Illiteracy and Tsigani Minority Children in Northern Greece:

An Exploration of Parents’ and Children ’s Views

M. DIKAIOU*

Today it is estimated that Gypsy and Traveller populations (Tsigani’ in Greece) of the twelve Member States comprise a total of over one million people, the majority of whom are citizens of the State in which they reside (Liegeois, 1987). This is the reason why they are never recognized as minorities. Half the Gypsy or Traveller population is under sixteen whereas the number of school-age children is at least 400,000; from those children only 30-40 percent attend school, half of them never attend school at all and a very small percentage gets as far as, or reaches the secondary school level. In addition, for those who do go to school, results with regard to the attainment of functional literacy are not in line with the amount oftime spent in school. It is often the case that Gypsy children are characterized as illiterate whether they attend school or not. Adult illiteracy is generally above 5Ooh and in some places it is as high as 80% and 100% (Liegeois, 1985).

With regard to Greece2 in particular, a general estimate (Korre and Marselos, 1987) indicates that 65% of the total Tsigani population (125,000) is illiterate; this illiteracy covers 85 % of the semi-nomad population and nearly all men over forty and all women over twenty-five. As the authors report, no matter what age group is considered, the percentage of illiteracy does not go below 60%; for the ages of 6-1 5 year illiterates, girls cover 84% and boys 75% of the population.

The situation of Gypsy children as described above deserves, by virtue of its social implications, the concern of both educators and social researchers. In some countries like Sweden, France, Belgium and Britain, efforts to fight illiteracy have been made in the form of ‘mobile’, ‘mixed’ or ‘autonomous Gypsy schools’. These countries are now in the process of evaluating their first attempts. Greece is far behind; those who try to attend ordinary Greek classes are confronted with all sorts of difficulties associated with language problems, stereotypes and rejecting attitudes from both their teachers and their non-Tsigani schoolmates. The provision taken so far is the building of new schools, but they function under low, socio-environmental conditions and hardships (mobile and bad or unqualified staff, etc.). As a result, Tsigani children reject school and only a small proportion stay on to finish it (Dikaiou, 1988). It is interesting to note that similar

* Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki (Greece).

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patterns of rejection have been reported among Black-American and Spanish-American minorities in the U. S. A. (Suarez-Orozco, 1987).

Several theoretical views have been offered in connection with the interrelationship between minority status and schooling. One of the first theories analyzes the concept of ‘culture of poverty’ and proceeds with the assumption that predominantly minority children who come from culturally deprived homes and neighbourhoods drop out or fail in schools. Such environments are said to be those in which the socialization patterns fail to inculcate in children abilities necessary for the type of learning required by the school and the larger (majority) society (Trueba, 1986; Suirez-Orozco, 1987).

Poor socialization is evident, for example, insofar as Hispanic-American children in the U. S. A. are less ‘stimulated’ linguistically than white children. Killian ( 1 97 1) argues that Hispanic-American first graders are deficient on the input side of communicative skills, especially in understanding sentences and pictures. Others report that families’ lack of educational tradition, poor health, frequent moving and noisy TV-ridden homes, are all factors which contribute to a problematic schooling situation among cast-like minority children (Suarez-Orozco, 1987).

Over and above the general socio-environmental factors discussed so far, this theory would derive validity if greater rates of scholastic problems were indeed found among minority children who were taught in their own language, as compared to minority children taught in the dominant language. But this does not appear to be corraborated by empirical findings (Ogbu, 1978 ; Trueba, 1986). It would be equally valid to assume that minority children who avoid school in one way or another have learned their own language and culture so well as to make it interfere with the dominant school culture and its values (Ogbu, 1978).

Another theoretical view also proceeds from the assumption that cultural differences in the cognitive, linguistic and overt behaviour strategies often lead to misunderstanding between the minority and the (majority) school environment. Failure of the school system and of the teachers in particular to recognize such differences may lead to conflict situations and minorities’ non-learning in schools (Ogbu, 198 1 ; Gumperz, 1983). But this theoretical perspective is only based on the comparison of a specific type of minority children, namely the cast-like minorities, with Anglo-Saxon groups and as such, cannot provide general explanations about other minority groups like immigrants and Gypsies. Furthermore, this approach does not explain why, under the same conditions, some minority children manage to stay on in schools and do better than others. Only ifchildren with different degrees of schooling within the same minority group were compared to a dominant group, could these questions be answered. One of the aims of this study is to explore the social-psychological factors related to the scholastic situation of Tsigani minority children in Greece, as discussed above. Furthermore, we will examine the relationship between minority status on the basis of three groups of Tsigani children : the illiterates, the drop-outs and those who attend classes regularly, as compared to a non-Tsigani control group. Contrary to previous studies, minority status is not only judged on the basis of descriptive variables such as language, religion and ethnic identity. It is also looked into from the point of the subject’s self-perception and his feelings of belonging towards his group (Simila, 1988), both of which are used as criteria of social identity. In order to explain differences in the scholastic situation of Tsigani versus non-Tsigani children, socio-environmental variables as well as individual perceptions of school and attitudes towards schooling are also explored.

Although a complete picture of the scholastic situation of Tsigani children, at least for those who attend school, would also require teachers’ opinions, for reasons outside the scope of this paper, only parents and children were included. With regard to parents,

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national reports on the situation of Gypsy and Traveller children of Europe (Liegeois, 1987) maintain that parents’ beliefs about school and ways of bringing up children determine the child’s schooling. Thus, according to these reports, if a child is encouraged to stay out of school, she or he will do so because Gypsy population nurtures a dislike for the school system in general and the school atmosphere in particular. However, these claims are based on purely impressionistic or descriptive observations of highly-selected groups in France, Sweden or England and therefore require further systematic exploration in different societies, in unselected groups and with different methods. Another purpose of the present study, therefore, was to initiate a psycho-social exploration in which the areas of parents’ special concerns are identified and the ways of coping with their child’s schooling clearly specified.

