing situation in the communities and displayed in all the schools involved in involved in the project, focussing on the the project) (see Fig. 1): study of the forms of inequality in school participation. The research included an analysis of the learning process organization both within the school and the family, as well as strategies and community practices of encouragement for school attendance and dropout limitation. - A systematic analysis of the impact of the third stage of carrying SAI in relation with both: the overall objective of the project and the main objectives in the current phase of the implementation. The analysis focussed on the impact associated

with the successful practices and the Fig. 1. Advertising campaign “Come to project sustainability conditions. school!” - A differentiated analysis of the impact and sustainability of communities living 2. The School Attendance Initiative and directional learning to allow the setting (SAI): project introduction of future priorities for implementation. For this purpose we chose a comparative The School Attendance Initiative – (SAI) approach, focused on: was carried out from 2010 to 2013 in a) The perception of the interventions schools located within the Priority by the five partners involved (1) Education Areas (PEA). I assessed the Ministry of Education, Youth and impact and sustainability of this Project. Sports, (2) Institute of Educational Sciences, (3) Resource and 82 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VII • Vol. 8 (57) No. 1 - 2015

Information Center for Social data maximizing and current empirical Professions, (4) “Holt” Foundation, evidence validity. (5) “Together” Agency, including studying how interactions among 4.2. Field research (city halls, schools these partners are mutually and households) reinforcing; b) Multiple causes of the absenteeism From September to November 2013, I and dropout. conducted sociological fieldwork in Conclusions: recommendations and Central and Southeastern Romania with identification of best practices in order to the support of the UNICEF Romania and replicate and disseminate them in the next the University of Bucharest. I worked on stages of the program; highlighting of the rural livelihood, absenteeism and dropout lessons learned through implementation as issues throughout the country. a resource for program adjustment and My fieldwork took place in six villages national policies. lying in the Central Romania area (Zizin, Târlungeni and Raşnov in Braşov County; 4. SAI Design Porumbacu de Jos and Avrig in ; Hăghig in Covasna County) and in The project required the use of a four villages lying in the Southeastern complex methodology. In order to improve Romania area (Adjud, Bilieşti, Sihlea and the value of the study and the accuracy of Tâmboieşti in Vrancea County). It the results I have applied a set of methods, specifically explored the relationship analysis techniques and social between school and livelihood as an ethical interpretation paradigm employing struggle over subsistence rights, political multiple research tools. authority and meaning of the community. The project evaluation methodology was The reference population from which the developed on three levels: document sample was taken consisted of the school research, secondary analysis and field population from the 178 communities research. We took into account the included in the SAI in 2012-2013. generation of quantitative data, Regarding the schools selection, the accompanied by qualitative frameworks. stratification was given by the variables The samples were stratified with a crossing development regions and villages multistage probabilistic analysis. development index. The pupils’ selection was made on the basis of the two lists 4.1. Research tools provided by contacted institutions from each area (schools). The first list contained Providing a comparison on these issues information about all the pupils who were among villages lying in the Central enrolled at school in the 2012-2013 school Romania area and in the Southeastern year. The second list contained information Romania area represented a first step into about those who were at risk of dropping this research. On the other hand, depending out for the same school year. on our needs for the evaluation, everything The sampling consisted of a selection was caught, including the physical algorithm for pupils and respondents from environment, social organization, project schools who had been picked through a activities as well as behaviours and random selection process. A reserve list people’s interactions. Hence, the complete was compiled and included in the research package of tools followed up the compared protocol. The fieldwork involved DINU, E.-L.: A Research Project on Absenteeism and Dropout... 83 individual and group interviews, as well as stay in their village. However, once they questionnaires application and completion got to know me better and got used to the of data sheets about communities where fact that I was going to stay there for the interventions took place. several days, they became more curious The methods applied to the community and often invited me to their houses. level were differentiated depending on the category of the community (extended, mean or reduced). The research included both quantitative and qualitative data based on: structured interviews (with parents, children, school managers, teachers, school mediators and social references), focus groups, questionnaires with open-ended questions applied at the family level, participant observation and case studies as to children at risk of dropping out, including multiple sources of information (photographic evidence, data from interviews with key informants etc.). Fig. 2. In Sihlea (Vrancea County) Prior to interviewing the selected families, at the town hall we applied the After arriving at their households, I “Community Sheet” and “Social Reference applied the “Parent/Tutor Questionnaire” Sheet” tools, in order to gather essential and the “Household Sheet” tools statistical data for 2013 at several levels: (see Fig. 3). ethnicity, education, occupation, migration, employment and transport facilities. Similar tools were applied at their schools (“School Sheet”, “Manager Sheet”, “Teacher Sheet”, “Mediator Sheet”, “School Situation Sheet”, “Pupil Questionnaire” etc.), and, finally, at their homes. During this research visited 134 families (69 in the Counties of Braşov, Sibiu and Covasna County; 65 in Vrancea County), exploring particular aspects of this community’s social world in relation to the way individuals define and deal with their Fig. 3. In Tâmboieşti (Vrancea County) often stigmatized identities through their experiences of social exclusion and In some households, where one of the prejudice. parents was missing (emigrant, dead, During my fieldwork I lived with one of hospitalized or unavailable for good the families in Vrancea County (see Fig. reasons), I discussed with the other parent. 2), which, therefore, allowed me to have If they both were missing, I applied the access to sensitive information about life in questionnaires to their grandfather/ their villages. At the beginning, people grandmother or other relative who were suspicious about the reasons for my identified themselves as tutors. 84 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VII • Vol. 8 (57) No. 1 - 2015

