Author:
Bhabha, J., Matache, M., et al.
Published in:
2019
Organization:
Harvard University, CIP-Center for Interactive Pedagogy
Country:
United States of America & Serbia
Language:
English
Contact:
Boris Spasic, boris@cipcentar.org

One in One-Hundred - Drivers of Success and Resilience among College-Educated Romani Adolescents in Serbia



One in a hundred Roma makes it to University, why is that? The study One in One Hundred: Drivers of Success and Resilience among College-Educated Romani Adolescents in Serbia, is a collaboration between the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University (Harvard FXB) and the CIP - Center for Interactive Pedagogy ISSA's member from Belgrade, Serbia.

The research goes beyond the scrutiny of educational deficits and obstacles to find out what actually works.Although the focus of this research is on Serbia, the statistics (and related patterns) reverberate throughout Europe. As Dr. Margarete Matache, director of the FXB Roma Program, concludes, “Instead of focusing on Roma ‘behavior’ to improve the educational performance of Roma students, both research and policy development need to target the deeply prejudicial and rights-violative institutional and societal enviroments in which Roma try to access their right to education.”

Researchers studied the responses from surveys, interviews, and a “Writing Romani Lives” workshop conducted with 89 Romani adolescents who made it to college and 100 who did not. The findings showed that strong teacher and peer support systems, access to early childhood development services, and a high level of education among immediate family members corresponded to educational success.