In particular, we explored: a) The extent to which the perceived value of school, the hopes about children’s job prospects and everyday practices of Tsigani parents differ from those of non-Tsigani population living in the same area ;b) differences among Tsigani parents of three kinds of chlidren : illiterates, drop-outs and the regularly attending school; c) children’s perceived values and hopes about job prospects; and d) Children’s social interactions with dissimilar peers.

METHOD Survey Study As with all social mobile groups in Greece, there are no statistics on the educational process (Mason, 1987; Cross and Balcomb, 1987) of minority children. For Tsigani children in particular, there is a complete lack of scientific data regarding their state of schooling. To explore this situation, a survey study was carried out in the under-privileged areas of W. Thessaloniki, in which most minorities are living. The sample consisted of all children who enrolled at elementary school during 1977178-1982/83 and finished or should have finished school during 1982183-I987188 (Table 1, page 6 I) . This covered a total of 1,924 children for the eight schools which were included. Their ages varied considerably with regard to the date of enrollment; the age range was 6-10 years old. All children attended mixed public schools. Ethnic minorities such as Hebrews or Armenians, who have their own schools, were not included in the survey.

Each child was traced back through hislher six year period of schooling. On the basis of school records, retrospective data were collected on: a) The number and length of absences from class in each academic year as well as the reasons recorded by the teachers Cjustified or unjustified) for these absences; b) the number of school changes and, c) the socio-demographic characteristics of the child’s family as well as hidher minority status. The latter was evaluated on the basis of the child’s second speaking language, religion and identity subscription given by the parent to municipality registers and birth records.

However, incomplete school registers and missing information did not allow for the collection of data on all these variables. Most of the school registers, especially for the 1977178, 1978179 and 1979180 school years, referred simply to father’s name, child‘s sex and date of birth. There was no other indication as to why a child stopped or changed school. Implementation of the data with teachers’ information was not always possible because of the high mobility rates of the teaching staff in these areas. This being the case, data presented in Table 1 shows only the categories of school attendance related to children’s minority status.

Among the three minority groups identified in the sample, Tsigani children present the greatest problems in school attendance; from the 332 children enrolled, only one third of them (3 1.02 O/o) ever finished. The rest either did not attend at all (1 8.8 Yo) or dropped out

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(28.9%), usually after three or four years of attendance. Data from another survey study carried out by the Municipality of Menomeni ( I 987) in the same area show that, among Tsigani born between 1976 and 1980, only 60% enrolled in school when they reached the age of six or seven; the rest either enrolled much later or they never did so. The actual illiteracy rate among Tsigani children is therefore greater than it is presented by data in Table 1.

Problems of illiteracy were also found among the Muslems, Turkish spaeaking group, although to a lesser degree. In addition, high mobility rates were present in all minority and non-minority children living in the four areas explored. For the Greek return migrants whose problems are of a different nature (Dikaiou, 1989), such mobility is due to changes in governmental school policy. The reasons behind mobility in the rest of the sample are probably due to the kind of family employment and school environment. Finally, with regard to the Tsigani children, it was found that the biggest population of these children was concentrated in one of the four areas explored, called Dendropotamos. It was therefore the geographical area chosen for further research.

Main Study Sample Two lots of families who had at least one child aged 8-1 3 years old were taken: one from the Tsigani minority and one from the non-Tsigani Greeks in the area of Dendropotamos. The age range was a forced selection because this was the time Tsigani children attended school. Three Tsigani groups and one non-Tsigani were used as follows: Group 1

N=l7 Tsigani children who enrolled but did not attend school for more than three months, and had not learnt to read or write ever since. We shall refer to this sample as the illiterate group.

Tsigani children who had dropped out from school after the first two to three years of attendance. They are called drop-outs.

Tsigani children who attended classes regularly or were about to finish school. Those are the minority controls.

Non-Tsigani, Greek children who attend school regularly or are about to finish school. Those are the non-minority controls.

Group 2 N=22

Group 3 N=44

Group 4 N=47

Groups were identified on the basis of a sample questionnaire exploring: a) Parents' sociodemographic characteristics such as age, education, type and state of employment (temporary versus permanent), financial situation as given by the interviewees, number of moves per year and reasons for moving, housing conditions (amount of space per person), and type of family (number of children and adults). b) Child's years of schooling as reported by both the child and his parent, state of illiteracy and social identity as to being or not being a Tsigani. With regard to the state of illiteracy, children were asked: i) to describe in writing a game they like to play most or something else they would like to do, and ii) to read a story which is included in the first year primary school text book. Only children who could not read or write in the Greek language were classified as illiterates. No other evaluation with regard to the content of the text was made.

Social identity was explored through two types of questions; the first two questions

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were directly related to ethnic identification (Simila, 1988). We asked the respondents for their subjective opinions: ‘To whom do you most strongly belong? To Tsigani or to non-Tsigani ?’ The following two questions referred to the child’s feelings of group-belonging in a hypothetical situation : ‘How would you feel if a non-Tsigani (Greek)/Tsigani person told you that you look just like any other non-Tsigani (Greek)/Tsigani? Subjects responded to a five-point scale as follows: very unhappy ; happy; does not matter; annoyed; very angry. Only children who said that they belong to Tsigani and felt annoyed or angry if called otherwise were considered as aware of their minority status.

Due to the small number available, the universe of the population was taken for Tsigani groups, whereas a randomly selected sample was used for the non-minority controls matched to the minority controls for sex and school class. We excluded children with known organic damage or other serious physical defects, children who were not officially recognized by fathers, and children whose parents - regardless of whether they were married or not - did not live together or one of them was in prison.

Groups differed significantly with regard to parents’ education, state of employment and number of moves per year, housing conditions, the type of family and number of siblings (Kolmogorov-Smirnov two sample test, p<.05 in all cases). When compared to non-Tsigani controls, 50% of the Tsigani men and women in all three groups had never been to school and only 15 % from those who had were able to read or write, whereas the percentage of non-minority Greek parents who had not finished elementary school was only 10%. Since the age of all parents in the sample ranged from 20 to 45 with no significant age differences between groups, these findings show the different educational opportunities given to minority versus non-minority people of the same generations.

