Pedagogising Knowledge in Multigrade Roma Schools: Potentials and Tensions of Innovation

Abstract

Low school achievement and frequent dropout of Hungarian Roma students from primary education is mostly an effect of inadequate curriculum content and teaching methodology. Between 2004 and 2011, the UNESCO affiliated Research Centre for Multimedia in Education at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE University) in Budapest, Hungary coordinated a series of learning experiments partnered with teaching staff and parents to develop developmental programmes using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance learning motivation and performance through the integration of the mundane knowledge of students and the recontextualised expert knowledge inherent in the national curriculum. Experiments involved primary schools in small villages with Roma student majority. Verbal and visual communication skills were developed through pair and group work during interdisciplinary activities based on music, arts and crafts traditionally present in Roma communities. Our results prove that lack of motivation and perspective, as well as factors resulting in low learning attainment, may be overcome through culturally grounded ICT-supported teaching and learning. Through staff development and curriculum enrichment, the projects also contributed to integration: they supported the continuation of studies of students in secondary level institutions of their choice, a prerequisite for better chances on the labour market or in higher education.