Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
CENTRE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES
OF HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

DISCUSSION PAPERS

No. 53

Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany
Ethnic Groups

by

Éva G. FEKETE – Judit T. HARGITAI – Krisztina JÁSZ – Tibor
SZARVÁK – Zsolt SZOBOSZLAI

Series editor
Zoltán GÁL

Pécs
2006

Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
Other contributors:
Judit Palotai, assistant
Dóra Szoboszlai, university student
Tibor Szőcs, instructor
Zita Szőcsné Kovács, instructor
70 survey assistants

Project leader, editor:
Zsolt Szoboszlai, sociologist

ISSN 0238–2008
ISBN 10: 963 9052 69 8
ISBN 13: 978 963 9052 69 7

2006 by Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Technical editor: Ilona Csapó
Printed in Hungary by Sümegi Nyomdaipari, Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Ltd., Pécs.

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Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
CONTENTS
I
Some characteristics of the Romany ethnic group in Hungary ...................................  7
1  The situation of the Romany ethnic groups in Hungary .........................................  9
II  Life-long learning: European practices of the model of life-long learning ...............  12
1  The model of life-long learning ............................................................................  12
2  Summary of statements arising from the literature review ...................................  16
2.1  On life-long learning ......................................................................................  16
2.1.1  The necessity and concepts of life-long learning  ................................  16
2.1.2  European citizens and life-long learning..............................................  18
2.1.3  Hungarian understanding and regulations of life-long learning...........  19
2.1.4  Typical motivating factors of life-long learning ..................................  22
2.1.5  Institutional bases of adult education ...................................................  23
2.1.6  Financing adult education ....................................................................  24
III  Characteristics and motivation of the Romany population........................................  25
1  Are the social traps manageable? Analysis of the assessment of life-long
learning .................................................................................................................  25
1.1  The sampling procedure.................................................................................  26
1.2  Explanatory variables.....................................................................................  28
1.3  Characteristics of cultural capital...................................................................  33
1.3.1  Path models of passing on cultural capital ...........................................  37
1.4  Assessment of life-long learning....................................................................  40
1.4.1  Supporting factors ................................................................................  41
1.4.2  Hindering factors .................................................................................  43
1.5  Attitudes relating to knowledge and skills .....................................................  44
1.6  Cultural and information-communicational background ...............................  45
1.7  Employment issues ........................................................................................  48
1.7.1  Mobility paths regarding employment .................................................  49
1.8  Summary ........................................................................................................  50
2.  Changes in the mental attitude of the long-term unemployed Romanies
excluded from the labour market after the change of regime................................  52
2.1  The shock of the change of regime, masses of Romanies becoming
unemployed after 1990...................................................................................  52
2.2  Consequences of becoming unemployed .......................................................  54
2.3  Romanies in long-term unemployment ..........................................................  55
2.3.1  Role of social relationships ..................................................................  57
2.3.2  Impacts of long-term unemployment on health ...................................  57
2.3.3  Resources available for survival ..........................................................  57
2.3.4  Consequences of long-term unemployment.........................................  58
2.3.5  Discrimination .....................................................................................  58

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Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
2.3.6  Ways of ensuring a living used during the period of
unemployment .....................................................................................  59
2.3.7  Ideas with regards to a fresh start.........................................................  59
2.3.8  Policy-type suggestions offered by the respondents ............................  60
2.4   Results of the questionnaire survey on the “concept of hope” ......................  60
IV  Romany population in the process of life-long learning ...........................................  65
1   Educational level of Romanies ............................................................................  65
2  Unique characteristics originating from the Romany culture ..............................   68
3  Motivation to learn among Romanies ...................................................................  68
4  Failure at school at its reasons among Romanies..................................................  72
4.1  Nursery attendance.........................................................................................  74
4.2  Family background ........................................................................................  74
4.3  Accessibility and equipment level of schools ................................................  76
4.4  Inappropriately prepared teachers ..................................................................  76
4.5  Segregation, school practices .........................................................................  77
5  Characteristic features of Romanies in further education .....................................  82
6  Romany participation in adult education and the relevant experience..................  84
7  Government initiatives/programmes to motivate Romany groups to learn...........  85
8  Model programmes aimed at improving the educational level of Romanies ........  87
V  Result of the government policies regarding Romanies ............................................  91
1  Government policies regarding Romanies ............................................................  91
2  Government actions ..............................................................................................  92
3  Latest government measures regarding education ................................................  94
VI  Government’s attitude and efforts in Romany affairs ...............................................  97
1  The positive and negative sides of the efforts towards Romany integration.........  97
2   Priorities and necessary actions .........................................................................  100
3  Practice of educational mobility .........................................................................  101
4  Dissemination of the practice of life-long learning.............................................  102
5  Role of digital knowledge and computing skills.................................................  105
6  Co-operations beyond ministries ........................................................................  106
VII Recommendations ...................................................................................................  108
1  Highlights from the recommendations determined in the literature on
life-long learning among Romanies ....................................................................  108
2  Further suggestions .............................................................................................. 111
References......................................................................................................................  118

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Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
List of figures
Figure 1  Typical residence of the Romany minority groups in the light of
population and status of the settlement (with relation to distance from
the centre of the cluster) ..................................................................................  30
Figure 2  Age distribution of the Romany minority groups in Hungary.........................  31
Figure 3  Average household and per capita income in Romany families......................  36
Figure 4  Path model of school mobility based on the sample of Romanies
in rural Hungary ..............................................................................................  38
Figure 5  Reasons for not having Internet access at home..............................................  47
List of tables
Table 1
System of factors influencing the phases of life-long learning
and research available .....................................................................................  15
Table 2
Proclaiming national identity based on research among Romanies
in the last few years (basic distribution), and correlation between
employment and nationality in percentages ....................................................  32
Table 3
Analysis of the path model of school mobility in the various regions ............  39
Table 4
Educational levels of the Romany population and the total population
in the various age groups ................................................................................  66
Table 5
Proportion of Romany and non-Romany people participating in secondary
education in 1994 ............................................................................................  67

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
I
SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROMANY
ETHNIC GROUP IN HUNGARY1
According  to  reliable  estimates,  the  Romany  population  all  over  the  world  is
roughly 12 million people.
There are 8 million Romany people in Europe, their smaller or larger commu-
nities can be found in almost all of the European countries. However, more than
two thirds of the overall European Romany community is concentrated in Central
and Eastern Europe. The significance of their proportion in these countries varies,
but in most countries their proportion exceeds 5% of the overall population. The
estimated  figures  for  Europe  show  that  there  is  a  large  Romany  population  in
Hungary, with about 400–600 thousand people, which puts Hungary into 4th place
among  38  countries,  behind  Romania,  Bulgaria  and  Spain.  General  trends  of
demographic  change  in  Hungary  indicate  an  ageing  population  as  well  as  a  re-
duction in the total population. The reasons why the population of the country did
not fall below 10 million people in the 15 years following the change of regime
can be explained by two factors: the migration of hundreds of thousands of Hun-
garians  from  the  neighbouring  countries  into  the  ‘mother’  country,  and  by  the
(more  active)  demographic  characteristics  of  the  Romany  population.  The  Insti-
tute  of  Population  Studies  of  the  Central  Statistical  Office  has  just  published  an
estimate according to which the Romany population in Hungary will exceed 1.5
million by the year 2050.
The  distribution  of  the  Hungarian  Romany  population  is  far  from  even;  the
majority  of  the  Romany  population  is  concentrated  in  three  regions  (Northern
Hungary, Northern Great Plain, and Southern Transdanubia). There are Romany
inhabitants in at least 2000 settlements out of the 3200 in Hungary. The number
of city-dwelling Romanies has risen in the past 30 years, nevertheless, about two
thirds of the total population still lives in the most deprived settlements, especially
small and micro-villages.
Linguistic researchers claim that the ancestors of today’s Romanies arrived in
the  territory  of  the  modern  India  before  1000  BC,  as  part  of  a  migration  wave.
The early Romany tribes left India around the 9th–10th centuries, fleeing from the
attacks of the Turks, and after a long period of migration they reached Hungary

1  Facts about Hungary. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2004. Based on www.kum.hu

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
coming from the Balkans in the 14th–15th centuries. The majority of these travel-
lers  moved  on  toward  Western  Europe,  however,  most  of  the  Romany  groups
were forced out of those countries because of their different culture and because
they had no expertise in agriculture. Some of the tribes had settled in the Mediter-
ranean  territories  of  Europe,  while  the  majority  returned  to  Central  and  Eastern
Europe.
Some of the travelling Romanies in Hungary found a role in society during the
fights  against  the  Turks  in  the  15–17th  centuries.  They  earned  their  living  by
helping in the preparations for war, used their crafts skills for fighting or everyday
purposes, worked on fortifications, planting forests or carried out postal services,
thereby proving themselves useful for the country.
In the 18th century, which is referred to as the period of ‘enlightened’ absolut-
ism (during the reigns of Maria Theresa and Joseph II), several banning acts and
punishments were introduced to help settle down and assimilate these groups into
the majority-ruled society. The forced assimilation had proved almost completely
successful,  as  a  significant  proportion  of  the  Romany  population  that  had  pre-
served  their  traditions  and  culture  for  centuries  forgot  their  native  language  and
integrated into the lower levels of Hungarian society during the 19th and 20th cen-
turies.
During  the  process  of  assimilation,  following  the  liberation  of  the  peasantry
and  the  spread  of  capitalism  in  Hungary,  another  wave  of  Romany  migrants  ar-
rived in Hungary from the East and the South in the second half of the 19th cen-
tury.  The  arrival  of  the  new  ethnic  groups  has  brought  up  several  conflicts,  and
this migration was also to blame for the introduction of a census for the Romany
population.  According  to  the  1893  census,  there  were  280  thousand  Romanies
living in the territories of the Pre-Trianon Hungary.
The internal structure of the Hungarian Romany population was formed by the
beginning of the 20th century and has been maintained ever since.
The first ones to arrive in the country, who have lost their native language and
original  culture  due  to  their  forced  assimilation,  form  the  largest  group  of  the
Romany  population;  they  are  referred  to  as  the  “romungro”  (Hungarian)  Roma-
nies. This group still differentiates themselves from other Romany minorities that
arrived in the Carpathian Basin later. The ‘oláh’ Romanies form another level in
the Romany society, a group significantly smaller than the first one, who gained
their name from where they had come from. They still tend to speak their native
Romany  language.  The  third  group is the  smallest in  number,  they  settled  down
primarily  in  the  Southern  Transdanubian  region.  These  ‘beás’  Romanies  are
known to speak an archaic dialect of Romanian. Apart from the groups mentioned
above,  migration  of  smaller  numbers  of  Romanies  into  the  country  was  typical
until World War II.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
According to estimates, the Holocaust has resulted in the loss of tens of thou-
sands of Romanies, however, exact numbers are still not known.
After World War II, the 1971 nation-wide research provided the first reliable
data  about  the  living  conditions  of  the  Romany  population.  According  to  this,
there  were  320  thousand  Romanies  living  in  Hungary  in  1971.  More  than  two
thirds of the Hungarian Romanies spoke Hungarian as their mother tongue, about
a fifth of them spoke the native Romany language, and less than a tenth used Ro-
manian as their native language.
At the time of the survey, more than four fifths of the (physically) able Rom-
any  men  were  in  employment;  roughly  two  thirds  of  the  Romany  children  at-
tended  nursery/kindergarten;  50%  of  the  population  had  primary  education;  the
number of those leaning skills as well as the proportion of Romanies with secon-
dary education were rising; altogether the first generation of educated Romanies
was forming.
Even with the positive changes that were taking place at the time, the stereo-
type of the “work-avoiding and criminal” Romanies as well as the overt and cov-
ert prejudices were very much alive in the contemporary society.
The seemingly spectacular yet not very stable results of the so-called socialist
era  collapsed  during  the  years  of  the  regime  change.  The  construction  industry
and mining, the industries that had traditionally employed vast numbers of Roma-
nies have declined in a rapid and drastic manner, and the mostly unskilled Roma-
nies  were the  first to  be  sent  home  (mainly  from  the larger cities)  to their  small
villages, which could not offer job opportunities. As a result of privatisation and
other  socio-economic  processes  the  majority  of  the  Hungarian  Romany  families
have fallen decades behind on the modernisation ladder that was regarded as their
way  of  emerging  and  integrating  into  society.  Meanwhile,  the  majority  of  the
population nurtured stronger and stronger prejudices against the Romanies, as part
of the crisis.
Along  with  the  segregation,  recession  processes  that  had  started  with  the
changes, the political awareness of the Romany population has started to emerge,
and their movements started to enjoy political backing.
1  The situation of the Romany ethnic groups in Hungary
The Hungarian Romany group is the largest ethnic minority in Hungary, and the
fourth largest in Europe. According to various experts’ estimations the number of
Romany  people  is  at  least  half  a  million.  An  important  trend  to  observe  is  that
while  the  non-Romany  population  is  decreasing,  the  demographic  predictions
suggest a growth of the Romany ethnic groups within the overall population.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
The  sociological  studies  involving  Romany  groups  (Havas–Márkus,  1996;
Kemény–Janky,  2003)  make  the  well-known  claim  that  the  Romanies  lost  out
most on the changes involved in moving to a market economy. Due to the gradual
closure of the social networks and channels, social mobility came to a temporary
halt among the ethnic minority involved in our study at the time of the economic
changes (around 1990). This limited mobility could be described as a process of
proletarianisation, which was supposed to decrease the level of deprivation due to
the potential that lies in stable employment, allowing for material growth as well
as changes in lifestyle and habits.
At the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s more than half of the
active  Romanies  in  permanent  employment  lost  their  jobs.  Today’s  primary  la-
bour market hardly offers any opportunities for the uneducated and the unskilled
Romanies, and these groups are disadvantaged even when it comes to temporary
jobs. Their employment level is roughly half of that of the non-Romany popula-
tion, their unemployment rates are three to five times higher, and the number of
dependants per bread-winner is three times higher compared to the non-Romany
population. Therefore, for several families the child benefit and other social bene-
fits  constitute  the  main  sources  of  income  to  live  on,  which  means  half  of  the
Romany households continue to live in long-term poverty. Their chances of em-
ployment  are  made  difficult  by  several  factors,  such  as  their  low  level  of  skills,
the  discrimination  typical  within  the  labour  market,  and  the  fact  that  several  of
them live in the most deprived areas of the country, where job opportunities are
scarce anyway.
The  Romany  ethnic  groups  are  severely  deprived  also  in  terms  of  education
compared to the non-Romany population. According to data from 1993-94, 80%
of the 15–29 year-old Romany men, who are currently not in education, have no
more  than  8  years  of  primary  education.  The  educational  level  of  the  younger
generation shows a slightly better picture, although the gap between their level of
education and that of the non-Romany peers is still significant. The proportion of
Romany children going on to secondary education (A-levels) or higher education
is  astonishingly  smaller  (according  to  unanimous  sources  smaller  by  several  or-
ders of magnitude) than the national average.
The last decade saw a dramatic rise in segregated living of Romany and non-
Romany people, which makes it similar to the situation of 30 years ago. There are
tens  of  thousands  of  Romany  families  who  live  in  segregation,  in  slums,  in  set-
tlement-like  areas,  in  houses  without  modern  facilities.  The  Romany  ethnic
groups  live  typically  in  the  less  developed  regions  of  the  country,  in  the  North-
East,  Northern  Great  Plain  and  Southern  Transdanubia  areas,  and  accordingly
their  proportions  among  the  overall  population  is  highest  in  these  regions.  The
majority lives in small settlements with less than 1000 residents, with hardly any
employment  opportunities  and  worse  than  average  living  conditions.  They  are

