The School of Education and Communities, University of East London
Doi
Abstract
Roma students in the UK are reported as having significantly lower levels of educational attainment than their UK peers (DfE 2014). Existing research has attributed this to the multifaceted barriers Roma students face as an intrinsic part of their educational trajectory in the UK. Language as a barrier to educational engagement for Roma young people and, subsequently, their differentiated educational needs are repeated as key barriers across much of this research. This article seeks to explore the outcomes of the interrelation between these two significant barriers to educational engagement as a prerequisite to exploring strategies to improve educational outcomes for Roma students in the UK