With regard to occupation, although there were no significant differences as to the type of jobs held by parents in the minority versus the non-minority groups, differences existed in the state of employment. The main occupation for both parents in the Tsigani groups was craft-salesman ; unskilled worker ranked second. The latter was the most frequent category found in the non-minority parents, followed by skilled andor unskilled worker. However, a between-group comparison of parents with regard to permanent versus temporal jobs showed that, almost exclusively, Tsigani illiterate and drop-out children came from families in which at least one parent had only temporal employment (x2=4.87, p<.Ol, df=l). In addition, contrary to non-minority groups, financial conditions were judged by 75 O/o of Tsigani mothers in all three groups as bad or below accepted standards (x2=5. 12, p<.Ol, df=l). Some additional information about the financial situation of minority versus non-minority children can be inferred from the family’s number of moves per year. Fifty percent of the parents in the illiterate and drop-out Tsigani groups move twice or more times per year in order to find employment or to sell their handmade products. Closely related to moving behaviour are the housing conditions. It was found that, for the same amount of space (61-100 m2), the number of persons per room was five to one (5/1) for Tsigani children and two to one (211) for non-Tsigani children. This, of course, has also to do with the greater number of children in Tsigani as opposed to non-Tsigani families; the number of children in the Tsigani families ranged from 3 to 7 with a medium of 5 as opposed to 2 to 3 children in the non-Tsigani families. Thus, it can be argued that, although both samples were drawn from working class areas, Tsigani families are living in lower socio-environmental conditions than non-Tsigani.

Interviews Children and their parents were interviewed on the basis of an open-ended questionnaire

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designed after a pilot study; the interviews were divided in two parts. The first part was almost identical for both parents and children; the second part was separate for the two samples.

Parents’ Interviews I. Parents were asked their views about school and the way it operates today (mixed

school of Tsigani with non-Tsigani children); whether it offers something valuable for a child’s life and future employment in particular; whether it is necessary for children to go to school leaving age; hopes about children’s future job prospects. Ways of dealing with children’s schooling. This part of the interviews was based on an attitude questionnaire concerning the child rearing practices of Greek migrant women (Dikaiou, et al. 1987). It explored the extent to which mothers follow children’s school progress, help out with homework or not and the reasons for it; ways of coping with specific situations such as children’s complaints or refusals about doing homework, attending classes and following school regulations; use of persuasive (discussion) versus non-persuasive (penalties) techniques; keeping a distance from children’s problems so as to leave them to solve problems on their own. Contacts with school (number ofvisits and participation in school meetings); control or pressure exercized over children’s school responsibilities and activities besides school: meals, bedtime and playtime activities as well as type of friendships. Assigning children responsibilities in keeping household ; bringing up younger siblings ; helping out with parents’ work a n d o r contributing to family expenses.

11.

Children S Interviews In addition to the first section used for parents as above, children were also asked about their reasons for attending or not attending classes and the number and type of social contacts with peers.

The families were first told about the project by the community social worker. Due to the hesitant and suspicious attitude of Tsigani people towards speaking to outsiders, weekly meetings between the Tsigani Parents’ Association and the research group were arranged. Ten such meetings took place. All interviewers were well-experienced in working with Tsigani people. They also took part in a pre-pilot study with ten families in order to minimize individual differences in interviewing.

Although the original plan of the study was to include both parents, due to difficulties in contacting Tsigani and non-Tsigani fathers, only mothers were interviewed. They were told that the project was concerned with social and psychological factors influencing children’s schooling. Each interview lasted 1.0 to 1.5 hours and was tape-recorded.

Since it was important for both mothers and children to express themselves freely, interviews were carried out in a form of dialogue between the interviewer and the respondents. Open-ended questions were followed by further probes in order to ensure the reliability of the respondents’ answers. In analyzing the data, both the probes and the main questions were taken into account. The basic unit for the analysis was a sentence, phrase or paragraph containing a single theme or view about school or ways of dealing with schooling. Two independent judges were employed to a) identify the number and type of responses and b) classify responses according to the categories developed on the basis of the pilot study. The inter-rater agreement for the two stages of the coding procedure ranged from .70 to .92. A four-point scale was used to code subjects’ responses to each category. The categories indicating maternal attitudes, the raw type of responses

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from which each category score was computed and the weight3 assigned to each of them, are given in Table 2 (page 62).

The fact that the same interview schedule was used for both - parents and children - deserves further comment. For those questions which were directly comparable (e.g. perceived value of school, hopes about future job prospects), data were pulled together in the first stage of the coding procedure. However, because mothers and children were interviewed separately, their answers were also classified separately. Questions which referred to children only (e. g. who do you play with, how do your spend your time, etc.) were analyzed separately.

RESULTS The Parents Results from the two-way analysis of variance of groups by sex in mothers’ interviews are given in Table 3 (page 63). Significant differences among groups were found in four of the eight attitude factors. These were: Perceived value of school as it is today; Control-Restrictiveness, Responsibility Assignment, and Contact with school (pC.05 in all cases). Groups did not differ on Positive Confrontation-Encouragement and Opposition in leaving school before fifteen (p>.05).

A Mann-Whitney U-test showed that the non-Tsigani mothers placed a higher value on school than the two groups of Tsigani mothers in groups one (z=2.19, p=.02) and two (z=1.97, ~ 2 . 0 5 ) . When comparing the Tsigani groups among them, no significant differences were found with regard to the above factor.