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
over-represented in settlements where the transport infrastructure is poor and the
public transport is minimal, which makes commuting to the larger settlements
with more job opportunities rather expensive in comparison with the potential
salaries and wages. In the regions where the proportion of the Romany population
is higher, the small settlements form isolated communities, making the social and
economic deprivation more pronounced.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
II
LIFE-LONG LEARNING: EUROPEAN PRACTICES
OF THE MODEL OF LIFE-LONG LEARNING
1  The model of life-long learning
Everyone researching the field would agree that the road to the integration of the
Romanies into the majority society leads through learning. Learning may assist to
overcome  handicaps  with  regards  to  social  skills,  by  allowing  them  to  acquire
skills which will enable Romanies to get jobs, and also to overcome obstacles that
would  allow  them  to live  in  harmony  in  society  whilst satisfying  their and soci-
ety’s needs.
The process of life-long learning can be broken down into three basic periods.
The first one relates to participation in primary education during the years of le-
gally  compulsory  education;  the  second  period  covers  the  years  of  engaging  in
secondary  and  higher  education;  while  the  third  one  refers  to  the  learning  proc-
esses which come after having acquired the basic skills, and may last throughout
the whole life. Within the last period, two further categories can be distinguished:
participation  in  organised  adult  education  and  self-education  made  possible
through numerous channels. This study is going to present the findings of earlier
research  into  the  participation  of  people  belonging  to  Romany  minorities  in  the
latter types of education and into the factors influencing their participation. How-
ever, as learning processes after education in the school system are significantly
influenced by the success/results of participation in primary education, this field
cannot be ignored either.
The review of the literature makes it apparent that several studies researching
Romany participation in learning processes have been focusing on the first phase
of the process, i.e. primary education, with special regards to the reasons of fail-
ure and the possibilities of overcoming these since the 1970s. However, there is a
lack of research into their participation in life-long learning, in learning processes
after finishing school, this area is touched upon only in the general objectives and
development programmes without providing a detailed analysis of the situation.
Furthermore,  the  descriptions  of  learning  processes  which  are  typical  of  the
Romany  population  are  also  lacking  or  are  known  only  to  a  few  professionals:
these  are  automatic  processes  that  take  place  spontaneously,  independent  of  the
intentions of those participating during social interactions. This field is of key im-
portance  in  understanding  the  unique  characteristics  of  Romany  civilisation,  in

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
recognising their different approaches to learning and understanding and that rec-
ognition is necessary for different groups to be able to live in harmony.
Due to the lack of sufficient information, the study is going to discuss learning
as a deliberate activity.
As  with  every  cognitive  human  activity,  the  learning  process  can  also  be
grasped as a series of cycles, where four periods can be distinguished:
1. Period of motivation: this is where it gets decided whether or not the person
in question is willing to learn and participate in some sort of learning or education
process. Identifying the need to learn and the learning objectives are also part of
this period. Motivation to learn and the learning objectives are influenced by sev-
eral factors, which include:
−  Obligations determined by the law,
−  Values of civilisation, specifically within that the issues of knowledge as a
value, learning as a positive activity in life,
−  Examples in the family, that may become expectations at the same time,
−  Advantages hoped to be achieved through learning, such as:
a)  Achievement  of  better  employment  positions,  for  example  getting  em-
ployed, keeping a job, pay rise, promotion, etc.
b)  Solution  of  problems  emerging  from  one’s  situation,  such  as  keeping
debts  in control,  keeping  healthy,  being  more  independent,  coping  with
laws and regulations, solving conflicts,
c)  Self-realisation, fulfilling creative ambitions;
−  Experience from the previous/earlier learning phase, experience of success
in gaining knowledge and utilising the knowledge acquired,
−  Examples known of familiar forms of education, other people’s learning ex-
perience and opinion of the different forms of learning/education
−  Learning motivators, such as grants, study leave, concessions for travelling.
A different grouping of motivators for adult learning is explained in the related
work by Klára Bajusz (Bajusz, 2000).
2) Phase of access: this phase will determine, what sort of learning material is
available  for  the  person  in  question  to  achieve  his  or  her  learning  objectives,  in
what form and at what costs. It cannot be taken for granted that for the learning
needs the most appropriate form of learning or education is available for the given
person.  Availability  will  be  influenced  by  geographical,  financial/material  and
social factors. Choosing the most appropriate content and form may not be possi-
ble due to the lack of the adequate form of education. Even if it is available, fur-
ther obstacles might be the lack of information, geographical distance; access to
means of travel or necessary IT facilities or the unaffordable price of the service.
Access to  the infrastructure  of  learning  includes  access  to  the  courses  organised

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
within the school system or otherwise and their learning  material, as well as ac-
cess to books, journals, internet sites and audio-visual channels that are necessary
for  self-education.  This  will  also  include  access to  mentoring  services,  which  in
the  form  of  personal  help  at  the  right  time  will  assist  in  coping  with  the  vast
quantity of information and in personalising the uniform (general) learning mate-
rial.  In  the  case  of  the  Romany  minority,  we  will  also  have to account  for  other
factors that arise from their cultural difference and the acceptance of that differ-
ence. On the one hand, segregation and denial of inclusion will diminish; on the
other hand, the educational institutions and programmes building on the Romany
culture will enhance their chances to access “mental” products. Besides the above
described factors that can be considered as objective conditions, there is a subjec-
tive  condition  that  needs to  be  mentioned,  that  of fulfilling  the entry  conditions.
(As we will see, the subjective factor is strongly influenced by the objective ones
that will shape the previous learning stages.)
3)  Phase  of  success:  this  will  show  whether  the  person  in  question  (the
subject) is capable of going all the way along the path started. Is he or she able to
achieve  the  set  learning  objectives  and  acquire  the  knowledge  that  has  become
available for him or her, therefore developing their skills in the chosen direction?
Can they cope with the difficulties arising, such as not being able to adjust to the
learning  activity  because  of  the  family  or  other  obligations;  lack  of  previous
education  and  knowledge  that  comes  to  light  during  the  learning  process;
accepting  and  keeping  to  the  necessary  time  management;  lack  of  continuous
enforcement;  targeted  knowledge  getting  out-of-date,  etc?  The  use  of
educational/learning  methods  which  are  not  appropriate  for  the  basic  education
and culture of the person will pose a threat to the success of learning.
4) Phase of utilising the acquired knowledge: this phase will highlight whether
the  objectives  have  been  achieved  or  not.  It  will  show  whether  the  person  in
question will be able to move forward and satisfy his or her own needs and those
of the family’s with more security, due to the knowledge and skills gained. How-
ever, the question of whether the person will be able to get a job or a better job,
have a higher salary, more income, or whether he or she can reduce their expen-
diture, make their environment more beautiful, will enjoy more attention or love
will not only depend on that person, but also the influences of the macro and mi-
cro-environments.  If  there  are  no  job  opportunities  in  the  whole  region,  or  the
necessary  material  equipment  is  not  available  or  there  are  no  partners  to  utilise
them,  the  acquired  knowledge  will  seem  pointless.  Utilisation  of  the  knowledge
will again impact on motivation, either by motivating them to start or by putting
them off from a new learning cycle.
It  becomes  evident  from  the  above  model  that  life-long  learning  of  Romany
groups will be influenced by both subjective and objective factors. This study is

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
2
Summary of statements arising from the literature
review
2.1  On life-long learning
2.1.1  The necessity and concepts of life-long learning
The importance of adult education started to be recognised in the 1970s, when the
effectiveness  of  primary  education  was  beginning  to  be  questioned  all  over  the
world.  P.  H.  Coombs  described  the  worldwide  crisis of  education  as  well  as the
crisis of self-confidence of education in his book in 1968. In the developed coun-
tries,  the  growing  functional illiteracy  was one of the  signs  of  crisis,  whereas in
the  case  of  the  developing  world  primary  education  was  blamed  for  the  slow
changes of the development level.
It has also become apparent that acquiring a good degree would not guarantee
that people could work within the same profession till the end of their lives. The
functions of families and living communities that used to prepare children for life
had  changed,  which  then  led  to  the  fact-based  knowledge  one  could  obtain  in
school rapidly becoming old. Primary education can react only very slowly to ful-
fil the needs for creativity that have long been recognised.
In the 1990s, new signs of the crisis emerged. While time spent in formal edu-
cation had become longer, getting and holding a job became more and more diffi-
cult. At the same time, people started to have more spare time, not only at the end
of their so-called active period but also during their whole life. As the world wid-
ens, the citizens become more critical of the contradictions of the society they live
in. With the emergence of the characteristics of participatory democracy the roles
of civil and voluntary organisations are becoming more significant in the democ-
ratic  societies,  identities  of  individuals  and  communities  are  gaining  a  new
meaning, individuals’ life histories are becoming more varied and colourful. The
introduction  of  new  technologies,  changes  in  the  structure  of  industry  and  the
emergence of new methods in work organisation present challenges to an extent
that requires actions and reactions not only from the school system but society as
a whole (Kovács, 1997).
Along the criticisms of the school system several new concepts were discussed
as early as the 1970s. The notions of permanent education and life-long education
have  emerged,  where  the  latter  comes  from  an  explanation  of  people  as  human
beings who can realise themselves only through continuous, never ending learn-
ing. The concept of life-long learning embraces knowledge acquisition as well as
the development of skills at home, at school, in the work place and during social

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
interactions (life). According to this notion, learning is an integral part of life. The
notion  of  recurrent  education  divides  the  period  of  learning  in  preparation  for  a
job into shorter periods, which are wedged in between the periods spent working
and  with  recreational  activities.  The  concept  of  the  learning  society  envisages
education of the future to be a mechanism, where the individual has the chance to
be  creative,  while  the  society  is  enabled  to  develop  their  culture  and  safeguard
their integrity (Kovács, 1997).
Informal learning is sometimes regarded as a spontaneous process activated by
the impacts of the environment, rather than any deliberate action. Other readings
of the notion argue that it can be an intentional, self-controlled and planned activ-
ity.  There  are  others  who  would  consider  every  kind  of  education  that  does  not
provide  a  certificate  (such  as  the  popular  university  movement)  as  informal
learning.  This  type  of  learning  will  primarily  assist  in  gaining  new  perspectives
necessary to be able to change life styles, and acquiring knowledge and skills use-
ful for everyday life (Svetlai–Szepes, 2001).
It has also become obvious that the state would have to play a part in prolong-
ing  the  period  of  learning  to  people’s  whole  lives.  According  to  István  Polónyi,
the following factors will motivate the state to be involved with and to contribute
to the financing of adult education:
−  People  –  or  the  work  force  –  will  adjust  more  easily  to  technological
changes.
−  Democratic institutions can be run more efficiently due to education.
−  It  will  result  in  a  reduction  in  social  expenditure  such  as  unemployment
benefits and health care costs.
−  Lower crime rates would help to reduce the costs of the policing and prison
systems.  Increase  in  public  services  performed  by  the  public.  (Polónyi,
without date).
The European Union has also recognised the importance of life-long learning
as  a  way  of  achieving  total  employment  determined at  community  level  and  ac-
tive citizenship.
According  to  the  “Memorandum  on  Life-long  Learning”  issued  by  the  Com-
mittee of the European Community in 2000, life-long learning includes all kinds
of  planned learning  activities,  be  they  formal  or  informal,  that  are  committed  to
obtaining and developing knowledge, skills and competences. This definition in-
cludes all kinds of learning activities which are:
−  Planned, therefore the person undertakes the activity with the intention of
developing their behaviour, knowledge, cognitive capacity, attitude, values
or skills;

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
−  Long  term  commitments,  meaning  that  they  are  not  ad  hoc  or  happen  by
chance but are continuous activities for the duration of the learning period,
in theory without a  time limit;
−  Different kinds of learning, be they formal or informal (such as apprentice-
ship,  independent  study,  training,  courses  organised  at/by  the  work  place,
etc.);
−  Independent from the source of the funding, i.e. whether the private or the
public sector or the individual pays the costs of learning;
−  Independent from the type of service (traditional or modern methods such as
using new information and communication technologies).
This definition of learning is valid for each and every individual, independent
of their age and status in the labour market. Theoretically, it includes all sorts of
activities from childhood education to that of retired people.
The knowledge, abilities and skills will embrace not only ones that are neces-
sary and useful for work but also ones that help the development of one’s charac-
ter and participation in society.
The Memorandum determines six recommendations:
1)  Adult education must provide new basic skills for everyone.
2)  More investment in adult education is necessary.
3)  Innovation in learning and teaching is required.
4)  Evaluation  of  learning  needs  to  be  developed,  with  special  regards  to  the
evaluation of non-formal or informal learning (to go beyond the traditional
forms of evaluation such as exams); also, non-formal and informal educa-
tion must be acknowledged as competencies and must be considered from
the point of view of motivation, so that learning becomes more accessible.
5)  Assistance to learning must be further developed to ensure a more effective
analysis of individual needs and to make the appropriate programme offers
suitable.
6)  Learning must be taken nearer people’s homes.
2.1.2 European citizens and life-long learning
In  2003,  the  Eurobarometer  undertook  a  survey  with  the  participation  of  18,000
employees  from  the  15  EU  member  states  and  Norway  and  Iceland,  that  was
prompted  by  the  publication  of  the  European  Committee’s  “How  to  make  life-
long learning in Europe a reality” in 2001.
The  majority  of  the  European  citizens  argued  that  continuous  learning  is  a
necessary prerequisite of achieving economic and social goals. It will enable the
work  force  to  adjust  successfully  to  the  changing  needs  of  the  labour  market.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Furthermore,  continuous  learning  will  also  assist  individuals  to  be  in  charge  of
their own lives, to be able to live a full and satisfactory life.
Almost  all  the  participants  of  the  survey  agreed  that  reading,  writing  and
counting are among the most important skills, and not only for work. The respon-
dents also acknowledged that to establish the Europe of knowledge, several other
skills need to be acquired, such as information and communication skills and for-
eign languages.
The  result  of  the  survey  also  highlighted  that  most  of  the  European  citizens
prefer learning informally, like at home, in their spare time, in a library or nearby
educational  centres.  Only  17%  of  the  respondents  claimed  to  have  undertaken
additional education in formal educational institutions such as schools or univer-
sities. It must be noted that distance learning and study tours abroad (e.g. within
the  framework  of  exchange  programmes)  scored  highly  when  ranking  different
forms  of  education/learning.  The  survey  conducted  by  Eurobarometer  shows
therefore  that  from  the  point  of  view  of  learning,  the  general  public  prefers  the
non-official context.
From the results of the survey, the conclusion could be drawn that people with
the  highest  education  and  most  skills  are  most  inclined  to  life-long  learning.
While the respondents did not question the personal and social benefits of learn-
ing, they pointed out that lack of time, due to work and family commitments, con-
stituted  the  major  obstacle.  Even  so,  or  due  to  this,  the  tailor-made  and  flexible
forms of education are still attractive.  Money was listed as another major obsta-
cle: half of the informants admitted that under no circumstances would they pay
for further education. However, it must be noted that the same people were will-
ing  to  pay  for  purposes  that  contributed  only  to  the  growth  of  their  personal
wealth.  Despite  this,  they  felt  that  as  far  as  courses  are  concerned  that  provide
skills useful for the jobs they were doing, the costs of their education should not
burden only them (EUROPA Rapid Press Releases, 2003).
2.1.3 Hungarian understanding and regulations of life-long learning
Education in the school system and participation in statutory education are regu-
lated  by  the  1993/LXXXIX.  Law  on  public  education.  This  law  determines  that
every child in the Hungarian Republic is obliged to learn. The child, as soon as he
or she reaches the necessary state of development, will have to start statutory edu-
cation at the earliest in the calendar year when he or she becomes 6, at the latest
when he or she becomes 8. Statutory education lasts till the end of the school year
when the pupil reaches 18. In the case of children with special educational needs
this period may be prolonged until the end of the school year when pupil becomes
20.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Statutory education can take the forms of attending school or becoming a pri-
vate  student,  depending  on  the  choice  of  the  parents.  If  the  headmaster  of  the
school, Social Services or the Child Support Agency consider that being a private
student is disadvantageous for the pupil; or that the child that started as a private
student is not likely to finish his or her education that way, the above authorities
must report that to the relevant town clerk either where the child is registered with
a  permanent  address  or  where  the  child  lives.  The  town  clerk  will  then  make  a
decision on how the child will need to fulfil his statutory education.
Parents  have  a  duty  of  care  for  their  children’s  education  (1949  /  XX  Law,
Section 70/J). The parent is responsible for the child participating in education at
the necessary level; failing to ensure that, his or her responsibility will be investi-
gated.
Possibilities of learning in adulthood are also involved in the 1997 / CXL Law
on  the  protection  of  cultural  goods,  museums  and  related  institutions,  on  public
library services and public education. Part IV. of this law discusses public educa-
tion.  According  to  this,  practicing  the  right  to  public  education  is  in  the  public
interest, supporting public educational activities is a common goal and providing
the necessary conditions of public education is primarily the duty of the state and
the local authorities (Section 73.). Supporting local public educational activities is
listed among the obligations of municipal authorities. This kind of support can be
manifest in various forms, especially:
a)  Establishing possibilities of forms of education outside the school system,
such as self-education and special courses, adult education, popular univer-
sities; possibilities of learning that will contribute to a better quality of life
and better chances in life,
b)  Discovering the natural, intellectual and arts treasures of the settlement and
making them publicly known, preserving and contributing to the local edu-
cational and cultural customs,
c)  Making  the  treasures  and  values  of  the  universal  and  national  cultures,  as
well as those of the cultures of ethnic and other minorities widely known,
with that assisting in achieving understanding inclusion, and preserving the
culture of festivities, celebrations and holidays,
d)  Supporting  the  activities  of  knowledge  producing,  amateur  creative  and
educational groups and communities,
e)  Providing  assistance  to  the  networks  of  the  local  community,  community
life and to the representation of their interests,
f)  Helping build and sustaining links between the different cultures,
g)  Providing opportunities for other forms of education. (Section 76)
The 2001 / CI Law on adult education set the following as objectives: ensuring
the  right  to  learn  as  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  for  the  citizen’s  whole  life;

