Whose problem is it anyway? Realising the right to education for Roma children in Ghent, Belgium

Abstract

Western European cities are increasingly inhabited by Roma due to intra-European migrations. These societal changes pose new challenges for schools and other social institutions. The case study conducted in Ghent, Belgium, reported in this article, sheds light on problems concerning the realisation of the right to education for Roma children in a context that has recently emerged rapidly. A distinction is made between problem definitions of policymakers, school actors, and Roma parents. Each of these stakeholders defines the current situation in their own way. It is argued that in order to ‘make sense’ of the right to education, these various perspectives must be made to communicate with each other: a dialogic approach seeking mutual understanding may more fruitfully contribute to finding solutions for the problems at issue