Differences in the functional value of school are perhaps better explained by the type of responses presented in Table 4 (page 64). Schooling and its relation to wider educational goals such as career, social and financial status, social recognition and acceptance, is mainly given by non-Tsigani mothers. On the other hand, for Tsigani mothers of illiterate or drop-out children, it is the negative consequences of schooling which count the most. The fact that the family is deprived of both, child’s help in parents’ jobs and herlhis contribution to household expenses, is responsible for these findings. Tsigani mothers whose children attend school refer mainly to the lack of connection between schooling and their own training practices, i.e. producing hand-made goods, repairing chairs, selling goods or helping out with the household. Children’s participation in the family’s economic practices seems to be important for future job prospects and this is expressed by views like ‘school is a waste oftime, it does not teach us what we need’ or ‘....when they go to school they don’t help the family. When they leave school they can’t get a job and they don’t know how to work like a Tsigani either’. The emphasis on living like a Tsigani is further illustrated by parents’ comments regarding the negative consequences of school on children’s behaviour: ‘school makes children disobey parents or demand things we cannot give them’ (different clothes, books, etc.) or ‘they like to live like those who are better off.

Non-Tsigani mothers scored higher than groups one and two on ‘Control-Restrictiveness’ (z=2.2, p1.02 and z= 1.98, p=.058) and on ‘Contact with school’ (z=2.23, p1 .03 and z=2.17, p1.02) correspondingly (Table 4). On the other hand, Tsigani mothers of groups one and two scored higher on ‘Permissiveness’ than non-Tsigani mothers (z=2.26, p.03, z=2.3, p<.03). Similarly, Tsigani mothers of groups three and two scored higher on ‘Responsibility Assignment’ (z=2.4, p<.Ol). Thus, whenever differences occurred, the usual pattern was for the Tsigani mothers of groups one and two to differentiate themselves from the non-Tsigani. There was only one variable in which Tsigani mothers differed among them: group three scored higher than group two on ‘Responsibility Assignment’(z=2.22, p<.02).

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A group by sex interaction presented only one variable: the degree of similarity between parents’ occupations and hopes about children’s job prospects. Among Tsigani groups, girls are expected to follow the same occupation as their mothers and boys are expected to follow their fathers’ occupation. This was not found among non-minority mothers.

The Children Results from the two-way analysis of variance of groups by sex in children’s interviews are given in Table 5 (page 65). In accordance with the results from parents’ interviews, groups differed significantly on ‘Perceived Value of School’ (p<.05) with non-Tsigani children scoring higher on this variable than the Tsigani groups one (z=2.4, ~ 5 . 0 1 ) and two, between Tsigani and non-Tsigani children finishing school (groups three and four correspondingly) or between the three Tsigani groups when compared to each other (p>.05 in all cases).

The reasons Tsigani children gave for going or not going to school (Table 6, page 66) were, first of all, difficulties with teachers such as neglect, discrimination and restrictions on behaviour. Difficulties with peers are among the last mentioned. As to the rest of the explanations offered, there seems to be a homogeneity in groups one and two (illiterates and drop-outs). We found that, in both of these groups, difficulties with school material are followed by the child’s personal reasons and her/his responsibilities outside school.

On the other hand, the responses of children who finish school (group three) present a wider variety. Thirty out of forty-four (68.18%) said that they go to school in order to acquire basic skills such as writing, reading or counting. These skills qualify them to achieve short-term goals like driver’s licence, commercial licences, etc. School as a means to long-term educational goals is only mentioned by twelve (2.72%) children. On the other hand, schooling as an alternative to working with parents is mentioned by fifteen children (34%). Examples of the above types of responses are given as follows: ‘school is like a prison to me’ or ‘...school is a waste of time but, even so, I prefer to go there rather than work with my parents all day long’. Finally, responses describing difficulties in understanding school material or in carrying out responsibilities outside school are the least given by the Tsigani groups.

Furthermore, as Table 5 shows, significant differences between groups were also found in the variable hopes about future job prospects (pc.05). Non-Tsigani children had higher aspirations about their future profession than the two groups of Tsigani children who did not attend school (z=2.15, p 5 . 0 3 and z=2.5, p 5 . 0 3 correspondingly). Non-Tsiganis’ hopes ranged from skilled technician up to high status profession requiring a university degree. No one expressed any desire to follow her/his parents’ job or to become a worker. But only twelve of the forty-four Tsigani children finishing school expressed such mobility in their hopes about future employment. Thus, there was a greater similarity in parents’ present occupation and children’s future expectations for the Tsigani children than for the non-Tsigani children. These findings are in agreement with the results of parents’ interviews.

In addition to the above, groups differed in their degree of contact with dissimilar others with regard to both group identification and school attendance (pc .05 in both cases). When compared to group three, the two groups of Tsigani children who do not go to school (the illiterates and drop-outs) mentioned fewer social contacts with non-minority children or adults (z=1.9, ~ 5 . 0 5 and z=2.17, ~ 5 . 0 3 , respectively). What is interesting, however, is the fact that the majority of children in the illiterate and drop-out groups spend their time with other children who do not go to school either (z=2.5, p<.O1

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and 2=2.1, p1 .03 for each case). Thus social mixing with dissimilar others was higher for Tsigani children going to school (group three).

The responses of non-Tsigani children (group four) presented a similar pattern of social contacts with that of the illiterate and drop-out Tsigani children. Their social mixing is mainly with members of the same group and with minority children going to school. Finally, there was a tendency among both Tsigani and non-Tsigani children to differentiate between friends belonging to Tsigani society and those who do not: the so-called ‘Figiria’. These are the children living in shacks. We had eight such children in the illiterate group. Their responses related to the friendships with other children varied considerably according to age: children of 8-1 0 years mentioned friendship with older people living in the same places, whereas older children referred to friends in other parts of the country. Due to small numbers, intra-group comparisons were not possible. However, there is some indication that the same stereotypes attributed by the non-minority to the Tsigani children are also used by the Tsigani themselves to characterize the behaviour of ‘Figiria’. In response to the question ‘why don’t you make friends with ‘Figiria’, the following types of answers were given: ‘They live in places far from here, they are filthy, they are hers or thieves’. Similar types of answers were given by the non-Tsigani children for the Tsigani.

