Mentoring of Marginalized Roma Students – Resource of Academic Success and Resilience

Abstract

The aim of our research is to examine network of support persons of the students from marginalized Roma communities in Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovak Republic. By conducting a qualitative analysis of the examples of good practice, that is, students who have managed to successfully study at a university despite their difficult family backgrounds, we have surveyed the type of support the students received during their studies and the persons who supported them at individual education levels. In the research part, we also analyze the factors which had an impact on the development of their resilient personality and the sources of support which helped them overcome barriers during their studies. The primary support persons were the members of their nuclear families whose emotional, informational, instrumental, and appraisal support was particularly crucial at the primary school. At the next education levels, especially important for respondents was the emotional support they received in the form of encouragement and improvement of respondents’ self-confidence. Teachers are mentioned in the narratives of our respondents as persons engaging in their support and education at the primary and the secondary school. Their supportive influence fades away at the university, which is a pity for our group of students because it is the university environment which is completely unknown to them and so they must rely on the help of peers. A good strategy applied particularly in Hungary is the creation of support groups led by a lecturer-mentor for students coming from marginalized Roma communities which help them during the first days at university. School achievements of respondents were also influenced by other persons who helped them at all levels based on personal sympathies and the established relationships. At the beginning, such persons occur in their life narratives incidentally, but later respondents learned to actively build networks of support relationships as part of their resilient behavior.

Citation

Kovács, E., Haficova, H., Dubayova, T., Ceglédi, T., Godó, K. and Kaleja, M. (2022), "Mentoring of Marginalized Roma Students – Resource of Academic Success and Resilience", Wolhuter, C.C. and Wiseman, A.W. (Ed.) World Education Patterns in the Global North: The Ebb of Global Forces and the Flow of Contextual Imperatives (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 43A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 105-125. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-36792022000043A008