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
–  Development  of  the  tools  necessary  to  identify  the  needs  of  adult
education  (at  personal,  company,  settlement,  community  and  re-
gional level)
–  Development  of  the  evaluation  methods  for  the  various  forms  of
learning
–  Development of learning support and advice
–  Development and use of quality management tools for general adult
education
–  Development of electronic learning methods
VI  Educational  and  further  educational  activities  related  to  adult  education
services
–  In the areas discussed under 2/a-e above
–  Project management skills development
(For the explanation of the above activities see Sz. Tóth, 2002.)
2.1.4 Typical motivating factors of life-long learning
Life-long learning requires from the part of the student well-founded basic skills
and high levels of motivation.
Research  into  the  motivation  of  people  participating  in  adult  education  has
identified five key  motives: a. widening professional knowledge, b. hope of em-
ployment,  c.  career building,  d.  acquiring  a  certificate,  e.  business. The  research
also  highlighted  a  significant  link  between  the  motivating  factors  and  the  stu-
dents’ level of education. The groups motivated by the “I need the certificate” and
widening  professional  knowledge  have  typically  already  benefited  from  primary
and secondary (grammar school) education. The intention to build a career is pre-
dominantly characteristic of those who have completed higher education. Hope of
employment  is  the  main  motivating  factor  for  people  with  only  primary  educa-
tion, whereas (starting up or joining a) business motivates primarily people with
skilled worker education. Unemployed people are most likely to join adult educa-
tion to spend spare time usefully and in the hope of employment (Polónyi, with-
out date).
Motivation to learn can be strengthened. As possible tools, the 1999 research
by CERI identifies the following: tailoring the learning organisational procedures
to the individual needs and abilities; access to computer assisted learning; devel-
opment of the infrastructure of learning; re-establishing students’ self estimation
with regards to learning; and employment of teachers and lecturers with high so-
cial competencies (Németh, without date).

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
2.1.5 Institutional bases of adult education
József  Mayer  claims  (without  the  indication  of  supporting  data)  that  only  a  few
schools are involved with adult education. The former primary schools for people
in employment have ceased or been restructured into institutions that do not pro-
vide  primary  education.  The  secondary  level  institutions  are  based  in  town  and
cities, therefore making access difficult for the target groups. In the light of this,
he argues that access to schools and learning  material are of key importance for
the  realisation  of  life-long  learning.  He  criticises  the  current  Hungarian  practice
that  considers  the  use  of  conditions,  which  can  only  provide  a  lower  level  of
quality satisfactory for the education of disadvantaged people (Mayer, 2004).
István Polónyi blames national regulations for the low number of primary and
secondary  schools  participating  in  adult  education.  Regulations  do  not  provide
favourable conditions for these institutions to join the education market on a busi-
ness  basis.  At  the  same  time,  giving  use  or  function  to  the  schools  gradually
emptying  due  to  demographic  processes  constitutes  an  important  motivation  for
the owners of the schools. These schools would be ideal to turn into adult educa-
tion schools or other educational places, as the main target groups of adult educa-
tion can be reached from a municipal level (Polónyi, without date).
According  to  a  survey  conducted  among  public  educational  institutions  in
2001,  the  professionals  are  not  entirely  aware  of  the  notions  of  adult  education,
public education and life-long learning, and the relations of these to one another.
Due to this, they cannot be expected to be able to motivate people to feel the need
for learning and participating in public education. A change in attitude, economic
stability  and  reorganisation  of  capital  would  be  necessary  to  make  life-long
learning part of our everyday lives (Bucsánszky et al. 2002).
However,  László  Zachár  mentions  the  development  and  strengthening  of  a
four-aspect educational system outside the school system in the past few years as
a major achievement. The four aspects mentioned refer to the following: schools,
regional  human  resources  development  and  education  centres,  education-related
businesses and the “internal” network of employers. This is also argued to prove
that  educational  courses  outside  the  school  system  can  be  profitable  businesses.
Educational  institutions  run  as  business  ventures  are  significant  (in  1999,  their
proportion exceeded 50%, educating about 60% of those who had signed up for a
course) (Zachár, 2003).
Judit Kerülı draws attention to the inequalities arising from the spatial distri-
bution of adult education institutions. She points out that according to the Minis-
try  of  Work  Order  2/1997  (22.  January)  the  job  centres  in  the  capital  and  the
counties registered 1461 institutions providing professional education outside the
school system in the country, at the 31. December 1999. About a quarter of all the
institutions  providing  education  outside  the  school  system  were  based  in  Buda-

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
III
CHARACTERISTICS AND MOTIVATION OF THE
ROMANY POPULATION
1  Are the social traps manageable? Analysis of the
assessment of life-long learning
The era that we live in can be regarded as the era of the knowledge society. It is
everyone’s right and obligation to find their place in the area of knowledge and in
the modern and traditional relation systems.
Are  the  chances  of  getting  into  this  situation  given  to  all  social  groups?  Ac-
cording  to  our  experience,  in  Hungary  there  are  Romany  (and  non-Romany)
groups that are almost completely excluded from society, who under the current
socio-economic conditions do not have access to the measures of modernisation,
and therefore these groups are not subject to the obligations either.
Can  the  shrinking  Hungarian  society  afford  to  give  up  helping  the  Romany
population to catch up, especially as they are a demographically very active group
of society? In our opinion the answer is no, and as a part of the Romany popula-
tion  expresses  their  needs  to  join  the  modernisation  process,  it  is  certainly  well
worth looking for the tools that will support their efforts to catch up. In establish-
ing the conditions of general development life-long learning may become a useful
measure, which can become a tool in assisting the changes of individuals’ habits
and closing the gap between Romany groups and the rest of society.
Instead of the mobility paths based on traditions, predictable careers and steps,
the  individual  and  community  strategies  preferring  the  willingness  to  take  more
risks became more prominent in Hungary as well in the long decade of transition.
This was more typical of groups in more favourable social conditions and living
primarily in (larger) urban areas. The recognition of the importance and effective
use  of  the  individual’s  risk  taking  is  less  significant  in  the  communities  living
other than in the capital, especially in rural areas.
The above  mentioned  disadvantages  are  more  pronounced  in the  case  of  Ro-
manies in Hungary, as social marginalisation and the different elements of objec-
tive-relative  deprivation  (such  as  low  income,  low  level  of  education,  poorly
equipped  homes,  unhealthy  or  tight  living  conditions,  low  employment  status,
etc.) are more characteristic. Pierre Bourdieu explains this phenomenon when he
declares that educational level and acquired skills are the foundations of individ-
ual behaviour that builds on prescience and prediction (Bourdieu, 1978).

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Are the conditions of “prescience” and “prediction” given in the Romany soci-
ety?  In the research geared to analyse the preconditions of life-long learning we
attempted  to  reveal  the  social  and  individual  factors,  that  will  help  the  Romany
society  to  dedicate  their  existence  to  ‘prescience’  and  ‘prediction’  more  effi-
ciently.
As “the past is more certain, than the future” (Morel, 1996), the significance of
social planning in closing the gap must be stressed. According to the French soci-
ologist,  the  “structural  changes  of  behaviour  are  determined  by  the  character  of
the scientific field system. In other words, the change (in behaviour) can only take
place  when  the  necessary  economic-cultural  background  to  change  has  been  es-
tablished in the individual” (Bourdieu, 1978:349).
From  the  various  studies  related  to  the  topic  of  life-long  learning,  we  have
chosen  the  national  survey  on  the  Romany  population  conducted  by  István
Kemény and his research team in 2003; and the research on the social land pro-
gramme  involving  10  counties,  lead  by  Zsolt  Szoboszlai  and  his  colleagues  in
1999  and  2002  (the  latter  followed  the  spatial  division  used  in  the  research  by
Kemény2).  As  a  further  base  for  comparison,  to  be  able  to  gain  and  synthesise
additional  information,  we  have  also  included  the  results  from  the  Romany  mi-
nority  self-government  study  undertaken  in  the  spring  of  2005,  as  a  prominent
(institutional) response.
As  the  questionnaire  used  in  this  research  included  a  great  number  of  vari-
ables, during the analysis some of the variables were used in combinations (factor
and cluster analysis, path model calculations).
The results are presented on a 1–100 scale on several occasions. The values of
the  1–100  scale  are  always  referring  to the  answers  that  were  analysable,  where
100  points  means  that  all  the  respondents  gave  maximum  points,  0  means  that
every  respondent chose the  minimum  score. Therefore,  on  the  scale  of  1–100,  a
score  below  50  indicates  a  negative  opinion  (lack  of  confidence  and  sympathy,
etc.), whereas a score above 50 shows a positive opinion (confidence, sympathy,
etc.).
1.1  The sampling procedure
As the representatives of the classical professional methods provide different an-
swers  to  the  question  “Who  counts  as  a  Romany?”  (Kemény,  1997,  2000;
Ladányi–Szelényi, 2002, Kemény–Janszky, 2003), there is no national data avail-

2  It must be mentioned that the social land programme is a productive-based socio-political support
system,  where  in  2002  almost  half  the  beneficiaries  (and  presumably  even  more  than  that  since
then) are of Romany origin.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
able on the basic population. In light of this, the multi-step random starting point
sampling technique was used in our research.
As  the  first  step3,  we  selected  every  tenth  from  the  non-county  towns  (214
altogether).  These  towns  were  then  divided  into  two  groups,  the  ones  with  a
population of less than 10,000 people and the ones with more than 10,000 people.
This was significant to filter again the county seats and towns that automatically
made it into the population in the first step. In the case of the county towns and
towns  with  a  population  of  more  than  10,000  we  collected  a  map  indicating  the
wards of the given settlement or the list of streets. The settlements with less than
10,000 residents had to be considered as one unit as there are no wards to speak of
in those cases.
In  the  given  settlements, the  survey  researchers  had to  gather  preliminary  in-
formation  on  the  density  of  Romany  population  in  the  individual  wards.  Three
categories were used for this purpose:
1)  Presumably there are no Romany households in the area,
2)  Presumably there are few Romany households in the area,
3)  Presumably there are numerous Romany households in the area.
Part  of  the  information  was  collected  from  the  local  authorities  of  the  settle-
ments, some came from the local authorities of minorities in the settlements, and
another  part  was  gained  from  the  neighbourhood.  As  a  next  step,  we  randomly
selected  two  of  the  non-county  towns,  and  then  the  constituencies  of  these  that
were  presumably  most  densely  populated  by  Romanies. This  was  followed  by  a
similar procedure: we selected another two towns randomly, and after that we se-
lected the constituency with presumably the least Romany population.
In the case of county towns, in every case we selected the ward that had pre-
sumably  the  most  Romany  households  according  to  the  information  gained  be-
forehand. In the next step, we selected two wards as well which presumably had
only few Romany households.
A  systematic  sampling  procedure  was  used  in  the  case  of  villages  as  well.
Villages were sorted into three categories:
1)  Villages where nobody declared themselves as Romanies were ignored
2)  Every hundredth village with only a small Romany population was selected
for the sample (where less than 100 people declared themselves as Roma-
nies)
3)  Every  tenth  village  with  a  significant  Romany  population  (more  than  100
people declared themselves as Romanies) was selected for the sample.

3 ‘Census 2001-4. Belonging to a Nationality’ publication of the National Statistical Office was used
as a starting point.