In view of the fact that the sample used covers a large age-range (8 to 13 years) and is not large enough to cover adequately each age, the total of 130 children was pooled together to two age groups (8-10; 1 1-13). They were then compared on each of the differentiating factors separately. A chi-square test showed no significant overall differences in parents’ responses (p>.05 in all cases). With regard to children’s responses, differences were found only in one case; Tsigani children of 1 1-13 years old showed significantly less contacts with non-Tsigani peers than the 8-10 year olds (x2=5.42, p<.Ol, df=l). This is in agreement with previous studies (Rubin and Ross, 1982). Our findings show that the older the child gets the more she or he prefers to socialize with peers of the same minority group. Thus, it can be argued that group identification as such does not seem to appear before ten.

DISCUSSION

The Parents Our results have shown that the Tsigani and non-Tsigani parents follow different socio-cultural patterns. This is shown by the fact that a) differences are found in five out ofthe eight attitude factors when the Tsigani groups are compared to non-Tsigani, and b) no such differences were found among the three Tsigani groups when they are compared to each other.

With regard to the dominant non-Tsigani group, findings on both perceived value of school and hopes about children’s future job prospects concile with the stereotypic Greek model of a parent; they view the school as a means to achieve wider educational goals and social values such as university qualifications, social recognition and acceptance, high status and better quality of life. Their hopes express a desire for occupational mobility of their children, this being true regardless of mothers’ or fathers’ skilled, unskilled or semi-skilled work employment. Findings from another study with Greek sample (Kyriakidis, 1982) also show a tendency for a working class population to motivate their children towards jobs of upward mobility.

Quite the opposite is true for the Tsigani parents. Both groups of mothers whose children do not attend school, the illiterates and drop-outs, devalue school because of its limited opportunities for a child’s future job prospects. According to these parents, there

5 5

is no relation between school attendance or even scholastic success and economic success. So, they see no reason why their child should undergo the hardships of schooling, get nothing out of it, or even be penalized for it.

Furthermore, it seems that school, as it exists today, fails to take into account the economic activities practiced by Tsigani parents with two consequences: a) school offers no direct help in preparing children for future work and b) it removes the child from his family for a considerable period of time each day, thereby neutralizing herlhis opportunity to learn by working with his parents and also depriving the family of the child’s economic contribution. This double deprivation (family separation, lack of economic contribution) becomes particularly important the older the child becomes. Reports from all over Europe on the scholastic achievement of Gypsy and Traveller children emphasize the negative short-term effect of the absence of the child from his family (Liegeois, 1987).

Finally, these results take a particular significance when we see them with relation to another variable describing the high permissiveness found in mothers of the illiterate and drop-out children. Considering the fact that this variable refers to parental behaviours such as letting the child free to do what shelhe likes with regard to school without interfering, high scores in this variable might point to two alternative explanations. Either parents within a socio-historical perspective have grown to be indifferent and passive towards their child’s schooling or they adopt, at least in behavioural terms, an indifferent attitude because they look upon schooling as worthless. Either way, parents in the above groups do keep a distance from their child’s schooling and that constitutes in itself a factor deserving further exploration.

Similarly, the low scores given by the three Tsigani groups on school contact present again another form of the fact that parents keep a distance from school. Communication barriers between teachers and parents stemming from the latter’s illiteracy as well as inflexible school regulations are said to lie behind this kind of alienation (Kenrick, 1984; Acton, 1985). In our study, 70% of the 83 Tsigani parents refuse to comply with the various bureaucratic school regulations with the followingjustification : ‘What’s the use? After all, we are Tsigani and this is what we shall always remain; for us, nothing will ever change’. This, no doubt, shows lack of enthusiasm and aspiration for change or progress, and a sad resignation. Romo ( 1 984) found a similar pattern of alienation from school among Tsigani families (U.S. born of Mexican descent) in Texas. Lack of aspiration for change could also be detected in the results concerning Tsigani parents’ hopes about their children’s future employment. Contrary to the social mobility expressed by the hopes of the non-Tsigani parents, the Tsigani mothers of the illiterate and drop-out groups seem to foresee a continuity between their own job patterns and those oftheirchildren. This need not necessarily mean that they have a pessimistic attitude for the future of their children, as it would have been the case for a non-minority sample. It may mean an extension of their traditional job patterns into the future. Cotonec (1983) reports similar results on parents’ aspirations with Traveller children in Europe.

However, given the low socio-economic conditions under which the Tsigani minority groups in our sample are living, it is difficult to say whether the above findings are due to the limited opportunities for employment or to cultural inheritance. Future research which would compare between Tsigani minority groups of parents living under high and low socio-economic conditions, could look into this question.

Finally, besides schooling and job prospects, parents’ attitudes towards child’s training according to the adult model, are best revealed in our findings on responsibility assignments. While Greek parents replied to the relevant question: ‘Is shelhe too young to handle matters besides schooling?’, Tsigani mothers expect their children to take an

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active involvement in family matters such as looking after the young, helping with the household and the business from a very early age (six or seven). This way, children get trained in parents’ jobs while, at the same time, they contribute to family expenses. These findings constitute a very distinct difference in the socialization techniques between the Tsigani and the non-Tsigani families. They point towards different learning procedures. The Tsiganis learn by acting. This is not true for the dominant Greek population. It is perhaps such socialization techniques which should be further explored before any intervention programmes can be applied.

The need to expand the scope of studies on the psycho-social development of Tsigani children and examine other characteristics of Tsigani rearing practices as well as relationships with influential adults inside and outside the dynamics of the Tsigani families insofar as interactions with siblings and Tsigani leaders are concerned, is immensely clear.Within this context, the necessity of examining paternal influences on children’s schooling remains vital. The practical difficulties involved in securing the cooperation of fathers in studies such as the present are considerable, but they can and need to be overcome if we hope to understand the relationship between the family environment of a minority people and their children’s education.

The Children and their Parents There is a similarity in children’s perceptions about school and future job prospects with those of the parents. This applies to all three minority groups versus the non-minority. Most probably, cultural factors associated with the option of going to school per se, are responsible for such similarities.

