School success and professional achievement of three women of Serbian‐Rom, Italian‐Sinti and Albanian‐Ashkali origin

Abstract

The following study, conducted in Italy, based on an analysis of the school biographies of three women of Roma, Sinti and Ashkali origin, highlights paths and educational contexts that lead young Roma not only to school success but also to professional achievement. What emerges from the accounts of the family lives and school histories of these three women is that school success partly depended on the presence of variables such as a significant relationship with a teacher and the use of cooperative methodologies. IntroductionOften, when dealing with the issue of school inclusion relating to children of Roma origin, only negative aspects are highlighted, in connection with assumed learning deficits and related difficulties. The following qualitative study, through the analysis of school biographies of three women of Roma, Sinti and Ashkali origin, attempts to balance this often one-sided view. The study, conducted in Italy, points to existential paths and educational contexts that lead young Roma not only to school success but also to professional achievement.Italian intercultural pedagogy and French ethno-psychiatry formed the theoretical basis of this research. Using this as a starting point, several educational variables were identified within these biographies that, when analysed and elaborated, can be employed in related multicultural school contexts. The qualitative study, conducted in Italy during the spring of 2009, addressed the following question: Is it possible to identify constants within the school biographies of these three women that could inform pedagogical reflection and thus be applied to related educational practice and teacher training?