Abstract
The ethnic and cultural diversity of today’s society demands an intercultural education that promotes equal opportunities and the inclusion of minority groups at risk of social exclusion. Various policies and governmental strategies are directed at favoring social inclusion and reducing situations of discrimination and exclusion. One of said ethnic minorities is the Roma community. This article talks about measures for reversing the high rates of absenteeism, dropout, and school failure. The aim of this systematic review in the educational context is to analyze programs and interventions that have been made to promote the educational inclusion of Roma students. Three databases were used—Scopus, Web of Science, and Eric—to examine 419 articles. After a selection, based on an inclusion criterion, which follows the guidelines given by the Declaration of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA), 17 articles were chosen for the analysis. The main findings shed light on data for programs and interventions developed mostly within the school setting and for students of elementary and secondary education, however, there are also interventions that are developed in the community and extracurricular context. The works are centralized in valuing the cultural diversity of the Roma people with the Roma students but not just exclusive to them. Highlighted is the implementation of teacher assistants and/or intercultural mediators from the Roma community to be role models or references for the students, and family education participation is considered common practice. Such characteristics in educational interventions contribute to an inclusive education in an intercultural and sustainable manner.
Highlights
Considering the importance of intercultural education as a priority for sustainable social inclusion in the European community [1,2], this study has attempted to identify, through a comprehensive literature review, programs aimed at Roma student interventions within an educational context, which have developed and promoted changes at the individual and the group level, this being one of the guidelines of intercultural education for sustainability, and resolutions for situations of exclusion and marginalization of students that improve their quality of life [3]
Intercultural education programs should be designed and implemented with the goal of sustainability [1,5], and maintained to guarantee the continuity of intervention programs aimed at supporting social inclusion of the Roma people [6]
The method used in this study was a systematic review, following the guidelines provided by PRISMA Declaration [28] according to the flowchart of four phases in addition to its checklist and report items
Summary
Considering the importance of intercultural education as a priority for sustainable social inclusion in the European community [1,2], this study has attempted to identify, through a comprehensive literature review, programs aimed at Roma student interventions within an educational context, which have developed and promoted changes at the individual and the group level, this being one of the guidelines of intercultural education for sustainability, and resolutions for situations of exclusion and marginalization of students that improve their quality of life [3].An increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse [4] society requires intercultural education to be a strategic resource “towards sustainability, equity, peace, and social cohesion” [5] (p. 123). A couple of decades ago, there were concerns about the truancy problems of Roma students, and the high levels of school failure In this regard, Abajo [7] calls for a profound change, at the social level, to ensure a quality education that enables them to develop as citizens in their own right. Abajo [7] calls for a profound change, at the social level, to ensure a quality education that enables them to develop as citizens in their own right Faced with these facts and the publication of official reports on the education of the Roma students [8], this is becoming a priority issue for public entities and European governments.
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