Liegeois ( 1 987) argues that sending children to school is a practice associated with a certain cultural context and a certain historical experience. The school institution, both as a system and as a means towards certain ends, cannot therefore be perceived in the same way by all. This is exactly the case in the differences we found in the perceptions of Tsigani versus the non-Tsigani groups: while non-Tsigani children, like their parents, see school as an instrument of social status and progress, the Tsigani groups, with very few exceptions, express a widely different view. School to them seems to be an alien institution which, even for those who graduate, offers nothing more than basic skills as well as hardships connected with difficulties in interpersonal relations with teachers and language problems.

But given the fact that the above findings with regard to school difficulties are only based on children’s views, and that there is no cross-validation with observational data in the real class-situation, explanations offered, at least by the illiterate and drop-out children, may be regarded as self-intended justifications for their lack of schooling. Ferte (1984) argues that the child who does not wish to attend school utilizes and manipulates the situation (voluntarily or not) explaining her/his absences in terms of family and social reasons or in terms of the bad treatment she/he receives at school.

Though the reasons differ, opposition manifests itself in the same types of behaviour: refusal to go to school or failure in achievement. According to some authors, such types of behaviour are not simple reactions to the given school situation as described by children, but occur as a part of an overall strategy of refusal to assimilate in the dominant society (Ivatts, 1975; Liegeois, 1980). In this context, similarities in their views about schooling expressed by Tsigani parents and children cannot be seen otherwise but as an indication of the group’s cohesive attitudes towards the given educational reality.

Results from another variable in our study, i.e. hopes about future job prospects, also point to the same direction. A homogeneity was found among the Tsigani parents’ and children’s aspirations for their future. The Tsigani children model their hopes about

57

future employment after their parents’ occupation. This modelling must be seen within the context of low socio-economic conditions. It is interesting to note that, under similar conditions, non-minority children do not model after their parents’ jobs. This is encouraged by the non-Tsigani parents and again shows the cultural factors underlying the minority-non minority differences found in this study.

Furthermore, strong cohesive attitudes are also shown in our results regarding children’s social mixing with similar others in: a) minority versus non-minority status and b) attending versus not attending school. The illiterate and drop-out Tsigani children tend to socialize with members of the same minority and school status. Most probably, this similarity offers the child an alibi for his lack of schooling, while at the same time it provides a uniformity with peer group behaviour. Thus, being a Tsigani, and particularly being an illiterate Tsigani, would seem to differentiate these children from those outside their own group, who are all literates. On the other hand, the non-minority literates tend to socialize with literates from or outside their own group.

The question here is not so much the differences found in socializing with minority versus non-minority peers, but the differences in literacy as opposed to illiteracy associated with minority status. In a somewhat similar vein, Kerdadec ( 1 982) reports that among Gypsy families who are sedentary in poor living conditions in France, there is a need for validating one’s social identity. According to this author, to be a traveller for a child who does not in fact travel means a search for some other identifying criterion to differentiate him from the settled norm: the illiterate others. This author goes on to suggest that illiteracy, as such, becomes a symbol of refusal to integrate into the settled society.

Despite the clear-cut differences found in our study between the illiterate a n d o r drop-out Tsigani versus non-Tsigani children, the responses of Tsigani going to school, like their parents, seem to contain elements from both the minority and the non-minority societies. This is shown by the fact that, in all variables explored, there were no significant differences between these children and the other two Tsigani groups or even the non-Tsigani. It is possible that, among the Tsigani children, those who did go to school and managed to stay to the end overcame difficulties and adjusted themselves easier to the dominant society. To this end, parental attitudes would seem to be one of the supporting factors.

This adjustment, however, does not necessarily need to be seen as a form of identification with the dominant culture but rather as an effort to better survive in a changing world. As Karpati and Masano ( 1 987) note, ‘Gypsies’ only means of defense against being absorbed by the dominant culture is to make use of school without yielding to it’ (p. 167). It is a question of compromise between cultural values, which must continue to inspire and permit lifestyle, and of functional values which must allow for social adjustment. This means compliance with rules and regulations related to school attendance and fulfilling school requirements without which licence to practice certain jobs will not be issued. This is clearly seen in the explanations given by the children as to why they go to school.

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NOTES

I . This study was a part of a larger project concerning the scholastic situation ofethnic minority children in Northern Greece. The author wishes to acknowledge the students ofthe psychology section for their contribution to the project. The help of my collaborators, Professor Haritos-Fatouros, and D. Sakka, PH.D. candidate, was invaluable.

2. The terms Tsigani or Gypsies are used in Greece to describe the same semi-mobile

3. The mean coefficient of reliability was calculated in the following manner: The category ‘agreements’ was multiplied by the number of agreed cases in that category to give the category a weighted representation. This total was then divided by the total of agreed cases, providing a mean agreement with all categories represented fairly with respect to size.

populations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Cotonnec, A. 1983 Groupe scolaire de Clayes-sous-Bois. Journtes d’ttudes sur la scolarisation des enfants

Tsiganes, Ministere de I’Education nationale, Ecole normale du Calvados, Caen.

Cross, Ch. T. and B. Balcomb 1987 Education Outcomes. International Journal of Educational Research. 11, 4: 415-424.

Dikaiou, M. 1988 The scholastic situation of minority children in Thessaloniki. Unpublished survey data.

Dikaiou, M. I989 Peer Interaction in Migrant Children. Observation Data and Parents’ Evaluations.

International Migration. 27, 1 : 49-67.

Dikaiou, M., D. Sakka and M. Haritos-Fatouros 1987

Fertt, P. I984

Maternal Attitudes of Greek Migrant Women. International Migration. 25, I : 73-86.

La scolarisation des enfants Tsiganes. In J. P. Liegeois, School Provision for Gypsy and Traveller Children. Brussels: ECSC-EEC-EAEC, 1987.

Gumperz, 1. J. 1983 TheCommunicativeBasesofSocial Inequality. pp. 109-1 18 inC. Fried(Ed.)Minorities:

Communities and Identity. Berlin : Dahlem Konferenzen.

Ivatts, A. R. 1975 Catch 22 Gypsies. A report on secondary education. Advisory Committee for the

Education of Romany and other Travellers, London.

