FOLIA GEOGRAPHICA

Menu

Folia Geographica 2018, 60/1, pp. 31–49

SLOVAK ROMA VILLAGE OF ORIGIN AND EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES: A CRITICAL EVALUATION

Mark PAYNE A*

Received: March 18, 2018 | Revised: April 10, 2018 | Accepted: April 26, 2018

Paper No. 18-60/1-511

A* University of Sheffield, Edgar Allen House, 241 Glossop Road, Sheffield, United Kingdom
mark.payne@sheffield.ac.uk (corresponding author)


PDF FULL TEXT

Abstract
The immigration of relatively large numbers of Slovak Roma people to Sheffield since 2004 has highlighted some tensions around the settling of the new arrivals into the complex social, linguistic and cultural spaces of this diverse city. Schools have faced particular challenges welcoming the new children who manifest various issues in relation to their language competencies, prior educational experiences, truncated schooling and often lived experiences of social deprivation and marginalization. Based on data from an ongoing ethnographic study and drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s (2005) ‘Process-Person-Context-Time’ (PPCT) framework, this paper presents the context of the two main sender villages of the Roma in Sheffield and forefronts some of the experiences of Slovak Roma children in secondary school as they negotiate prevailing English-only language ideologies and complex curriculum challenges. Findings show that, whilst the Roma pupils are making some headway in terms of school integration, they are often finding academic attainment a step too far, particularly in terms of formal educational outcomes. Furthermore, an analysis of educational attainment data by village of origin raises questions of contextual impacts on educational achievement.

Key words
Education, Slovak Roma, Attainment, Bystrany, Žehra, Bronfenbrenner, Sheffield

REFERENCES

  1. BADER M., KUNČÍKOVÁ P. (2006). Osada Bystrany. Retrieved 4 April 2014, from: http://www.dokument-festival.com/database/movie/9349%7COsada-Bystrany
  2. BIRO M., SMEDEREVAC S., TOVILOVIČ S. (2009). Socioeconomic and cultural factors of low scholastic achievement of Roma children. Psihologija, 42(3), 273–288. https://doi.org/10.2298/PSI0903273B
  3. BLOMMAERT J. (2010). The Sociolinguistics of Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  4. BRONFENBRENNER U. (2005). Making Human Beings Human: Bioecological Perspectives on Human Development. London: Sage.
  5. BRONFENBRENNER U. (2009). The Ecology of Human Development. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
  6. BRONFENBRENNER U., CECI S. J. (1998). Could the answer be talent? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 21(3), 409–410. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X98241239
  7. BRONFENBRENNER U., & EVANS G. W. (2000). Developmental Science in the 21st Century: Emerging Questions, Theoretical Models, Research Designs and Empirical Findings. Social Development, 9(1), 115–125. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00114
  8. BRONFENBRENNER U., MORRIS P. A. (1998). The ecology of developmental processes. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology, Vol. 1: Theoretical Models of Human Development, 6th Edition (Vol. 1, pp. 993–1023). Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
  9. BROWN P., MARTIN P., SCULLION L. (2014). Migrant Roma in the United Kingdom and the need to estimate population size. People, Place and Policy, 8(1), 19–33.
  10. CONTEH J. (2012). Teaching Bilingual and Eal Learners in Primary Schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Learning Matters.
  11. CUMMINS J. (2007). BICS and CALP: Empirical and theoretical status of the distinction. In N. Hornberger (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education (pp. 71–83). Springer: US.
  12. Department for Education (last). (2015). School and College Performance Tables: [Ridgeway]. Retrieved from: http://education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/school.pl?urn=139334
  13. ERIKSEN T. H. (2004). What is Anthropology? Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press.
  14. EU Law and Publications. (2007, January 23). The 2004 enlargement: the challenge of a 25-member EU. Retrieved 8 February 2017, from: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3Ae50017
  15. European Dialogue. (2009). New Roma Communities in England: The Situation of Roma from new Member States of the European Union and the Role of Local Authorities in their Settlement and Inclusion. European Dialogue www.europeandialogue.org.
  16. JAEGER E. L. (2016). Negotiating Complexity: A Bioecological Systems Perspective on Literacy Development. Human Development. 163-187 https://doi.org/10.1159/000448743
  17. KLIMOVSKÝ D., ŽELINSKÝ T., MATLOVIČOVÁ K., MUŠINKA A. (2016). Roma settlements and poverty in Slovakia: Different policy approaches of the state, local governments, and NGOs. Anthropological Notebooks, 22(1), 23–42.
  18. MUŠINKA A., KOLESÁROVÁ J. (2012). Situation of the Roma in Slovakia and their status in the contemporary Slovak society-brief outline of the Roma situation and of associated problems. Central European Regional Policy and Human Geography, II(2), 7–14.
  19. National Curriculum in England (2013). English programmes of study. Retrieved 6 June 2016, from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study
  20. nidirect. (2015). Qualifications: what the different levels mean. Retrieved 6 April 2017, from: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/qualifications-what-different-levels-mean
  21. Runnymede Trust. (2012). Sheffield Migration Stories. Retrieved 16 January 2016, from: http://www.makinghistories.org.uk/for-teachers/community-stories.html
  22. SCARR S. (1996). Behavior-Genetic and Socialization theories of intelligence: Truce and reconciliation. In Sternberg, R. and Grigorenko, E. (Eds.). Intelligence, Heredity and Environment. pp. 3-41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  23. SCHEFFEL D. Z. (2013). Svinia in Black and White: Slovak Roma and their Neighbours. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
  24. Sheffield City Council. (2014). Roma Trends FOI April 2014. Sheffield: Sheffield City Council.
  25. ŠKOBLA D., MUŠINKA A., HURRLE J. MATLOVIČOVÁ K. (2014). The ATLAS of Roma communities in Slovakia. Bratislava: UNDP. Retrieved from: www.ceit.sk/IVPR/images/IVPR/…/skobla_prezentacia_brusel_atlas.pdf
  26. Sociálne znevýhodnené prostredie – príspevok | Ministerstvo školstva, vedy, výskumu a športu Slovenskej Republiky. (no date). Retrieved 25 May 2017, from: https://www.minedu.sk/socialne-znevyhodnene-prostredie-prispevok/
  27. ZNAMENÁČKOVÁ Z. (2008). Migration of Romani people from Bystrany (SK) to Sheffield (UK). In M. Horton & J. Grayson (Eds.), Roma New Migrants: Local Research in the UK and European Contexts (pp. 11–15). Available from: http://www.redtoothcreativesolutions.com/aded/docs/Roma_Conference_Report.pdf Accessed 24/3/15.