27

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
We  chose  different  selection  proportions  based  on  the  ‘more  or  less  densely
populated  by  Romanies’  categories.  We  selected  less  from  the  areas  with  pre-
sumably fewer Romanies (for example villages with a small Romany population),
but at the same time 100% of the listed households made it into the list of respon-
dents.  We  used  a  higher  selection  proportion  in  the  case  of  areas  presumably
densely  populated  by  Romanies  (such  as  villages  with  a  significant  Romany
population); therefore we considered a smaller proportion of the listed households
necessary for the sample. In the case of the latter settlements, every tenth address
became part of the sample.
The selection process at household level could take place after the selection of
the settlement sample. Our researchers collected the lists of households by asking
the local  authority,  schools,  kindergartens,  health (medical)  institutions,  civil  or-
ganisations, local authorities of minorities, social organisations and local people.
Similarly  to  István  Kemény’s  research  of  1971,  “we  listed  people  as  Romanies
who were considered Romanies by the non-Romany population of the area”.
As  only  addresses  and  no  names  were  noted  during  the  address  collection
process, we could hand the whole list over to the people administering the survey
and their instructors, which also provided a possibility of a starting rotation. The
interviewers conducted the survey in the given area, and having the whole list at
their disposal, they could choose a different address instead of the one where they
were refused answers to the questions. The substitution used was the address im-
mediately  after  the  one  that  fell  out  of  the  original  list.  Our  surveyors  collected
7223 addresses from the given constituencies, and they recorded data successfully
in 1000 cases. After complying with the required household scale, the respondent
was  selected  using  the  ‘Random  walking’  table  (code)  denoted  by  Laslie  Kish,
which randomly depicts the size, gender division and demographic characteristics
of the given household.
The  questionnaire  survey  of  the  research  was  conducted  in  October  2005.
Based  on  the  selection  processes  (sensitive  to  spatial  distribution)  described
above,  one  third  of  the  respondents  live  in  Northern  Hungary,  while  a  fifth  of
them live in the Northern Great Plain area. The Southern Great Plain and South-
ern  Transdanubia  regions  provide  similar  proportions  of  the  sample  (13–16%).
Other regions of the country represent less than 10% of the sample.
1.2  Explanatory variables
Combining the spatial variables allowed us to compare our survey with research
conducted earlier.
István Kemény determined the counties that traditionally belong to this area as
being  Northern  Hungary  (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén,  Nógrád,  Heves);  Szabolcs-

28

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Szatmár-Bereg,  Hajdú-Bihar  and  Békés  counties  were  regarded  as  Eastern  Hun-
gary;  the  group  of  Bács-Kiskun,  Csongrád  and  Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok  counties
made up the Great Plain area. He listed the capital Budapest and Pest, Fejér and
Komárom  counties  as  part  of  the  Budapest  industrial  area;  Baranya,  Somogy,
Tolna,  Veszprém  and  Zala  counties  were  declared  as  Southern  Transdanubia,
while Vas and Gyır-Moson-Sopron counties were listed as Western Hungary. In
our  approach,  the  areas  denoted  as  Eastern  Hungary  and  the  Great  Plain  were
merged into one geographical unit, which we called the Great Plain.
The Central Hungary area is made up of Pest County and the Central Transda-
nubia  region  (i.e.  the  agglomeration  of  the  capital  used  in  the  wider  sense).  We
also merged the two Transdanubian regions.4
The data on population show a duality, where nearly half the Romany minority
groups  live  in  settlements  with  less  than  10,000  people,  and  every  third  respon-
dent lives in towns with a population of more than 50,000. Every tenth respondent
lives in a settlement with 10–50,000 residents.
The  clusters  resulting  from  merging  the  ‘population  of  the  settlement’  and
‘administrative status’ variables accurately depict the characteristics of the settle-
ment  network  in  Hungary,  as  well  as  the  local  possibilities  for  the  Romany
groups. Four distinct groups were used in the analysis5.
As  far  as  the  categories  we  used  are  concerned,  the population  of  the  county
seats always  exceeded  50,000; and  there  is  a  clear  division  between the  villages
and towns in the category of settlements with less than 10,000 residents. A similar
entity  is  characteristic  of  the  settlements  with  more  than  10,000 residents (espe-
cially the settlements with town rank) (Figure 1).
Three interesting basic statistical findings emerged from the analysis of the age
variable (year of birth). There is nothing new in the statement that we are working
with a rather “young” sample,6 as the average year of birth is 1966. People born in
1968  divide  the  sample,  as  the  same  number  of  people  were  asked  with  year  of
birth  before  and  after  that year.  This  trend  is  supported  by  the  mode  as  well,  as
most of the respondents were born in 1970.
There is an interesting link between the age distribution of the Romany sample
and  the  Hungarian  society  altogether.  The  differences  between  the  two  figures
(despite  the  differences  in  the  methodology  used)  predict  the  most  significant
demographic  and  socio-political  problem  of  the  next  decades:  growing  pace  of

4 In the case of significant values we will also present the data relating to the 7 regions.
5 During  the  analysis,  number  of  population  proved  to  have  more  impact  on  the  forming  of  the
groups.
6 The  demographic  distribution  of  the  beneficiaries  of  the  social  land  programme  provides  an
interesting comparison. According to the data (Szoboszlai, 2003) more than 40% are Romanies in
the 40 years or younger category.

29

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
gary; living together with partner and being single are more typical of Romanies
living in the agglomeration of the capital and in the Transdanubia region.
Two thirds of the sample analysed are married; nearly one fifth live with their
partners. Two thirds of the middle-aged generation live in marriage; whereas most
of the singles belong to the younger generation. Every fourth respondent born af-
ter 1975 has a partner. 80% of the widowed belong to the demographic group of
people  born  before  1959.8  Every  tenth  respondent,  mainly  representing  the  mid-
dle-aged or older generation, has been involved in divorce.
The number of people in the household is usually 4–5, or 3 or less, however, a
quarter of the households declare 6 or more people. There are no more than three
children in two thirds of the households; there was a child over 14 in every third
respondent’s  households.  Every  fourth  household  reported  no  children,  whereas
there are four or more children in every fifth household.
Although  the  survey  on  the  social  land  programme  mentioned  earlier
(Szoboszlai and colleagues, 2003) indicated that Romany families are much less
likely to have no children; the recent study involving Romanies in rural areas re-
vealed that only a tenth of the respondents belonging to the middle-aged or young
generations have no children.
1.3  Characteristics of cultural capital
Two thirds of the fathers of the respondents have not finished primary education,
and  only  a  third  had  primary  education.  Nearly  every  tenth  father  completed  9
years or more.
An  even  bigger  proportion  of  Romany  mothers, about  three-quarters  of  them
have  not  finished  primary  education.  One  third  of  them  have  finished  primary
education, and 4% have completed more than 9 years of education.
The  educational  level  of  the  fathers  (confirming  the  results  of  the  land  pro-
gramme  survey)  is  lowest  in  the  Northern  Hungary  and  Great  Plain  areas.  The
proportion of fathers with primary education is high in the agglomeration of the
capital; however, this area also registers the lowest number of those with 9 years
or more of education. Two thirds of the mothers belong to the group that have not
finished primary education in the various regions. The proportion of these moth-
ers was slightly higher in the agglomeration of Budapest.
With regards to the number of completed years of education, parents with no
or unfinished education and with the maximum of 8 years of education constitute

8 In  1992,  life  expectancy  in  the  whole  of  the  population  was  64.6  years  for  men  and  74.7  for
women. Romany men lived on average 12.5, women 11.5 years less than that.

33

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
a  significant  difference9.  Experience  shows  this  is  a  valid  observation  for  both
parents  in  the  Northern  Hungary  and  Great  Plain  regions  (and  in  the  case  of
mothers in the agglomeration of the capital as well). In the latter mentioned area,
fathers  change  the  average,  as  in  their  case  1–4  years  and  8  years  of  education
constitute the duality.
The  past  decades’  mobility  trends  in  education  are  reflected  in  the  respon-
dents’  achievement  in  education.  Almost  half  the  respondents  had  completed  8
years, a quarter of them had spent 9 or more years at school. A significant change
in the completion of 8 years of primary education can be observed already among
the middle-aged generation, but the completion of 9 or more years is most typical
of the Romany respondents born after 1975.10
The  proportion  of  people  not  having  or  not  finishing  education  is  nearly
30%.11  Analysing  declared  national  identity,  we  can  note  that  the  proportion  of
those with less than 8 years of education is less among the respondents who de-
clared themselves to be Hungarians or Hungarian Romanies.
Two thirds  of  the  children  whose  fathers completed 8  years  have  at  least  the
same level of education, and nearly the same proportion of children achieved this
level whose father could not finish primary school for various reasons.
The loss of cultural capital was less prominent among the children of fathers
with 9 years or more of education. Intergenerational mobility is demonstrated by
the figures that 26% of the children whose fathers completed 8 years, and 33% of
the children whose mothers completed the same number of years achieved higher
levels of education than their parents.
As  far  as  educational  level  is  concerned,  the  year  1984  seemed  to  be  of  key
significance, as the same number of people acquired their highest level of educa-
tion before and after that year. In the 1990s every fourth, and in the last 5 years
every tenth respondent acquired some sort of certificate. 30% each of the respon-
dents in the Great Plain and Transdanubia regions; and 40% each in the agglom-
eration  of  the  capital  and  in  Northern  Hungary  indicated  that  they  achieved  the
highest  level  of  their  education  in  the  last  15  years. Besides  the  important  basic
skills of the past (reading, counting, writing), knowledge and skills in foreign lan-
guages,  information  technology,  healthcare  and  information  in  the  continuously
changing  society  have  become  significant  during  the  long  decade  of  changes.
Apart  from  agricultural  skills,  importance  of  all  the  other  types  of  knowledge
scored  more  than  50  points  on  the  1–100  scale.  These  generally  scored  higher

9  The observation stands true for county towns as well, whereas in the villages the “undertook no
education” category was most significant.
10 Almost half of the young generation has this kind of education.
11 Most  of  the  people  not  finishing  primary  education  can  be  found  in  the  agglomeration  of  the
capital and in towns with a Romany population of less than 10 people.

34

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
among the people with higher levels of education and those born after 1975 than
among  the respondents  with  8  years  of  education  or belonging  to  the  older  gen-
eration.12
In today’s global-technical world, the importance of being well read (in other
words: the competence to understand and use information) scores highest among
the Romany respondents13. It is obvious though that the high score not only shows
an  indication  of  importance  and  social  practice  but  also  hides  the  exclusion  of
Romany groups.
Another indicator of exclusion is the net family income level.14 Analysing the
level of average family income and its distribution along the employment career,
it can be observed that in the years before and after the change of regime the in-
come level of the group in question was low; roughly a third of the respondents
belonged  to  the  less  than  50,000  HUF/month  family  income  category.  Between
1993 and 1997, the distribution of income indicated a wider range. In this period,
a third of the respondents belonged to the less than 60,000 HUF/month family in-
come category.
The  average income  in the  survey  today  is  82000  HUF,  the  most  often  men-
tioned amount is exactly 100,000 HUF. The number of people with more and less
than 75,000 HUF monthly income is the same in the sample.
The  income  per  capita  figure  offers  a  clearer  picture  of  the  financial  back-
ground  of  the  Romany  population  than  the  family  income  data.  The  average  is
23,000 HUF per capita. In the case of this indicator, the mode, which is the most
frequently  occurring  income  level (20,000  HUF),  is  the  same  as  the  median. To
rephrase  this,  exactly  the  same  number  of  respondents  have  more  and  less  than
20,000 HUF (N=822 people).
More than the average income was registered in the case of those respondents
who  acquired  their  highest  level  of  education  in  the  past  5  years;  live  either  in
towns with more than 10000 or villages with less than 10000 residents, and have
at least some sort of qualification. The regions show the spatial inequalities with
regards to the conditions the Romanies live in (Figure 3).
Going back to some characteristics of education and knowledge, we found that
the  main  objectives  of  the  Romany  population  surveyed  are  the  acquisition  of  a
driver’s licence, a trade or profession and secondary education (A-levels), with a
third of all respondents setting these targets (especially those born after 1975, who

12 In the case of agricultural skills, we gained the opposite results.
13 An average of 73 points on the 1–100 scale.
14 There  are  elements  besides  the  money-based  income  that  increase  the  income  level  of  the
families,  indicating  more  wide-spread  and  productive  social  politics:  for  example  free  meals,
child benefit that had to be spent on clothing, potatoes, apples, school meals,  food parcels, fruit
and vegetables, poultry, clothes, collecting fire wood, mushrooms, harvesting.

35

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
are  characterised  by  higher  cultural  capital).  To  achieve  the  above  skills  the  re-
spondents  would  even  be  willing  to  commute.  When  planning  potential  educa-
tional programmes, one could build on the finding that there are hardly any young
(or not so young) Romanies who want to learn traditional Romany trades or pro-
fessions.
Figure 3
Average household and per capita income in Romany families
(thousand HUF)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Households
Person

Source: Own survey.
Every  fifth  respondent  claimed  that  their  children  applied  for  some  sort  of
educational grants. This support mechanism of the education of young Romanies
is  most  known  in  the  Great  Plain  area.  Most  of  the  informants  have  spent  the
money  gained on what it was for.  There are certain  measures of assistance that
are  necessary  to  acquire  the  given  educational  level  and  realising  other  educa-
tional  ambitions.  In  the  current  survey  we  were  analysing  attendance  at  after
school  activities.  We  found  that  a  third  of  the  Romany  children  participated  in
some sort of after school activities in the autumn of 2005 (especially in the east-
ern region). Judging by the names of the after school activities15 we can surmise

15 Choir,  ceramics,  dance,  folk  dance,  religion,  poem  reciting,  sport,  mathematics,  majorettes,
drawing,  first  aid,  drama,  puppet  theatre,  crafts,  German,  English,  computing,  literature,  acting,
physics, grammar, Lovári (Romany) language.

36

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
that Romany children were attending mostly activities with a (folk) artistic profile
(drawing, crafts, dance groups).
The  majority  of  the  Romany  respondents  were  positive  about  the  future  of
their children. They were envisaging a possibly long period of orientation and job
seeking; but they were positive that the children would find an appropriate job in
the  end.  The  informants  with  secondary  or  even  higher  level  of  education  were
even more optimistic.
1.3.1  Path models of passing on cultural capital
We believed that it is necessary to assess how the family (the parents) contributes
to the educational level of the children (to start on the mobility curve), and how
the development of this curve is influenced by other social factors.16
In  our  model  we  examine the impact  of the  mother’s  and  the  father’s  educa-
tional  levels;  and  assuming  a  patriarchal  family  model,  we  also  analyse  to  what
extent the father’s educational level influenced his decision as to whom he would
marry with regards to the woman’s educational level.
The  proportion  of  the  explained  relations  is  20%  in  our  sample  of  Romanies
living  in  rural  Hungary.  To  summarise  the  results,  we  found  that  the  father  has
less influence on the child’s educational level than the mother. To be more accu-
rate, the father’s influence was stronger among the people born before 1959 and
among boys. Among girls, the mother’s influence was characterised with a higher
proportion  and  beta  coefficient  than  the  average  (24%,  0.296;  0.000  sig.).  Ac-
cording to the results of the social land programme sample, Romany parents had
less influence on their children’s educational level and the difference between the
mother’s and the father’s influence was less significant. Among the non-Romany
beneficiaries a more pronounced paternal influence was registered then.17
The  Romany  sample  showed  that  among  the  family  influences,  the  mother’s
educational level motivates the child to achieve a higher level of cultural mobility.
It seems (Figure 4) that the impact of the patriarchal model is diminishing in the

16 In  this  chapter,  arrows  will  indicate  the  direction  of  the  reason  and  cause  relations  observed
between the variables, while the regressive beta coefficients noted along the arrows will indicate
the strength of the relationship. It must also be noted that looking at the links in a general way of
thinking, if 20% or more of the relations are explained, that can be regarded as a very good result
(Székelyi-Barna, 2002:311).
17 It  must  be  noted  that  in  the  social  land  programme  research,  the  proportion  of  the  explained
relation  was  less  than  20%  in  both  cases.  Among  the  Romany  beneficiaries  the  figures  were:
Mother:  0.175  –  0.000  sig.;  Father:  0.179  –  0.000  sig.  10%.  Among  the  non-Romanies:  Father:
0.326 – 0.000 sig. 15%.