Karpati, M. and S. Masano 1987 La scolarisation des enfants Tsiganes et voyageurs en Italie. in J. P. Liegeois, School

Provision for Gypsy and Traveller Children. A. Synthesis Report. Brussels: ECSC-EEC-EAEC.

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Kenrick, D. 1984 The Portrayal of the Gypsy in English schoolbooks. International Schulbuchforschung.

Westermann. I .

Kerdadec, A. 1982 Apprendre a lire a des enfants Tsiganes. in J. P. Liegeois, School Provision for Gypsy and

Traveller Children. A Synthesis Report. Brussels: ECSC-EEC-EAEC.

Killian, L. R. I97 I WISC; Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, and Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test

Performance of Spanish-American Kindergarten and First-Grade School Children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 37: 38-43.

Korre, M. and E. Marselos 1987 National Report on the Situation of Greek Gypsies. in J. P. Liegeois, School Provisionfor

Gypsy and Traveller Children. A Synthesis Report. Brussels : ECSC-EEC-EAEC.

Kyriakidis. P. A. I982 Etia Epityhias k’ apotyhias atomon metakinisis horiou-polis. Thessaloniki : Kyriakidis.

Liegeois, J. P. I985 Tsiganes et Voyageurs/Gypsies and Travellers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Liegeois, J . P. I987 School Provision for Gypsy and Traveller Children. A Synthesis Report. Brussels:

ECSC-EEC-EAEC.

Mason, W. S. 1987 The need for process data. International Journal of Educational Research. 1 1 , 4:

403-414.

Ogbu, J. U. 1978 Minority Education and Caste: The American System in Cross-Cultural Perspective.

New York: Academic Press.

Ogbu, J. U. 198 1 Origins of Human Competence: A Cultural-Ecological Perspective.Child Development.

52 : 4 13-429.

Romo, H. I984 The Mexican Origin Population’s Differing Perception of their Children’s Schooling.

Social Science Quarterly. 65, 2 : 635-649.

Rubin, K. H. and H. S. Ross (Eds.) 1982

Simila. M. I988

Peer Relationships and Social Skills in Childhood. New York: Springer.

Situation and Ethnic Identity. International Migration Review. 26, 4: 453-459.

Suarez-Orozco, M. M. I987 Hispanic-Americans : Comparative Considerations and the Educational Problems of

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60

TABLE 1 Categories of School Attendance and Minority Status of the Total Number of Children Enrolled in Eight Schools: 1977/78 - 1982/83.

N = 1924

Categories of School Attendance

Tsigani Muslims Greek returnee Non-minority

N = 332 N = 208 N = 7 9 migrants Greeks

Total N = 1305

f Oh f % f Oh f Oh

1. Never attended 60 (18.8)* 8 (3.8) 1 (1.26) - - 69

11. Dropped out 96 (28.9) 33 ( 1 5.8) - - 2 (0.15) 131

111. Changed school more than twice 73 (21.9) 15 (7.2) 78 (98.73) 387 (29.65) 553

IV. Graduated 103 (31.02) 152 (73.07) - - 916 (70.19) 1171

TABLE 2 Indicants of Maternal Attitudes

N = 130 ~

Coefficient Reliability Categories of Responses

1. Perceived Value of School I . School is a waste of time 2. School is only needed for learning to count, read and

write 3. School as a means to achieve short-term goals: get a

licence for trade, driving etc. 4. School as a means to achieve wider educational goals

and high standing career: training school, university degrees and professional careers

11. Positive Confrontation-Encouragement

1. Watching over child’s progress 2. Helping out with homework 3. Talking over difficulties 4. Employing persuasive techniques in dealing with

child’s refusal to go to school encouragement

111. Permissiveness-Indifference

1. Allowing child to do “whatever s/he likes” with

2. School attendance 3. School regulations 4. Accepting child’s complaints about or refusals to go

regard to homework

to school without any intervention

IV. Control-Restrictiveness

I . Child’s bed time 2. Meal time 3. Play time activities 4. Types of friendships

V. Responsibility Assignment

I . Housekeeping 2. Taking care of younger children 3. Financial contribution to family’s expenses 4. Active involvement in parents’ jobs or other types of

jobs outside home

VI. Opposition in leaving school before fifteen

VII. Contacts with school: visits, participation in meeting

VIII. Similarity between parents’ present occupation and hopes about children’s future job prospects

.80* .76

.82

.85

.84

.86*

.92

.90

.75

.7 1

.75*

.9 1

.76

.73

.79

.88*

.90

.92

.82

.77

.83*

.78

.76 3 2

.88

.79

.92

.78

*Mean coefficients of reliability in each category

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TABLE 3 Mothers’ Interviews. Group means, standard deviations, and F-values for each attitude variable.

Variables

Tsigani mothers Non-Tsigani mothers Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4

N = 47 - - - - X X X X SD F’ SD SD SD

N = 44 N = 22 N = 17

I . Perceived value of school 2. Positive confrontation -

encouragement 3. Permissiveness 4. Control restrictiveness 5 . Assigning Responsibility 6. Opposition in leaving school 7. Contact with school 8. Degree similarity between parents’ pre-

sent occupation and hopes about chil- dren’s job prospects

1.2 .062 1.56 .164 2.08 .219

2.3 .I64 2.6 ,134 2.12 , 1 1 1 3.4 .182 3.0 ,005 2.08 .I19 1.04 ,074 2.01 ,176 1.6 .I12 2.01 ,110 2.22 ,111 3.66 ,333 1.6 ,104 1.92 .I03 2.23 .I86 1.8 .I33 1.07 .056 1.82 .081

3.66 .333 3.57 .369 2.95 ,096

3.9 .I03 2.42*

3.04 ,146 2.07 1.58 .I49 2.39* 2.8 .200 2.68* 1.36 .I52 2.99** 3.4 .177 2.2 2.55 .083 2.35*

1.36 ,152 2.98**

IF for 4 df * p 5 .05 **p I .02

TABLE 4 Groups of mothers and types of explanations offered on their views about school*

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Categories of responses N= 17 N = 22 N = 44 N = 47

I . School as a means to wider educational goals

2. School as a means to social goals

3. School deprives parents from child’s help and contribution to family’s expenses 13(1) 18(1)

4. School deprives child’s training in family’s economic practices 4(2)

5. School’s intemersonal environment influences children negatively

*No of subjects responding in each category; in brackets the arithmetic rank order of these categories.

