Trying to Include but Supporting Exclusion Instead? Constructing the Roma in Slovak Educational Policies

Jozef Miškolci, Lucia Kováčová & Martina Kubánová

This recently published article -- a part of European Education's 2017 special issue (Vol 49, Issue 1) on "A Decade of Roma Inclusion" edited by Christian Brüggemann & Eben Friedman -- examines how the design of proinclusive educational policies and the general public construct the Roma students and parents in Slovakia. The authors analyze data from two educational policies and five focus groups conducted in five regions in Slovakia. The findings demonstrate that the Roma are constructed negatively as irresponsible dependents and as deviants who do not value education and are incapable of making wise decisions about their lives. The authors argue that these findings can be considered relevant for policy formulation processes, proinclusive policies may sabotage their own goals if negative social constructions of a certain societal group are embedded in them.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10564934.2017.1280337