Differentiation in the Making: Consequences of School Segregation of Roma in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia

Abstract

This article examines how various forms of ethnic segregation in education affect everyday life and future aspirations of Roma youth in three Central and Eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It draws on a comparative European investigation about the diverging experiences and paths of ethnic minority youth in Europe (EDUMIGROM¹

¹EDUMIGROM “Ethnic differences in education and diverging paths for ethnic minority youth in an enlarged Europe” was an FP7-funded research led by Prof. Júlia Szalai and Viola Zentai at the Center for Policy Studies (CPS), Central European University (CEU), between 2008 and 2011. The author was a member of the coordinating team at CPS, CEU. www.edumigrom.eu.

). The article investigates how segregation actually comes about in Central and Eastern Europe and looks at ways in which various forms of separation shape the everyday experiences and future aspirations of youth through the lenses of 14–15-year-old Roma students and their teachers. It reveals that studying in segregated Roma schools limits young Romas’ chances for further education and deprives them of interethnic social networks. Meanwhile, studying in segregated classes of ethnically mixed schools has a devastating effect on the development of young people’s identity, self-esteem, and interethnic relationships.

Notes

¹EDUMIGROM “Ethnic differences in education and diverging paths for ethnic minority youth in an enlarged Europe” was an FP7-funded research led by Prof. Júlia Szalai and Viola Zentai at the Center for Policy Studies (CPS), Central European University (CEU), between 2008 and 2011. The author was a member of the coordinating team at CPS, CEU. www.edumigrom.eu.

²The Schooling Act, supra note 28, para 2 s.

³Roma is a contested category in academic and policy research because it homogenizes a highly diverse population that possesses a wide range of identities, may use a variety of languages, and has different historical traditions.

⁴With one exception in each country, the proportion of Roma children in schools in this category was below 10%. This applied to 11 schools out of 18 in the Czech survey belonged to this category but 10 of them had a proportion of Roma students below 10%. Three schools out of 21 in Slovakia had a proportion of Roma students below 15%; 7 schools out of 20 participating in the Hungarian survey belonged to this category, and 6 had a share of Roma students below 10%.

⁵In Hungary all 18 schools in the selected settlement participated in the survey research, while in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, due to larger towns and a higher number of local schools, a sample of schools representing the variety of types of schools and the share of Roma in the residential area were included in the survey.

⁶In the three countries basic schools contain both primary and lower secondary education. Children are not tracked until grade 8 or 9, at the age of 14 or 15.

⁷The share of parental refusal of participation was negligible.

⁸The comparative analysis of the qualitative data was possible because each interview and focus group discussion was summarized in English-language info-sheets focusing on the above-listed aspects of the investigation. They included quotes that reflected opinions and experiences of the parties involved in the educational process.

⁹The term is taken from US terminology; in this context it refers to the process in which non-Roma middle class (“white”) children leave the school as soon as the proportion of Roma reaches a certain threshold.

¹⁰Act No. 408/2002 Coll. on Public Services, Article IV.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vera Messing

Vera Messing is a senior research associate at the Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, since 2004, and a research fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies, Central European University since 2008. She earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at Corvinus University in 2000. She has over 15 years’ experience in empirical research on ethnicity, minorities, social exclusion. Her work focuses on comparative understanding of different forms and intersections of social inequalities and ethnicity and their consequences. She is interested in policy and civil responses to ethnic diversity in the field of education and labor market.