37

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
any  men.18  Therefore  the  behavioural  changes  that  have  started  to  take  place
within the family will be “lopsided”. As mothers play a significant role in passing
on  the  most  important  element  of  cultural  capital,  i.e.  educational  level,  they
could  be  the  target  group  that  need  to  involved  in  the  adaptation  of  life-long
learning  among  the  Romany  population  (within  a  complex  integration  pro-
gramme).19

Table 3
Analysis of the path model of school mobility in the various regions

Beta value
Significance
Explained
Influence of
Explained
proportion
the father’s
proportion

Father  Mother  Father  Mother
(R2)
educational
(R2)
level on that
of the wife*
Great Plain
0,237
0,242
0,000
0,000
20%
0,677
46%
Northern Hun-
0,267
0,191
0,000
0,003
17%
0,611
37%
gary
Transdanubia
0,176
0,312
0,052
0,001
21%
0,74
55%
Agglomeration
0,139
0,437
0,264
0,001
30%
0,764
58%
of the capital
The connection/relation was significant in each case.

Source: Own survey.

18 The employment level of Romany women has been decreasing due to the dramatic processes of
their  exclusion  from  the  labour  market.  While  the  proportion  of  women  of  employment  age  in
employment in the total population was 63.1% in 1994, the same proportion of Romany women
was only 17.5% (Havas–Kemény, 1995). The proportion was similar at the time of the survey of
2003. However, the last 10 years have brought changes in the employment level of women, with
more opportunities of employment in the capital and less in the villages (these remained the same
in  towns  other  than  the  capital).  In  2003,  the  capital  and  its  agglomeration  provided  most  em-
ployment opportunities for women, the proportion of women in employment was 36% here. In the
Great Plain and Northern Hungary regions this proportion was between 10–14%, whereas in the
eastern parts this figure was only 6% (Kemény–Janky, 2003 quoted in Debreceni, 2004).
19 At the moment (2005) Romany respondents consider secondary education as the necessary level
for their children to be successful. The respondents with a higher level of education suggest that
acquiring a degree would ensure establishing a stable future for their children.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
1.4  Assessment of life-long learning
The  informants  from  the  Transdanubia  region  and  those  with  a  higher  level  of
education find it most important, although the average of the sample also consider
the  idea  of  life-long  learning  as  an  idea  to  be  supported  and  further  developed
(Score of 70 on the 1–100 scale).
The  respondents  claimed  that  primarily  financial  goods,  secondarily  knowl-
edge and a degree are the most important factors in being successful.
The fact that the question was being thought about is shown in the willingness
of two thirds of the respondents to provide their own personal opinion on life-long
learning as well. The responses to the open questions organised in seven catego-
ries provided us with the following ideas:20
−  Ability to adapt; connection between employment and education (26%) – we
listed  here  the  following  types  of  answers:  one  needs  to  adapt  to  today’s
world, one needs to learn a lot to be successful, one needs to learn continu-
ously to get a job, learning is important because of the growing demands, it
is  very  important  as  it  is  the  only  way  to  be  successful,  ones  not  learning
will not get a job, unemployment makes continuous learning necessary.
−  General  –  quantitative  approach  (5%)  –  we  regarded  the  following  re-
sponses  as  belonging  to  this  group:  one  needs  to  learn  several  professions
and trades, one needs to learn a lot to get a job, one needs to learn various
things, one needs to be good at a lot of things, and needs to learn a lot to get
a good job, one needs to finish various education.
−  General – normative approach (18%) – the following can be listed here: it
is, it would be a good thing but one needs a job as well, the more you learn
the better it is, continuous learning is necessary to be successful, the road to
social mobility leads through continuous learning, it means getting nearer to
a better life, we need to learn so that we develop, a much better and cleverer
country, one can learn from everything.
−  Types  of  responses  linked  to  education  (10%)  –  typical  answers  were:  it
would be good to learn a new and good profession, further education.
−  Answers  linked  to  various  stages  of  life  (14%)  –  the  following  responses
were put into this category: you can learn even when you are old, learning
does not depend on age, you need to keep up with development, one always
needs  to  learn,  one  needs  a  chance  no  learn,  no  matter  what  age  they  are,

20 The  closed answers demonstrate clearly that the  main problems of the Romany groups revolve
around unemployment, low salaries/wages, poverty and subsistence living.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
anyone can learn independent from age, if you want a job you need to learn,
no matter how old you are, we need to learn as long as we live.
−  General  negative  approach  (10%)  –  the  following  responses  were  listed
here: it is important but not necessary to learn throughout life, further edu-
cation  is  not  guaranteed,  there  is  no  point  in  life-long  learning,  it  is  good
and bad at the same time, there is not time for that, it is luxury, it is point-
less, not necessary, not worth it.
−  General scepticism – equality approach (5%) – the following types of an-
swers  are  grouped  here:  if  somebody  gave  me  the  money  I  would  learn
throughout  my  whole  life,  it  is  pointless,  Romanies  are  stigmatised,  we
learn in vain as we are stigmatised, Romanies are stereotyped the same even
if we learn as long as we live, we are not successful, because of stigmatisa-
tion there is no point in us learning, even if we Romanies learn a life long
we still are not as successful as our Hungarian fellows, we could learn but
we  still  would  not  be  successful  because  we  are  Romanies,  there  are  still
prejudices, whatever we do we always remain Romanies.
−  Others (2%) – this category lists the answers such as “you learn until you
die”.
Important  circumstances  of  the  mobility  of  Romany  groups  are  presented  by
the information that we gained from the elected local Romany prominent figures.
The responses from a recent survey of the Romany  minority authorities in Hun-
gary (Szarvák, 2005) suggest that the Romany minority authorities consider edu-
cation, social care and closing the gap between them and the rest of society as the
most  important  issues  of  development  regarding  Romany  groups.  Besides  the
above, they also regarded employment, health care and the situation of the youth
groups as important. Although on average information society and environmental
protection  were  not  listed as  important  areas,  they  scored  highest  among  the  re-
sponses gathered in Transdanubia and Southern Transdanubia.
Other data in the findings regarding modernisation show that the Romany mi-
nority  authorities  supported  education  mostly  in  the  Central  Hungary  area.  One
can  therefore  assume  that  the  opinion  forming  Romany  leaders  of  settlements
would also make good communication channels for the marketing and realisation
of programmes promoting life-long learning.
1.4.1 Supporting factors
In  the  national  sample,  the  importance  of  individual  autonomy  as  a  reason  to
achieve higher educational level was especially popular with the young adult and
middle-aged  respondents  (“I  wanted  to”  –  average  score  of  75  on  the  1–100
scale). Awareness of growing demand (average of 57 points on the 1–100 scale)

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
and examples within the family, mother’s and father’s (average score of 50 on the
1–100 scale) were also typical answers. The latter reasons were prominent in the
case of respondents with a higher level of education.
The  factors  ‘communication  examples’  and  chosen  profession  were  less
popular. The generation born after 1975 considered the media-factor and friends’
example, impact of contemporary groups more important than the other two gen-
erations did. The examples seen on television and the influence of friends as well
as  the  awareness  of  growing  demand  scored  highly  in  the  Transdanubia  region
and in the agglomeration of the capital.
We used a mathematical procedure, the main component analysis21, to summa-
rise  the  responses  to  the  question.  Four  distinct  characteristics  could  be  deter-
mined among the categories (the four components preserved 75% of the data).
The  examples  factor  (ranking  of  variables:  my  friends’  example,  because  of
my teachers, examples seen on television, examples of the family, relatives) as the
most important explanatory variable (43%) was supported mostly by respondents
born after 1975, declaring Romany identity.
The  living  up  to  individual  and  family  expectations  (order  of  variables:  I
wanted to, because of my family) category was the second strongest factor. It was
most  typical  of  among  the  Hungarian  Romany,  middle-aged  or  young,  more
highly educated respondent, and among those living in the eastern region.
The growing demand variable remained an independent factor. Especially the
respondents who declared themselves Hungarian or Hungarian Romanies, with a
certified apprenticeship, living in the Transdanubia region or the agglomeration of
the capital preferred this answer.
The  ‘chosen  profession  or  trade’  was  also  defined  separately  in  the  mathe-
matical-theoretical  space.  This  factor  was  mostly  supported  by  the  informants
with a higher level of education; living in the agglomeration of the capital.
The respondents saw the importance of school in the following: good commu-
nity in the class (average of 67 points on the 1–100 scale); accepting the others,
independent  opinion  forming,  perseverance,  boosting  self  confidence,  making
children  like  learning  and  bearing  failure  (57–51  points  on  the  scale  of  1–100).
Interestingly,  the  benefit-approach  factor  (“we  got  a  job  straight  after  finishing
school”) seemed less significant in assessing the role of school than the different

21 The procedure enables us to select the common component of several variables. A cognitive atti-
tude is emerging from the opinion on a seemingly independent statement, which is behind every
answer even if the respondent cannot provide a cognitive answer. The “common feature” may be
named after its content. During the analysis, every respondent is given a factor score, which will
enable us to characterise the groups of respondents. The ranking within the main components will
be shown based on the factor scores of the variables that shape the main components, where the
explained variable will also be indicated.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
variables  relating  to  personal  development.  Mostly  the  informants  born  before
1959 chose the former variable (of nostalgic nature). The importance of individ-
ual opinion forming was stressed primarily by the middle-aged and younger gen-
eration.  To  summarise  the  related  findings,  the  answers  relating  to  personal  de-
velopment and community shaping were preferred by the respondents who had a
higher level of education, lived in settlements with more than 10000 inhabitants,
especially in settlements with town rank.
1.4.2 Hindering factors
The results of the social land programme survey highlighted that more than half
of the Romanies surveyed indicated hindering factors with regards to learning in
2003. The recent national research produced a similar proportion (55%). Hinder-
ing factors were mentioned more often by respondents from the Great Plain area
(in the case of the settlements involved in the land programme it was the Trans-
danubia  and  Northern  Hungary  regions)  and  (middle-aged)  people  living  in  vil-
lages, proclaiming Hungarian or Hungarian Romany nationality.
Looking at the hindering factors individually two factors are emerging. In the
Romany  families the  hindering  factor  is  usually  the  lack  of  money,  starting  em-
ployment at an early age and living in a big family (a lot of siblings). These cir-
cumstances were more frequent in the case of the middle-aged and older genera-
tions.  Spatially  the  Transdanubia  region  and  the  agglomeration  of  the  capital
emerge  from  the  rest  of  the  regions,  as  people  living  in  these  areas  were  more
likely to mention the lack of money, starting employment at an early age and liv-
ing in a big family (a lot of siblings) factors as hindrances to participate in further
education. It must be noted the lack of financial capital as a hindering factor was
most typical in villages, while people living in towns (county towns) blamed ill-
ness most often for not being able to acquire more cultural capital.
The  above  factors  hindered  people  (similarly  to  the  findings  of  the  survey
among  the  beneficiaries  of  the  land  programme,  although  the  proportion  in  the
recent research was 20% higher) in acquiring certified apprenticeship. The above
factors hindered 5% of the respondents at an earlier age in achieving primary edu-
cation,  and  9%  in  acquiring  secondary  education.  The  lack  of  mentioning  hin-
drances of participation in higher education suggests an even more closed nature
of  mobility  channels.  Another  interesting  difference  (showing  mainly  at  settle-
ment level); shows that people in villages were more likely to fail achieving vo-
cational education, while finishing secondary school (A-levels) remained a dream
for  people  living  in  county  towns.  An  almost  similar  difference  seemed  to  be
shaping in the reflection of the generations as well. In the light of this, one could
conclude that with regards to mobility, the main aim of the middle-aged Romany

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
population is the achievement of vocational education, whereas in the case of the
younger generation this aim is achieving secondary education (A-levels).
1.5  Attitudes relating to knowledge and skills
Although the general picture shows that the respondents find it important to be a
good student (average score of 79 on the 1–100 scale), and to have a job that suits
one’s  ideas  (average  of  77  points  on  the  1–100  scale);  it  seems  that  there  is  no
positive  personal  experience  behind  the  views  supporting  the  idea  of  life-long
learning.
In general, the respondents do not think their educational level helped signifi-
cantly in getting the job they imagined for themselves (average score of 32 points
on  the  1–100  scale).  The  tendency  shows  a  more  positive  picture the  higher  the
educational  level  the  respondents  achieved.  The  score  is  62  points  among  those
with certified apprenticeship, and 52 points among the people with secondary or
higher level of education, in other words, both groups with higher levels of edu-
cation supported the idea of level of education influencing the job one might get.
The respondents in general seemed pessimistic with regards to the influence of
school  on  behaviour.  They  argued  that  the  behavioural  patterns  typical  of  the
family would not change as a result of experience gained at school (average of 44
points on the 1–100 scale). The results of the research make us wonder about the
effectiveness of education on socialisation, as the respondents with higher levels
of education gave scores above 50 to the above statement.
The elements of life-long learning relating to character can also be found in the
profound forms of knowledge and skills (such as being an electrician, being able
to  propose  a  toast  at  festive  occasions,  telling  jokes,  knowing  traditional  crafts,
etc.),  which  are  closer  to  the  Romany  society.  The  respondents  when  presented
with a list of 24 activities, related to the following most often: cooking, pickling,
haggling  at  the  market,  gardening,  cultivating  the  field,  bricklaying,  sewing,
painting and decorating, dealing with official (bureaucratic) issues, being able to
propose  toasts,  telling  amusing  stories,  shopping  for  presents  and  being  able  to
read  timetables  (average  scores  of  50–87  on  the  1–100  scale).  However,  the
younger respondents (14–18 year-old children) were not familiar with any of the
skills, as shown by giving no more than 50 points to them. A change of paradigm
between adults and their children is depicted in the children being better at using
computers and the Internet and also foreign languages.
Besides globalisation, the growing awareness of the necessity to know modern
skills is shown by the figure relating to knowing old Romany traditions: it scored
considerably low even among the adult respondents (average of 22 points on the
1–100 scale).

