Workshop « Logic and practises of inclusion »

Workshop « Logic and practises of inclusion »

Urba-Rom Workshops are areas for open discussion and reflection on the initiative of members of the network. It is, in the context of these workshops, to review specific topics, to present current research and identify directions for future research. The workshops materials, which can be published, are posted on the site of Urba-Rom (http://urbarom.crevilles.org/).


Schooling / education of Gypsy and Traveller pupils as a process of inclusion: returns of experience (s)

Wednesday 7 January, in Nantes.

Education is often put forward as a lever for the integration/ inclusion of Gypsies and Travellers. It would open them to a horizon of normality in a society that has long been accustomed to assign them on the fringe of society. This Urba-Rom workshop would like to explore this double movement of standardization and differentiation, to examine the inclusive practices and the winning strategies to enable children to be recognized in their uniqueness, and not as the bearer of identity that the school assigned to them. While the failures or limits of educational activities are often highlighted, there are also positive initiatives, obvious successes, both in the point of view of the institutions and teachers, as well as that of the children and their families.

Therefore, in the first workshop on the logic and practice of inclusion, three approaches on schooling will be crossed:
1) The actors on their own educative practices (reflective point of view),
2) The researchers in social and human sciences on the articulation between educational activities and social dynamics (external perspective),
3) The users and the people involved (inside point of view).

This workshop is aimed to examine both processes of standardization and differentiation at work in educational activities (definition of institutional policies, everyday practices of teachers, educators and mediators), the identification and analysis of inclusive practices (experiments, conditions of possibility), and taking into account actual users and concerned, often confined to a subordinate or marginal position in the definition of guidelines that relate to the forefront yet. As such, inclusive practices are not without consequences. They constantly shake up the standard school as well as questioning the school's ability to accommodate these students with special educational needs.

The workshop focuses on experiments that involve national groups (Sinti, Gypsies, Travellers, etc..) in France and other European countries. The interventions may equally focus on actions with immigrant populations or with other public considered as "apart". The comparative approach and the European dimension are at the core of our approach.

Regis Guyon, Casnav of Rheims and Vincent Ritz, CID in Nantes.

To register contact Vincent Ritz (nara_ritz at yahoo.fr)