I also conducted a focus group at “Şcoala actually saw in those unusual cases. The Gimnazială Târlungeni” in Braşov, having primary means of recording observational a strong impact on the fieldwork. It is information - field notes - could be known that focus group data collection is a strengthened with photographs, having survey mode that is almost universally achieved every family’s consent. Good applicable in every country and it has field notes required a selectivity that become more common. focused me on important details of All the discussion was focused on two everyday’s family life. interesting topics: Although, there is a huge amount of I. Interactions, perceptions on school, photographic evidence on rural livelihood, ethnic distances; the emphasis was not on it as such, but on II. Intervention assessment. the causes of absenteeism and dropout. For The participants were chosen from most people, education at the level of among teachers, social workers, parents elementary school or perhaps high school and people without close relationships/pre- was not held in high regard. The friendships. anticipated marriage age in those villages A number of questions covered those was between eleven and thirteen. It was in topics and the respondents’ answers made the parents’ interest to have their children a lot of things clear. Here we talked about married as soon as possible due to other communities (Romanian and economic considerations. Hungarian), certain projects in which the school had been involved over the years 5. Conclusions (related to the school equipment and incentives for children), specific events The study has contributed to dialogue (festivals, divers competitions), children's and help inform public officials in the key development, transfer of a child to another of developing policies aimed at preventing location for some reasons, successful absenteeism and dropout. people from the community to be taken as I wish to thank the University of positive role models, family traditions and Bucharest for this potential opportunity. methods to prevent dropout. This project allowed me to strengthen my own original ideas and to advance research 4.3. Results with flexibility in the above field. Furthermore, this research experience It was very interesting to find out that the brought me new insights into the information provided by schools through intersection of social exclusion, education the “Pupils Results from Sample” tool and politics. (absence rate, behaviour grade) was not all The results of this study will be also real in certain cases. There were a few useful in my future research activity in inaccuracies between what I had learnt order to make choices on the nature and from school (i.e. large absence rate) and extent of any follow-up qualitative studies what the pupils or parent had declared. in this specific research area. Apart from informal conversations with Although this project was beneficial and most of the subjects, the participant generated important results, many families observations played a major role in the in these marginalized groups are struggling evaluation, because I was too close to their for basic survival at this time. More situations. I followed up the source of specifically, some of them have serious these distortions and wrote down what I problems on this line, as the area is mostly DINU, E.-L.: A Research Project on Absenteeism and Dropout... 85 rural. As long as these children do not have decent living conditions equivalent to the current society requirements/standards, their education is compromised most of the times.

6. My reflexions

The results of this study would be shared with other organizations in order to help and sustain those people. The responses to all the questions have given precious indications for a significant support in solving of their stressful issues. Fig. 6. A large family with four children Spending a lot of time with these people, (Târlungeni, Braşov County) I realized it isn’t so easy for each of them to go on. Eventually I identified the places Perceived by the others as invisible and the poor conditions in which they live people, they hope one day it will be better. (see Fig. 4 and 6), how many children and Teachers along with their headmasters animals they have (see Fig. 5). have tried to take them to school, but they haven't been totally successful in this attempt. In the light of this analysis framework, their visibility in all places has remarkably increased over the past decade. The first discussions have had potential implications on Roma people, describing the data used in this study and performing simple analysis. Much of the survey was devoted to questions asking the respondents about

their attitudes towards their children’s Fig. 4. Family under poor conditions school situation, including other items such (Târlungeni, Braşov County) as moral judgment, lifestyle (i. g. income, social work, driving) and work abroad. Dropout is still a great problem, but in the Romanian society it is even more threatening. That is an enormous obstacle for everyone involved in prevention and dropout research. From a critical theoretical perspective, the economic and educational dimensions lead to the people’s social differentiation in the context of a changing rusticity in contemporary Romania. In summary, as an aspiring sociologist Fig. 5. Sihlea (Vrancea County) researcher, this fieldwork put me in many 86 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VII • Vol. 8 (57) No. 1 - 2015 delicate hypotheses and gave me 3. Macovei, E. : Ţiganii/ romii: realităţi opportunities to interact with Roma people şi perspective: lucrările simpozionului in various locations in Romania. “Educaţia şi integrarea socială a Nevertheless, I was more than happy to populaţiei de etnie romă” (The Roma share experience, cultural background people: realities and perspectives: knowledge and methods with my colleagues proceedings of the international and with other specialists in the field. symposium on “Education and social integration of the Roma people”, References October 10-11, 2008, Sibiu, Romania. 4. Târnovschi, D.: Populaţia romă. 1. Burtea, V.: Ţiganii: între ignorare şi Dimensiunea unei probleme. In: îngrijorare (Gypsies: between Proiecte pentru romii din România, ignorance and inquietude). Bucureşti. 1990-2000 (Projects for the Roma Alternative Publishing House, 1993. people in Romania), Anăstăsoaie, V. 2. EU and Roma. Available at: Cluj-Napoca. CRDE Foundation, http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discriminati 2001, p. 13-22. on/roma/index_en.htm. Accessed: 06.05.2015.