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Passing on knowledge and skills from parents to children seems to work less
effectively  in today’s  world.  In  the  past,  parents  and grandparents  (81%)  passed
on  knowledge  to  children  almost  exclusively.  Every  fourth  or  fifth  respondent
mentioned  the  role  of  siblings,  workplace  and  school.  The  effectiveness  of  self-
education  (“learned  it  from  books”)  and  visiting  cultural centres  was  considered
fairly low. The spreading of the mostly traditional knowledge and skills surveyed
may be assisted by the finding that the respondents help both the macro-environ-
ment of the settlement (47%) and the Romany community (50%) with those skills
and knowledge.
The respondents with vocational and secondary or higher education considered
the traditional and modern skills as useful for the Romany people in their every-
day life (average of 60 points on the 1–100 scale).
1.6  Cultural and information-communicational background
In the social relationships of the Romany ethnic group people and personal con-
tacts (such as talking to the neighbours or visiting relatives) are dominant (aver-
age  scores  of  89  and  76  points  of the  scale  of  1–100).  The  institutionalised  net-
work of relationships seemed to have only minor impacts (average scores of 24-
36  points on  the  scale  of  1–100).  Our  respondents  seemed  willing  to  leave  their
homes to go to a ball or other festivity, or maybe to go to the culture centre (or on
even rarer occasions going to the library). Our survey of 2005 showed the cultural
exclusion  of the  Romany  population  (this  is  similar to  the  findings  of  the  social
land programme survey), although the younger generation or the people with vo-
cational or higher education are more likely to participate in an event that serves
community  education  purposes.  It  proves  difficult  to  find  a  path  to  Romany
groups, as the institutions of “high” culture (hardly any of the respondents ever go
to the theatre) and often even those of mass culture (cinemas, pop concerts, etc.)
appear to be closed for them.
Considering the above, it is worthwhile reminding the reader of a classic po-
litical  paradigm.  Lazarsfeld  and  his  research  team  analysed  the  American  presi-
dential election campaign of 1940, and they found that the decisions people made
during  the  elections  were  mostly  influenced  by  the  opinion  forming  people  in
their microenvironment. In the light of this observation, we consider it important
to support the opinion forming Romany personalities during the process of raising
awareness of the programmes and the importance of life-long learning. The above
hypotheses, borrowed from political sociology, is also proven by the facts that the
Romany  people  emphasise  the  responsibility  of  the  family  and  the  relatives  in
spreading the idea of life-long learning; “official” institutions (such as job centres,

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Romany minority authority, civil organisations or the state) are mentioned only in
second place.
Mobile phones and video or DVD players are the most common communica-
tion equipment in the Romany households. More than half of the families possess
the above technical equipment. Hardly a tenth of the respondents claimed to have
a  landline.  The  use  and  importance  of  landlines  is  diminishing  in  the  Romany
households  as  well,  and  the  proportion  of  people  possessing  a  mobile  phone  is
growing22. (In 2002, six tenths of the beneficiaries of the social land programme
did not have a landline). However, the spread of mobile phones is not as rapid in
the  Northern  Hungary  region,  the  proportion  of  families  possessing  mobile
phones remained relatively low (similarly to the results in 2002).
A significant development has taken place since 2003 in the spreading of info-
communicational  equipment.  10%  of  the  Romany  respondents  claimed  to  have
used a computer, but the use of the Internet is still scarce. While in the spring of
2003 3% of all the rural Romany households had a computer and 1% had Internet
at  home23,  today  11%  of  the  households  are  equipped  with  a  computer  and  3%
have Internet at home.
In the reflection of the above tendencies, it is hardly surprising that the Rom-
any youth would spend almost 3 hours a day in front of the television, 30 minutes
watching  a  video,  no  more  than  20  minutes  reading,  and  3  minutes  on  average
sitting  by  the  computer.  The  older  generation  prefers  to  watch  television,  the
young ones (especially the ones with a maximum of 8 years of education) would
rather watch a DVD or a video. As expected, the respondents with secondary or
higher  education  were  more  likely  to  use  a  computer.  People  living  in  medium-
sized town were more likely to read books, while people living in the agglomera-
tion  of  the  capital  visited  video  libraries  most  often  as  on  average  they  spend
more time with watching a video or a DVD.
As far as reading was concerned, the respondents claimed to have read 3 books
each on average last year. At the time of the survey hardly 10% of the informants
were  reading  a  book.  The  family  libraries  contained  an  average  of  22  books24.
People living in the Transdanubian area and in towns were regarded as more fre-
quent readers (a finding similar to the ones of the land programme survey).
Respondents of the middle-aged generation, with a higher level of education,
living mainly in medium-sized town other than in Northern Hungary, proclaiming
Hungarian or Hungarian Romany identity were most likely to have a computer at

22 Two thirds of the people involved in the land programme research  three years ago (Szoboszlai
and colleagues) did not have a mobile phone.
23 3%  of  the  Romany  and  9%  of  the  non-Romany  beneficiaries  of  the  land  programme  had  a
computer at home.
24 This figure is twice as much in the case of respondents with secondary or higher education.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
About half of the respondent involved in the research would not be able to en-
ter the new ways of employment as they are not able to use the computer, the al-
most indispensable equipment of remote working (this figure was as high as two
thirds  in  2003).  About  a  third  of  the  respondents  feel  themselves  capable  of
learning to use a computer. Every tenth respondent suggested that they would pre-
fer to work with a computer in a (work) community environment; some of them
already used computers on a daily basis. About half the informants (mainly from
the Great Plain and Transdanubia regions) believe that there would be demand for
remote or distant working type arrangements in their settlement as well.
We would argue that in spite of certain growth trends, the conclusion can be
drawn  that  the  social-educational  and  cultural  exclusion  of  the  Romany  ethnic
groups works also against the spread of information culture (and with that the de-
veloping of interest in and the practice of life-long learning). This will also widen
the gap (which could be measured in traditional and digital inequalities) between
the macro-society and the largest ethnic group in Hungary.25
1.7  Employment issues
Although the problems in relation to employment have been mentioned in every
chapter providing empirical analysis with regards to the link between education,
knowledge and employment, the question is important enough to discuss it sepa-
rately from the social point of view (Romany – non-Romany) as well.26
During the time of data collection in 2005, a third of the people involved were
in  employment.  Those  without  employment  were  typically  on  maternity  leave
(21%),  retired  early  for  health  reasons  (11%)  or  were  unemployed  (20%).  As  a
quarter  of  the  spouses/partners  were  employed  in  the  autumn  of  2005,  the  one
income  per  family  households  were  rather  common.  Nearly  30%  were  at  home
with the child (children), about 10% were unemployed, another 10% were retired
for health reasons, the rest were primarily housewives or on sick leave.
Among the problems of employment 8 factors (mainly the categories related to
individual risk taking) scored more than 50 points. The respondents were mainly
worried about stigmatisation; and about (not) being able to assimilate due to the
fear  of  low  levels  of  knowledge.  The  job’s  temporary  nature,  uncertainty,  black

25  According  to  a  research  in  May  2005  as  part  of  the  Hungarian  Info-Communicational  Report,
produced yearly by Bell Research, 18% of all the households (3.9 million), 680 000 homes have
Internet  access.  This  is  roughly  48%  of  the  1.4  million  households  equipped  with  a  PC,  which
makes  the  Internet  accessible  from  every  second  home  with  a  computer.  http://ictreport.hu/
cikk.php?c=66
26 The following chapters on the concepts of hope will provide an analysis of unemployment.

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
working, health and chances of promotion were also mentioned as important fac-
tors.  The  most  frequent  problem  factor  the  respondents  identified  involved
knowledge and skills, temporary nature and black working. We believed that the
respondents  related  these  problems  to  those  of  non-Romany  people  in  a  similar
social status, therefore the instability and unpredictability of the typical employ-
ment sectors need to be highlighted as well.
1.7.1 Mobility paths regarding employment
More than a quarter of the people involved entered the labour market before 1979,
and a fifth of them entered in the last decade of socialism. More than a tenth of
the  respondents  started  working  in  the  decade  after  the  changes,  while  about  a
quarter  of  the  informants  received  their  first  official  salary  (wages)  in  the  first
year of the new decade. A tenth of them never had a “proper” job or always lived
on temporary jobs.
The summary of the social facts about employment need to be mentioned be-
cause besides the family, the environment, the peer group and the school, it is the
world  of  employment  that  plays  a  key  role  in  a  person’s  socialisation.  The  em-
ployment  role  constitutes  an  important  part  of  personal  identity.  It  bears  special
relevance in the case of the (in several aspects) deprived layers of society, as the
place  of  work  offers  them  a  continuous  space  where  they  can  enrich  their  lives
with learning and accepting various innovation strategies (Szarvák, 2001).
The  mobility  paths  observed  in  the  four  periods  (1986–1992,  1993–1997,
1998–2002,  2003–2005)  show  an  interesting  pattern.  With  the  help  of  these  we
can  easily  follow  how  the  social-economical  changes  interrupted  the  process  of
mobility of the Romany population.
The  number  of  Romanies  in  employment  was  periodically  constant  in  the
given  roughly  5-year  periods.  Another  characteristic  observed  indicates  that  the
Romany employees were forced out of the capital and the county towns, and also
from other work places that were not based in their settlement of residence; there-
fore their place of work was more and more typically narrowed down to the set-
tlement where they lived (mainly villages and rural urban areas).
The  position  of  the  rural  Romany  people  in  the  labour  market  has  been  re-
structured  in  the  observed  period.  The  restructuring  took  place  in  a  few  years,
which  came  as  a  shock  first;  then  it  seemed  to  be  a  continuous  process,  which
took  about  ten  years.  At  the  end  of  the  1980s  and  the  beginning  of  the  1990s
about  a  quarter  of  those  in  employment  worked  in  the  manufacturing  industrial
sector, while about 10% of the respondents worked in agriculture or the construc-
tion  industry.  The  proportion  of  the  people  working  in  the  service  sector,  com-
merce or public administration is low in the sample. One and a half decades later,

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
i.e.  today,  the  picture  is  different  (with  the  employment  level  still  low):  every
tenth Romany employee can keep or get a job or in the manufacturing industrial
and agricultural sectors; and the proportion of people working in the third sector
is becoming stable (nearly 15%).
The change in ownership was typical in the case of the work places (compa-
nies) of the Romany employees as well. It the beginning of the observed period,
two  thirds  of  the  workplaces  were  state-owned,  only  a  quarter  of  them  were  in
private hands. Between 1993 and 1997 this proportion was roughly half and half;
around the turn of the millennium, half of the Romany employees worked for pri-
vate companies and a fifth of them worked for state-owned companies and insti-
tutions.  The  situation  shows  yet  a  different  picture  today,  with  more  Romanies
being employed by municipal institutions and companies run by local authorities.
1.8  Summary
Based  on  the  findings  of  previous  research  among  the  Romany  groups  in  Hun-
gary, in our research into the sociological background of life-long learning among
Romanies  we  made  the  assumptions  that  the  majority  of  the  respondents  had  a
low level of education; were deprived compared to other layers of society due to
their  ethnic,  family  or  local  situations,  in  other  words  because  of  their  cultural
backgrounds they were starting from a handicapped position.
We also presumed that most of the Romanies would be left without a job be-
cause of their low levels of education, or they would get employed (typically as
unskilled or skilled workers) in sectors that have a low status in society. Due to
the lack of skills it can be predicted that the choice of the first job would be influ-
enced  by  necessity,  and  also  that  unemployment  would  be  a  frequent  problem
among those surveyed. As a result of this, this layer will be primarily concerned
with keeping their jobs, so the chances of promotion do not occur to them at all.
For them the main question at stake is ensuring a living.
The process described is referred to as the social or poverty trap as an umbrella
term.  We  were  therefore  looking  for  the  automatic  mechanisms  that  enable  or
hinder the achievement of the integration objectives. Among the observed mecha-
nisms,  the  following  can  be  highlighted:  educational  level,  family  size,  employ-
ment mobility, income levels, social roles, household models, job seeking strate-
gies and the opportunities for adapting knowledge. These are the categories where
the Romany ethnic groups had disadvantages during socialisation and their indi-
vidual  lives,  and  where  they  were  left  behind  from  the  social-economic  main-
stream.
Out  of  the  types  of  capital  identified  by  Pierre  Bourdieu  the  culturally  influ-
enced educational level is the one that plays an important role in the forming of

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
The biggest problem of the Hungarian Romanies without permanent employ-
ment  lies  in  the  uncertainty  of  their  living,  as  their  income  always  depends  on
somebody else.28
Furthermore, the feeling of being dependent on social institutions may also be
mentally disturbing, and Romanies are looked down on even in the local commu-
nity because of the low profile jobs that they may be doing.
The above problems make the Romany families with high numbers of children
even  more  deprived,  where  having  several  unemployed  adults in the  family  will
almost certainly have a demoralising effect on the children. The long-term unem-
ployment of the head of the family constitutes the biggest danger, as it enhances
the risk of the social exclusion of the family on the long run.
The mass unemployment among Romanies and the crisis of the labour market
after  the  change  of  regime  was  also  detrimental  from  that  point  of  view  that  “it
started to make the chances impossible even for the Romanies who got furthest in
the  mobility  process”  (Kertesi,  2005).  The  Romanies  belonging  to  this  layer  are
the  skilled  workers  who  acquired  their  certificates  in  vocations  that  were  being
run  down  by  the  beginning  of  the  1990s.  The  children  of  a  once  skilled  worker
will  not  see  a  positive  perspective  in  vocational  education  any  more,  which  will
further widen the gap between the educational level of Romany and non-Romany
people; that might result in further unemployment.
Another  factor  that  has  not  been  dealt  with  yet  that  has  influenced  the  em-
ployment of Romanies since the changes is discrimination. This usually does not
arise  from  the  prejudices  employers  would  hold  personally  (although  this  is  the
general view), but from the use of employment filters that are based on the ethnic
origin of the applicants (Kertesi, 2005). At the core of this, employers make the
assumption that the chances of finding the right people for a job among the Ro-
manies are much lower. The selection process will then become cheaper as they
do not have to apply expensive filtering methods. Obviously, this procedure car-
ries the risk of making major mistakes, but is completely unacceptable in the 21st
century.
Another  circumstance  that  makes  employment  and  returning  to  the  world  of
labour difficult for the Romanies is characterised by the fact that the employment
structures have changed dramatically since the mid–1990s,29 which is particularly
disadvantageous for the active Romany population with low educational levels.
The characteristics of the real employment situation of the Romany population
are difficult to reveal, as “there were no representative surveys on the situation of

28 It can depend on the staff at the local council who are responsible for social aid, or on a business
owner or manager also with an unstable background, who employs Romanies illegally, etc.
29 The pace of the economic crisis that the regime change brought along started to slow down then.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
the Romany ethnic groups between 1994 and 2003” (Kertesi, 2005). The research
led by István Kemény in 2003 was the first step forward; the results showed that
the situation that was characteristic of the beginning of the 1990s had not changed
significantly. The employment level remained very low, also among the younger
Romany generations. Unfortunately, the employment level of the 20-30 year-old
Romanies has got even lower compared to the figures in the early 1990s. One can
draw  the  conclusion  that  the  changes  in  employment  since  the  regime  change
have adversely affected every generation of the Romany ethnic group.
The  facts  that  the  jobs  the  Romanies  have  are  unstable,  and  that  very  often
they  fill  in  positions  that  can  easily  be  substituted  with  somebody  else  have  an
impact  on their  living  conditions  and  well  being.  In  several  cases,  the  economic
position of their employers is just as unstable. Another reason for their instability
lies in the temporary nature of the state welfare programmes (such as public ser-
vice, community development projects, etc.), these provide income only for some
months of the year. Romanies find it more difficult to be successful in the world
of labour as the proportion of people losing their jobs is much higher among them
than in society overall30.
In summary, it can be stated that the employment level of Romanies (30%) is
much lower than that of the non-Romany population, as nearly twice as many of
them are employed than Romanies. The jobs Romanies most often have are three
times as unstable as the similar jobs done by non-Romany people.
After having discussed the situation in the macro-environment, it is worth as-
sessing  the  changes  in  attitude  (as a result  of  the  above  mentioned  processes)  at
the personal level, i.e. at the level of the long-term unemployed Romany person.
2.2  Consequences of becoming unemployed
Losing a job comes as a shock for every employee, regardless of gender, educa-
tional level or age. In terms of unemployment, these factors will show a different
picture  in  the  different  cases.  However,  the  fact  that  someone  has  lost  their  job
will  make  them  feel they  have  lost a  part  of their  personality  or identity  as  well
(Kertesi, 2005). Where does this feeling come from?
Primarily, it arises from the negative consequences that are associated with job
loss,  such  as  loss  or  lower  amounts  of  regular  income,  poverty  and  subsistence
living (Székely, 2005). The feeling of being useless and the uncertainty of the fu-
ture may be added to the above factors.

