Abstract:

The presentation aims to identify the Roma students’ perception of identity within the school community and to describe their successful experiences in the context of basic school. Attempts are made to consider who the Roma student is at basic school: a representative of ethnic minority, a member of school community or somebody else. Should we regard his/her experiences at school as a problem or the success achieved over a long period of time? Which identity is built up within the school community and how does it influence behaviour at school? Can we control this process and whether we have to do that? In order to clarify how Roma people perceive their group, their identity, relationship with another school culture and expression of this perception, the present research was based on anthropological methodology (Okely, 2002; Bhopal & Myers, 2008; Durst, 2010).

The empirical research was carried out in one of the schools in Lithuania, where the concentration of Roma students is largest in the country. The Roma students were observed in their daily learning and communication space, i.e. at school. The ethnographic research helped to reveal the ways a Roma student thinks (interview method) and behaves (observation method) in a basic school.

Keywords:

Roma Children, Inclusion, Identity.