ABSTRACT

The issue of Roma education is a widely discussed subject in the recent literature. The low level of education is an important indicator of the Roma population’s socio-economic precariousness. An important and innovative mechanism that aims to increase the educational level and to produce empowerment in Roma communities is the school mediator. In Romania, the school mediator has been recognized as a professional role since 2001, but there are not enough monitoring activities and statistical data regarding the impact of this integration mechanism on communities. This paper aims to identify and discuss some important dimensions of the work of school mediators in Brasov County, Romania. We carried out a content analysis of the school mediators’ reports which are periodically sent to the County School Inspectorate Brasov. Our results suggest that school mediators represent an important human resource for better understanding Roma communities and for providing new place-based tools that could contribute to increase Roma education level and their social integration.

Keywords: Roma communities, education, school mediators.

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