30 On average 25–30% of people in employment in a given  year  will be unemployed a  year later
(Kertesi, 2005).

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
The  work  place  is  not  identified  only  with  the  source  of  income,  but  it  also
provides the framework for a daily routine, it determines social relationships out-
side  those in the  family  and  it  has  an  impact  on the person’s  objectives as  well.
Unemployment will erode all these, which may in turn result in the disappearance
of the individual’s relationship capital.
These processes may lead (especially in the case of long-term unemployment)
to the unemployed questioning themselves, which in extreme cases will result in a
dramatic change in self-estimation.
As  a  result  of  continuous  stress,  health-related  problems  might  also  occur
among the long-term unemployed people. This condition will diminish the physi-
cal ability to work, which makes returning to work even more difficult.
The  worsened  mental  and physical  conditions  will  inevitably  have  an  impact
on the individual’s wider environment, especially on the family. In the majority of
the cases this will lead to family conflicts, and often to divorces.
How the various individuals can cope with the situation depends primarily on
the internal resources they can mobilise. These resources are usually the “contin-
gency  elements”  that  can  be  mobilised  either  in  the  individual  or  their  environ-
ment. Coping with long-term (more than a year is the standard definition used by
the  Hungarian  National  Statistical  Office)  unemployment  seems  a  difficult  task
even  if  the  individual  had  plenty  of  resources  at  the  time  of  being  made  redun-
dant. However, this is usually not the case, as the prolonged period of unemploy-
ment is characteristic mainly among those who are deprived in other aspects any-
way. This condition can erode the already scarce resources within a short period
of time (Székely, 2005).
2.3   Romanies in long-term unemployment
We  did  not  aim  to  uncover  all  aspects  of  long-term  unemployment  during  the
structured  interviews  conducted  for  the  current  research;  the  questions  were
mainly focussed on what forms the feeling of hopelessness is apparent in the eve-
ryday lives of the respondents. The responses were analysed along the following
dimensions:
−  In  what  mental  state  were  the  respondents  who  were  long-term  unem-
ployed? (desperation-anger-loneliness-hopelessness-acceptance-optimism);
−  How their social relationships were changing;
−  Changes in their health;
−  Resources at their disposal;
−  Consequences of long-term unemployment;
−  Discrimination in the world of labour;

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
2.3.1 Role of social relationships
Family relations, and in a wider sense relationships with relatives and friends play
a  significant role  in  coping  with  feeling  of  hopelessness. The interpersonal  rela-
tionships played a dual role in the case of the respondents. On the one hand, the
family  and  the  declining  conditions  /  situation  of  the  family  constitute  the  main
source for feeling hopeless, on the other hand they are the key motivators to sur-
vive  and  seek  active  solutions.  Most  of  the  respondents  suggested  that  the  exis-
tence of the family was their main concern. Another major concern quoted by all
the respondents referred to hoping to avoid their children being deprived because
of their unemployment. The respondents often felt guilty about having aggressive
reactions towards their family as a result of the stress of hopelessness.
Unfortunately,  in  a lot  of the  cases the state  before  unemployment  cannot  be
preserved  despite  all  their  efforts,  therefore  “family  life  starts  to  go  downhill”.
One of the respondents suggested: “soon we’ll only just whinge, like dogs”.
2.3.2  Impacts of long-term unemployment on health
As  it  has  been  referred  to  before,  the  continuous  stress  due  to  long-term  unem-
ployment  may  have  negative  health  impacts.  Several  of  the  respondents  men-
tioned  problems  of  this  kind,  insomnia  and  nervousness  were  mentioned  most
often.  Several  of  the  informants  suffered  from  health  problems  that  were  not
mentioned  by  name,  which  we  could  assume  because  they  referred  to  access  to
medicine as a major problem due to their financial situation.
Some  of  the  respondents  told  us  that  despite  their  growing  psychological
problems  they  were  not  taking  any  tranquillisers,  and  getting  drunk  as  a  way  of
easing stress was mentioned only by two respondents.
2.3.3 Resources available for survival
Educational  level  is  one  of  the  major factors for  getting  out  of  long-term  unem-
ployment. About a third of the Romany unemployed people interviewed had vo-
cational  education  in  a  trade  or  profession  that  is  still  in  demand  in  the  labour
market, whereas the majority had only primary education, which is typical of the
majority  of the  Hungarian Romany  population.  Our respondents  with  vocational
education belong to the group that were mentioned in the introductory chapter in
relation  to  Gábor  Kertesi’s  research.  It  is  apparent  that  this  group  finds  it  most
difficult  to  cope  with  long-term  unemployment,  as  they  cannot  understand  why
they  cannot  find  a  job  despite  having  the  necessary  qualifications.  People  with

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
only  primary  education  take  it  almost  for  granted  that  they  “would  always  only
have low-profile jobs”.
People seeking a job can count on help from relatives or friends only in getting
temporary jobs; they do not have relationship capital of a similar kind that would
enable them to be successful in the legal labour market. They can rely on the par-
ents’ help to ease their financial situation only for a short period of time. Most of
the respondents claimed their children provided them with the strength to look for
a fresh start.
There are some factors that people with a permanent job and a certain style of
living find ridiculous that present obstacles to job seekers due to worsening finan-
cial conditions. It was mentioned several times that the respondents did not have
the money to post a reply letter, to have their picture taken or to purchase decent
clothes that they could wear for an interview, or at an important school, work, etc.
occasion. Although it did not get mentioned during the current research, the lack
of the necessary CV also constitutes a problem in the process of job seeking.
2.3.4 Consequences of long-term unemployment
The responses of the interviewees typically listed the problems that were already
known from previous research, and that we have also discussed in previous chap-
ters.  Minor  difficulties  were  characteristic  of  the  first  period  after  becoming  un-
employed, but later they started to accumulate utility bills (especially in families
without any external help). Complete poverty and social exclusion did not occur
in any of the interviewed families.
2.3.5 Discrimination
The responses we gained in this area depict the seriousness of the situation. Our
interviewees  reinforced  the  fact  that  constant  discrimination  is  primarily  to  be
blamed for their deprived position in the labour market. The respondents did not
only  mention  their  experience  of  discrimination  from  the  employers’  part  when
applying for a job, but also their experience with people at job centres and other
social  institutions  who  clearly  showed  a  prejudiced  attitude.  One  of  the  infor-
mants described his experience with the local council in the following way: “They
were  dealing  with  me  as  if  I  had  leprosy.”  According  to  another  respondent’s
opinion: “We find walls everywhere because we are ‘tanned’”.
The respondents very often claimed that when talking to people in offices they
had the feeling the people behind the desks showed no signs of human emotions
and were doing their job like machines. “Being ignored” resulted in problems in

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
people’s  self-estimation  as  they  felt  “I  am  a  lesser  person  than  others,  I  am  not
good for anything; nobody wants a Romany”. The informants suggested the root
of the problem is that people keep generalising in relation to Romanies, and any-
body can fall a victim of this regardless of their achievements. However, they also
claimed that non-Romany  unemployed people might  be treated the same way in
the various institutions of the welfare system.
2.3.6 Ways of ensuring a living used during the period of unemployment
It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  benefits  from  the  state  that  a  long-term  unem-
ployed gets are not sufficient to provide a living for the family, therefore finding
additional resources is crucial. As a consequence, finding the money for everyday
living  puts  participating  in  integration  programmes  (such  as  re-training),  that
would  enable  them  to  return  to  the  primary  labour  market  into  the  background.
Another reason that holds people back from participating in such programmes is
that  the  majority  do  not  believe  in  the  efficiency  of  such  methods  (yet  or  any
more, or at all). National research measuring efficiency also reinforces the nega-
tive experience that the respondents shared with us. The informants who were re-
trained said they could not get a job even after the re-training course. They men-
tioned the motif that was discussed before again that “even those do not get a job
who have a trade or a profession, so why bother with re-training”.
What  remains  for  these  people  is  jobs  in  the  black  economy  that  they  hear
about  from  people  in  similar  situations,  and  the  other  typical  survival  strategies
such as searching through litter bins, collecting herbs and medicinal plants, illegal
fishing, etc. Another typical solution (especially among those who are way behind
with  utility  payments)  is  for  the  extended  family  or  several  families  to  move  in
with each other particularly in the winter months, so that they can minimise their
costs.
2.3.7 Ideas with regards to a fresh start
Although the previous section may suggest that most of the respondents have al-
ready given up hope of ever being employed in the primary labour market again,
and accepted the life associated with long-term unemployment, some of the inter-
views suggest that the situation is not as bad as that.
Several informants claimed to have continuously been creating strategies for a
fresh start; some of them even want to set up their own businesses. Professionals
argue that the work force in Hungary is not mobile enough. Nevertheless, most of
our interviewees would be willing to commute to get employed again.
All the respondents claimed that they would like to manage by getting a job.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Most of them fortunately have been made redundant only once in their lives,
so  repeated  job  loss  (mentioned  in  the  introduction)  was  less  typical  within  the
sample. Respondents from  the Southern Transdanubia region indicated the long-
est period of unemployment (30 months). Analysing the time span of the longest
term of unemployment in the reflection of settlement categories, we can conclude
that  people  living  in  smaller  villages  are  in  the  most  difficult  situation.  People
here were unemployed typically for a period of 7–18 months.
Who the individuals can expect help from in regard to job seeking seems to be
significant for finding the way out of unemployment. It was surprising to find that
most  of  the  respondents  did  not  have  anybody  that  they  hoped  would  or  could
support them. The people who said yes to this question named mostly job centres
as  possible sources  of  assistance.  Family,  relatives  in  a  wider  sense, friends  and
acquaintances followed that. Only a few of the responses referred to the local au-
thority.  Only  a  minor  number  of  respondents  mentioned  newspaper  advertise-
ments seeking labour as a form of individual job searching strategy. The picture
we gained from the survey presumably does not reflect incredibly bad family re-
lations or a lack of interpersonal relations, but refers to the facts that the environ-
ment  in  both  the  narrow  and  the  wider  sense  lacks  the  resources  of  relationship
capital that would enable them to help people in need.33
Looking  at  the  question  in  relation  to  gender,  we  can  see  that  men  are  more
likely  to  expect  external  help  in  such  situations.  The  results  show  that  the  older
the person involved, the less help from family or friends they get, as the potential
support network, the peer group and close relatives are likely to be passive them-
selves. Analysing the issue in relation to age, it becomes apparent that the support
system  –  both  job  centres and  local  authorities  –  target  the  middle-aged  genera-
tion,  therefore  the  younger  and  older  ones  (obviously  for  different  reasons)  are
less likely to receive help and become involved in the various programmes.
Another important issue relevant to unemployment is how long people spent in
their  last job  before  being  made  redundant.  Most  of  the  respondents  worked  for
two years or more, but slightly more than third of the sample (34.7%) was in em-
ployment for only 5 months or less. We attempted to discover regional differences
as well, and the findings show that the period of employment before losing a job
was significantly shorter in the most deprived areas (Northern Hungary, Northern
Great Plain and Southern Transdanubia) than in the more developed areas. Ana-
lysing the question from the point of view of settlement size we found that people
in villages are in the most disadvantageous situation, just like in other situations
of equality.

33 It can be assumed that most of them live in similar conditions.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
An  important  issue  in  relation  to  long-term  unemployment  is  how  people  at-
tempt  to  replace  the  lost  income.  The  data  from  the  survey  show  that  analysing
the  question  along  any  of  the  variables  (age,  region,  and  settlement  size)  the
dominant answer is always temporary jobs (52%). This is followed by participa-
tion  in  community  programmes  (14.2%).  Participation  in  re-training  was  hardly
mentioned; part-time jobs and public service were mentioned only in a few cases.
Nearly  a fifth of the respondents  did  not  indicate  any  activities  at all.  Assessing
the  issue  by  settlement  size,  we  found  that  primarily  people  in  villages  and
smaller  towns  take  on  temporary  jobs.  Participation  in  community  development
projects  is  most  typical  in  similar  settlements.  People  with  a  declared  Romany
identity participate in public service more often than their non-Romany peers do.
Looking at gender we found that men are more likely to take on temporary jobs
during their unemployment than women are.34
The analysis of the interviews and the answers to the previous questions lead
us to the conclusion that the long-term unemployed people do not have a positive
opinion about re-training programmes. When asked the question whether they got
a  job  after  re-training,  the  majority  said  no  (54.4%);  a  sixth  got  a  job  a  few
months later; the remaining proportion claimed they got a job within a short pe-
riod of time. However, the proportion of the latter group is low in relation to the
whole  of  the  sample.  Another  interesting  question  in  relation  to  re-training  is  to
what extent can such programmes reach the unemployed population in the differ-
ent settlements. The analysis  of the  data  suggests that  the  smaller  the  settlement
the less likely these programmes are to reach the jobless people, and chances of
employment also diminish as we go down the hierarchy of settlements.
As  referred  to  in  the  introduction,  hopelessness  varies  from  person  to  person
(depending primarily on  mental attitude) and how long after losing a job people
start  to  feel  their  situation  completely  hopeless,  especially  with  regards  to  the
chances  of  getting  back  to  primary  employment  also  varies.  71%  of  the  people
who have experienced unemployment were familiar with the feeling of complete
hopelessness.  A  third  of  the  respondents  were  overcome  by  this  feeling  techni-
cally immediately after being made redundant; 40% of them started to feel hope-
less  after  a  few  months;  and  the  remaining  proportion  (nearly  20%)  claimed  it
took  a long  time  before they  were  overcome  by  the gloom  of  hopelessness  only
after a very long time or not at all. As far as gender is concerned, women are more
likely to feel hopeless and they are receiving less support to cope with the prob-
lem.35

34 Women withdraw to running the household and looking after the family in such cases.
35 This is probably the result of the fact that in most families it is usually the woman’s task to look
after the physical and mental wellbeing of the family members, while they receive less attention.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
A key issue in coping with the feeling of hopelessness is what sort of resources
are available for the unemployed person in question, or whether he or she is left
on their own with this mental burden. 40% of the sample provided an answer to
this  question,  and  within  that  70%  said  they  had  to  deal  with  it  on  their  own.
Looking at the regional differences, the findings are astonishing: people living in
the most developed Central area and in the most deprived Northern Hungary had
least help and mental support. The reasons may obviously be different in the two
regions;  in  the  first  case  lack  of  interest  may  be  typical  of  larger  cities,  with
higher levels of isolation and weaker social links may provide the answer; in the
case  of  the  other  region  the  mass  occurrence  of  people  with  a  similar  problem
may be in the background.
A  third  of  the  respondents  mentioned  some  sort  of  help  in  coping  with  the
problem,  in  about  90%  of  the  cases  it  was  the  family  or  within  that  a  particular
family  member36  who  provided  support;  in  the  rest  of  the  cases  it  was  a  friend,
less often the job centre or staff at the local council that offered help.
In the case of the long-term unemployed people who are in the mental state of
hopelessness,  especially  people  who  have  been  without  a  job  for  a  considerable
length of time, the critical issue is whether they will be able to restart at all. Have
they got any self-confidence left for the time when they get employed again?
The majority of the respondents (84%) are not afraid of starting regular legal
employment again. As far as ethnic identity is concerned, the Romanies are more
worried about restarting than the non-Romanies are. Comparing the attitude of the
two  genders,  women  seem  to  be  more  anxious  about  the  period  when  they  start
work again. (The reasons in this case may be similar to the ones discussed in the
context of the feeling of hopelessness.) Analysing the difference between the age
groups,  we  found  that  the  middle-aged  generation  has  most  doubts,  exactly  the
people who should be the most ambitious in the labour market. The responses of
the  current  research  prove  Gábor  Kertesi’s  characterisation  of  this  generation  as
“broken and disorientated”.
Finally  we  arrived  at  the  question  that  aims  to  reveal  what  the  Romany  and
non-Romany respondents consider as the major problems of employment in Hun-
gary.  Respondents  were  presented  with 11  options.  As  there  were no  significant
differences found between the Romany and the non-Romany points of view, the
issue is not going to be dealt with in detail along this dimension.
The informants identified the lack of skills of the necessary level and the lack
of knowledge as the key problems. Another factor mentioned frequently was dis-

According  to  some  research,  this  is  why  various  forms  of  deviance  (such  as  alcoholism)  are
becoming more widespread among women.
36 In most cases the wife or parent, less often the partner and husband provide support.