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TABLE 5 Children’s interviews. Group means, standard deviations, and F values for each variable

N = 130

Variables

Tsigani children Non-Tsigani children Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4

N = 47 - - - - X X X X SD Fl

N = 44 SD

N = 22 SD

N = 17 SD

1. Perceived value of school at it is today 1.5 .I62 1.3 ,112 2.3 ,205 3.7 ,196 2.5* 2. Degree of similarity between children’s

hopes about future job prospects and Darents’ Dresent occuuation 3.2 .305 3.6 ,367 2.05 ,106 1.4 ,142 2.38**

3. ho of sbcial contacis with dissimilar others in connection with group mem-

4. No of school contacts with dissimilar others in connection with school attendance 2.6 ,107 2.9 .204 5.3 802 2.4 .308 3.1*

bership 4.2 ,814 3.9 ,512 8.9 .915 4.1 ,603 2.1*

I

IF for 4 df * p 5 .05 ** p 5 .01

TABLE 6 Groups of Tsigani children and reasons for attending or not attending school

N = 83

Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Categories of responses N = 17 N = 22 N = 44

I . Difficulties with teachers; neglect, discrimination. restrictions I5( I ) '

2. Dificulties with peers; discrimination 3(5)

3. Language difficulties in under- standing material 14(2)

4. Responsibilities outside school 6(4) 5. Personal reasons 8(3) 6. School as an alternative to working

7. School provides basic skills 8. School as a means to long-term

with parents

educational goals

'No of children giving responses; in brackets the arithmetic rank order of each category.

66

L‘ANALPHABETISME DES ENFANTS DE LA MINORITE TZIGANE DU NORD DE LA GRECE :

ANALYSE DES POINTS DE VUE DES PARENTS ET DES ENFANTS

Trois groupes de meres de la minorite tzigane ayant des enfants d’Ige scolaire analphabetes, ou qui ne suivent pas les cours, ou normalement scolarises, ont ete compares a un groupe de reference non-tzigane, sur la base des reponses fournies a un questionnaire concernant leur perception de I’ecole, leurs espoirs sur les perspectives d’emploi a venir, de leurs enfants et de leur apprehension de la scolarite. En outre, la perception qu’ont les enfants eux-mCmes de l’ecole, leurs espoirs sur les perspectives d’emploi et leurs relations a 1’Ccole avec des enfants diffkrents d’eux ont aussi ete etudies au cours de ces interviews. Ces groupes ont Cte rkfkrences par sexe et Ige des enfants, profession des parents, education, statut financier, conditions de logement, taux de mobilite et type de famille.

L‘analyse a revClC un schema unifik de differences entre la minorite et la non-minorite de refkrence. Sur la plupart des variables explorees, les meres tziganes d’enfants illettres ou ne frequentant pas l’ecole different systkmatiquement des meres non-tziganes. Toutefois, les meres tziganes dont les enfants vont a I’ecole, semblent partager des caracteristiques communes avec les deux groupes, minoritaires et non-minoritaires, de reference. Des schemas de differences similaires ont Cte trouvks dans les reponses des enfants tziganes comparees a celles des enfants non-tziganes. Les resultats sont analyses dans le contexte des differences culturelles qui existent entre groupes minoritaires et non-minoritaires.

EL ANALFABETISMO ENTRE LOS NIROS DE LA MINORIA GITANA EN EL NORTE DE GRECIA:

EXPLICACION DE LAS OPINIONES DE MADRES E HIJOS

En el curso del presente estudio se procedio a una serie de entrevistas, basadas en un cuestionario, con integrantes de tres grupos de madres de la minoria gitana cuyos hijos en edad escolar segun el caso, carecian de toda instruccidn, habian abandonado la escuela o bien concurrian a clase regularmente. Se les formularon preguntas relativas a1 concept0 que tenian de la enseiianza, de las perspectivas de trabajo futuro para 10s nifios y de como encarar la escolarizaci6n de Cstos; las respuestas obtenidas se confrontaron luego con las de un grupo de comparacih integrado por madres en situacion similar no pertenecientes a la etnia gitana. Asimismo, se investig6 tambikn mediante entrevistas quC opiniones se habian formado 10s niiios acerca de la enseiianza escolar, cuales eran sus esperanzas en cuanto a empleos en el porvenir, y que relaciones mantenian en la escuela con personas no pertenecientes a su grupo Ctnico. Se procur6 verificar la presencia de caracteristicas similares, en 10s grupos de comparaci6n, tocante a sex0 y edad de 10s niiios, a la ocupacion y nivel de estudios cursados, de 10s padres, y a la situacion financiera, condiciones de vivienda, tasas de movilidad y tipologia de las respectivas familias.

El analisis de 10s datos obtenidos revela una pauta unificada de diferencias entre las caracteristicas de 10s grupos minoritarios objeto del estudio y las de 10s grupos de comparaci6n no minoritarios. En la mayoria de las variables investigadas, las madres de aquellos niiios gitanos carentes de toda instruccih o que habian abandonado la escuela presentaron diferencias sistematicas con las verificadas en las madres no gitanas. Pero en cambio las madres gitanas cuyos hijos concurrian a la escuela, compartian al parecer diversas caracteristicas observadas tanto en 10s grupos de comparacidn minoritarios

67

como en 10s no minoritarios. Se advierten tambikn pautas de diferencias similares en las respuestas de 10s niiios gitanos, comparadas con las de 10s no gitanos. Finalmente, se procede a examinar 10s resultados de la investigation en el marco de referencia de las diferencias culturales basicas entre 10s grupos minoritarios y 10s integrados por miembros de la poblacion mayoritaria.

68