1999, Volume 1.

Foreword

Dear Reader,

This resource package on issues related to Roma and education is the result of your many requests to have more information on the subject. Our aim at the Institute for Educational Policy is to support your strategic and programming efforts in the Soros Foundation Network. We hope that you find this resource package informational and useful for those purposes.

The articles herein were compiled by a team at ESP, OSI - Budapest, and are organized loosely around three main areas: general issues concerning Roma education in the region of Central and Eastern Europe as well as a handful of other countries in the world, examples of methodology and practice, and articles on topics touching upon language and culture. Always in the focal point is education, and in our minds, how we can improve education for Roma children.

With these readings, we hope to provide information that in general could inform educators, policy makers, educational administrators, or other interested parties about the above issues.

The package is not intended to be used as a learning material, but rather a starting point for a possible series of debates. Some of the articles contradict what other articles published in this package aim to prove. The inclusion of a particular paper does not necessarily mean that the editors agree with the points made by the paper.

Please use this package as you wish. Translate it into your language, distribute to your network of educators, make it available to the public, organize debates around it. The choice is up to you.

We are always interested in receiving other articles related to the above topics, from a variety of countries and contexts. If you know of other good articles, research or relevant information - in any language - that you think would be useful to distribute among the network, please send it to us! Your access to information in your country is better than ours.

Read, enjoy and learn!

ESP