24/01/2023
FSG
This week, the International Education Day (24 January) has been commemorated under the slogan "Invest in people, prioritise education". A key date where Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) focuses on the right to education of Roma children, a right that is still not sufficiently guaranteed in Spain. Six out of ten Roma children do not finish compulsory secondary education (ESO) and half of them study in segregated centres, isolated from the rest.
On this day, Fundación Secretariado Gitano demands equal opportunities for the Roma people and presents the results of Promociona, its educational guidance and support programme, which aims to reduce the high percentages of school failure and ensure that more and more Roma students graduate from compulsory secondary education and continue their education. Promociona currently operates in 49 localities and during the 21-22 academic year has worked with 1,604 children (440 in primary school, 1,099 in secondary school and 65 in Basic Vocational Training). Since the beginning of the Promociona Programme, 1,493 students have obtained their compulsory secondary education certificates.
Promociona promotes the academic success of Roma students
During the last academic year, the Promociona programme reached 1,604 students, 1,310 families and 499 educational centres. The most relevant data show that 80.4% of students successfully completed compulsory studies and 95% of them enrolled in post-compulsory studies (93.3% boys and 96.3% girls). In many cases, they are the first generation in their families to reach this level of studies.
In primary education, 96.4% of students managed to pass the year. And slightly more than half of these students, 57.6%, did so with all the subjects approved. 95% went on to compulsory secondary education. In Secondary, 75% of students passed the year and 51% did so with all subjects approved.
According to the results of the last academic years, Promociona has shown that the implementation of specific measures, such as individual accompaniment and guidance with students and families, school support classes or joint work with teachers are, among other actions, effective tools to achieve educational success of students participating in the programme.
Individual, group and socio-community actions are at the heart of Promociona
The dreadful consequences of the pandemic have placed Roma students in a particularly alarming position of inequality. They have highlighted the great digital gap that exists between Roma and non-Roma students and, on the other hand, they have felt a great lack of motivation in the classroom due to the impossibility of facing difficulties, leading to a greater academic gap. Proof of this is the suitability rates of the students we accompany in the Promociona. Once they make the leap from primary education to compulsory secondary education the suitability rate is 62.8% compared to 86.6% of all students. More than a third of the students with whom the Promociona programme works start compulsory secondary education having repeated a grade. And in the final stage of the compulsory secondary education this rate drops to 39.4% compared to 71% of all students.
Promociona's methodology contemplates actions at three levels: individual, group and socio-community level. The individualised accompaniment and the development of school support sessions in small groups with Roma children are a priority, being the main factors for the success of the programme. During the last academic year, the educational counsellors carried out 33,622 individual tutorials with the students and 20,960 family interviews.
The Promociona Classrooms, which function as group spaces for educational reinforcement outside school hours and which are developed in each one of the localities, have proved to be another key element in achieving good results.
The success of Promociona is also due to a joint effort. The involvement of the students and their families, the interest shown by the schools and the work carried out by the professionals, as well as by the volunteers.
Bridging the digital divide of Roma students, a priority for Promociona
The digital divide of Roma students comes from a structural inequality that has been aggravated by certain circumstances. That is why Fundación Secretariado Gitano has been developing for years different actions to overcome the deficit in the access and use of Information and Communication Technologies of the students and their families, incorporating computers in the Promociona Classrooms, training students and their families, providing materials (computers, tablets, screens, etc.) and facilitating Internet access for families with economic difficulties. During the 2021-22 academic year, training in STEAM competences has been a priority within the actions of group counselling based on skills.
Promociona, a programme that has been running for 14 years, is funded by the European Social Fund (Operational Programme for Social Inclusion and Social Economy) and is co-financed by the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, as well as numerous regional and local public administrations and private entities.
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