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
IV
ROMANY POPULATION IN THE PROCESS
OF LIFE-LONG LEARNING
1  Educational level of Romanies
The  reasons  for  Romany  groups  to  get  involved  in  life-long  learning  could  be
found in their educational level that is below the national average, and its impact
on  their  employability,  self-organisation  and  integration.  According  to  expert
analysis,  a  small  percentage  of  the  Romany  population  is  skilled  partially,
whereas the majority are not skilled at all, therefore they are not prepared to an-
swer the challenges of the market economy that the change of regime has brought
along.
At the time of the 1971 representative survey of Romanies, about three quarter
of all the Romanies in their 20s were almost completely illiterate, 20 years later
the  same  proportion  of  young  Romanies  had  finished  primary  education.  In  the
three decades before the regime change, Romany children’s participation in edu-
cation had become common practice; however, the 1993 survey conducted by the
National  Statistical  Office  found  that  even  though  the  educational  level  of  the
Romany  population  had  risen,  the  gap  between  them  and  the  rest  of  the  society
had  widened.  Comparing  the  educational  levels  of  Romany  and  non-Romany
people,  the  results  show  that  in  1993  non-Romany  men  finished  slightly  more
than two years more of education than Romany men did, and the difference was
more than three years in the case of non-Romany and Romany women (to the ad-
vantage of the non-Romany women). At the same time, there is a significant dif-
ference  between  the  educational  levels  of  Romanies  in  Budapest  and  in  other
parts of the country: the figures relevant to the capital are much higher. The fig-
ures regarding education are different in the cases of the Romungro, the Beás and
the  Oláh  Romanies as  well:  the  Romungro  are  the  most and the  Oláh  Romanies
are the least educated. A positive tendency can be observed in the younger gen-
erations catching up with the rest of the population. According to the figures, the
educational levels of the 15–19 year old Romanies were hardly lower than those
of the non-Romany young people in the mid- and late 1990s. However, the levels
of education of the older generations show significant differences (Hága, 2000b)
(Table4).

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
2  Unique characteristics originating from the Romany
culture
The unique cultural characteristics of the Romany people will influence their mo-
tivations  to  learn,  the  effective  methods  of  learning  as  well  as  the  methods  of
utilising knowledge. Experts in the field have highlighted the following features:
own language; dichotomy of the oral and written cultures; dichotomy of vertical
and horizontal socialising; lack of time management; need of total autonomy and
proximity to the majority society at the same time; and using space to ensure the
autonomy of the various groups (Romano Rácz, 2002).
A returning question deals with the differentiation of the Romany culture and
the  culture  of  poverty.  “The  reality  that  we  are  facing  today  often  depicts  the
world of poverty and not the Romany culture and customs. The majority society
does  not  reject  the  Romany  culture  but  the  various  forms  of  poverty”  (Farkas,
2002).
3  Motivation to learn among Romanies
The  literature  suggests  that  several  of  the  motivations  typical  in  adult  education
are apparent in the case of the Romany minority as well however, they exist be-
sides other motivating factors.
A) Traditional motives
Widening professional knowledge and skills
As the professional skills are usually lacking, learning a trade or profession is
more typical than widening skills.
In special areas, such as the field of education, the need for continuous profes-
sional  development  is  more  apparent  among  the  people  working  with  Romanies
than among the Romanies themselves. Havas, Kemény and Liskó argue that edu-
cating  Romanies  could  be  more  effective  if  the  people  teaching  them  widened
their knowledge in the areas of pedagogy, psychology, language development as
well  as  in  social  history  and  Romany  art  (Havas,  Kemény  and  Liskó,  without
date).
Katalin Lévai claims that because of the features of the culture, upbringing and
abilities  of  Romany  women,  it  is  a  realistic  opportunity  that  they  could  join  the
labour market in the form  of self-employment looking after the family and chil-
dren  and  caring  for  the  sick.  However,  this  makes  it  necessary  to  train  Romany
family  co-ordinators,  family  pedagogical  mentors,  community  development  as-
sistants and assistant health care workers (Lévai, 2003).

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Hope of employment
Masses of people becoming unemployed made the link between getting a job
and  education  obvious,  though  in  a  drastic  manner.  The  figures  of  the  National
Statistical  Office  prove  the  relationship  between  educational  level  and  unem-
ployment, by suggesting that the proportion of unemployed people with a degree
is a quarter of the national average; whereas there are four times as many unem-
ployed people who do not even have primary education than the national average.
However,  having  a  degree  or  accomplished  secondary  education  does  not
guarantee active employment for Romanies. It is only the Southern Transdanubia
region where only a minor proportion of the people with secondary education are
unemployed. About 30–50% of the skilled Romanies are unemployed (the figures
vary depending on age, settlement type and region, and also on the level of segre-
gation at the settlements where they live) (Babusik, 2004a).
Acquiring a certificate and career building
It is difficult to draw the line between the motivating factors “having a certifi-
cate” and hope of employment. The certificate-related motif is more characteristic
of those people who are already in employment, and it assumes some sort of work
experience and knowledge, but the certificate as a proof of those is missing. It is
however,  not  very  likely  to  motivate  Romanies,  and  neither  is  career  building
typical of them.
Social mobility
The aspirations of the parents and their plans to participate in further education
clearly indicate that a social mobility process, even if at a small-scale, had started
among  the  Romanies  in  the  1990s.  In  this  process,  those  children  had  better
chances of social mobility whose parents were also better educated, who did not
live  in  a  segregated  Romany  environment,  and  who  did  not  attend  segregated
Romany schools or classes (Liskó, 2002a).
Starting a business
The  last  ten  years  forced  the  Romany  population  to  start  undertaking  tradi-
tional or new activities. Szuhay listed the following as most typical among these
activities:  browsing,  fishing  and  hunting  without  a  licence,  collecting  medicinal
herbs  and  snails,  going  through  litter  bins,  agricultural  day  jobs,  trading  with
horses, making (wooden) wash basins and mud-bricks. All the above activities are
exempt from tax and allow great levels of mobility. Some of the Romanies have
become independent farmers or entrepreneurs (Szuhay, 1999).
According  to  Romano  Rácz,  the  further  growth  in  the  number  of  businesses
would  contribute  to  the  strengthening  of  an  active  Romany  middle  class,  which
then  would  produce  their group  of  intellectuals  in  a natural  way  (Romano  Rácz,
2002).

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Starting up and running a business successfully and educational level are not
necessarily  related.  According  to  the  research  by  Babusik,  the  professional  edu-
cational level of the entrepreneur Romanies is higher, however, “almost a third of
them  can  manage  with  only  primary  education”  (Babusik,  2004c).  The  same  re-
search indicates that educational level or work experiences hardly impact on the
income  of  the  businesses,  whereas  the  connections  play  a  key  role  in  that  ques-
tion.
Almost  all  of  the  entrepreneurs involved  in  the  Babusik  research  were  aware
of  the  importance  of  knowledge  and  skills.  Most  of  them  (54%)  acquired  some
sort  of    business  skills  within  the  family  or  the  environment.  Daily  practice  of-
fered the source of knowledge and skills for 24% of the respondents, while 21%
claimed  to  have  acquired  them  during  their  studies.  Only  5.3%  of  those  who
gained their skills from their studies have participated in further education or re-
training.  Motivation  to  learn  may  be  weakened  among  the  entrepreneurs  by  the
fact that there is no correlation between the entrepreneurial income and participa-
tion in training, or quite the contrary, those who acquired their skills following the
traditions of their families have higher income levels (Babusik, 2004c).
B) Specific motives
Successful survival and defence
The Romany identity, according to Sándor Romano Rácz, unlike other Euro-
pean national identities supported by national symbols, was formed by the strate-
gic aim guiding each group and individual: the aim of survival under any circum-
stances.  Creating  access  to  natural  resources  and  effective  defence  mechanisms
was a generally valid aim for everyone.
He  differentiates  between  three  categories  of  activities  that  provide  the  re-
sources necessary for survival however, he also acknowledges that it is not always
possible to draw a line between the various activities.
1)  The  first  group  includes  all  the  actions  that  target  resources  outside  the
bounds of possession. These mean the classic collecting activities typical of
archetypal communities: they collected goods that could be consumed im-
mediately  (mushrooms,  herbs  and  medicinal  plants,  wild  fruit and  berries,
and also small edible animals that they could catch without hunting with ri-
fles);  and  also  collecting  natural  raw  materials  for  craft  activities  (basket
weaving,  matting,  doormat,  rope,  broomstick,  brush,  etc.  making),  or  col-
lecting  waste  that  could  be  used  by  blacksmiths  or  in  other  metal  works.
These are the resources that could be directly utilised.
2)  We  have  moved  on  to  the  second  category  of  activities,  which  are  inside
the bounds of possession, and which play a basic role in building external

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
relationships as well as in survival. This group involves activities compliant
with the laws of the majority society. The so-called traditional Romany ac-
tivities  have  developed  on  this  basis.  These  activities  satisfied  demands;
therefore  they  could  be  undertaken  over  a  long  period  of  time,  without
problems,  until  mass  production forced them  out  of the  market. When  as-
sessing the situation in Hungary, one needs to look at seasonal work in ag-
riculture and forestry that are recurring on a regular basis, as these started
the process of developing a prescience and possession-based attitude.
3)  The third group involves activities inside the bounds of possession but are
not compliant with the laws of the majority society. The following can be
listed  here:  stealing,  begging,  fortune telling  and  other  practices  of  witch-
craft.  These  activities  are  typical  among  people  and  groups  that  for  some
reason  could  not  find  adequate  responses  and  solutions  to  the  new  chal-
lenges.  It  must  be  noted  that  this  type  of  stealing  is  regarded  as  “survival
crime” using the technical term of modern criminology. Effectively, it is an
advanced  version  of  the  collecting  lifestyle  under  changed  circumstances
(Romano Rácz, 2002).
Achieving literacy
According to a 1971 survey, 39% of the 14 or more year-old Romany popula-
tion,  which  made  350,000,  was  illiterate,  while among  the  non-Romany  popula-
tion there were none or hardly any illiterate people. The proportion shows a much
more  favourable  picture  in  1993,  as  the  proportion  of  Romanies  with  4  years  of
education who could not read or write was reduced to 15% (Polónyi, 2002).
Illiteracy will not only affect chances of employment, but also managing life in
general in all the societies that are built upon literacy. The quality of the environ-
ment  of  formal,  institutionalised  learning  will  have  a  basic  influence  on  attitude
towards learning,  may even determine it for life. The importance of literacy can
be  enforced  or  weakened  by  the  family,  local  or  work  environment.  These  ele-
ments, in the words of Katalin Kovács, form key parts of the “hidden curriculum”
in the wider sense, which is of utmost importance for life-long learning (Kovács,
1997).
“Being on the right track”
The interview with criminologist Szilveszter Póczik revealed that according to
a survey conducted in Hungarian prisons “some of the prisoners have understood
the  importance  of  learning  and  they  blame  themselves  for  the  lost  opportunity:
‘God, why haven’t I learnt!’ This will motivate them to try and establish the mo-
bility of their children.” “In a way, they have started on the path of mobility and
they  are  fighting,  sweating  blood  so  that  their  children  will  not  need  to  commit
crimes to survive and manage in life” (Póczik, 1997).

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Ethnic mission
According  to  Romano  Rácz:  “the  integration  of  the  Romany  population  and
the consolidation of their situation is only possible with the active participation of
a well-prepared own group of intellectuals, building on a wide base. These intel-
lectuals  will  have  to  show  directions  and  become  the  pulling  power;  they  will
have to integrate into the activity systems of public administration, justice, educa-
tion, culture, health service, economy and social politics, and they cannot be left
out  of  the  scientific  research  that  aims  to  reveal  the  Romany  world.”  (Romano
Rácz, 2002).
Getting additional benefits
A modification of the benefit system has largely contributed to the changes in
basic education: in the second half of the 1990 the payment of child benefit and
other  social  kind  of  benefits  (different  sorts  of  child  support)  was  linked  to  the
attendance at school in the case of children of statutory education age, which then
made the parents financially interested in having their children educated.
In  the  case  of  adult  education,  the  study  benefit  linked  to  the  attendance  of
courses organised by the job centres works as an effective incentive.
4  Failure at school at its reasons among Romanies
There  are  no  exact  data  available  on  the  number  of  people  with  low  levels  of
education and out-of-date vocation. According to careful estimates, this number is
somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million (Mayer, 2004). It is worrying though that
this  mass  is  constantly  getting  new  members  from  the  group  of  children  who
leave  school  before  statutory  education  formally  allows  them  to. 5–600 children
leave primary school every year without finishing it. The situation is made worse
by  the  negative  attitude  towards learning  that they  (and  also  some  of  those  who
actually  finish  primary  school)  develop  because  of  the  failure  they  had  experi-
enced; and also by the fact that the little knowledge they have acquired erodes at a
fast rate, which will then become an obstacle for participation in further education
or re-training.
According to Babusik, the reasons why Romanies leave school early, without
any success, with a complete lack of learning habits and motivations, and why 50
out of 100 Romany children become unemployed, lose hope and become margin-
alised in their teens (Hága, 2000a), can be explained by the following factors:
On  the  one  hand,  the  Romany  population  as  a  whole  is  deprived  in  terms  of
education;  on  the  other  hand  this  deprivation  comes  from  several  sources.  The
main reasons are:

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
4.1  Nursery attendance
Nursery attendance of deprived children from the age of three is one of the core
conditions of a successful career at school. One of the reasons (but not the only
one!)  why  Romany  children  are  not  successful  at  primary  school  lies  in  them
missing nursery education altogether, or going to nursery only at an older age and
only for a short period of time. 11% of the 5-year-old Romany children do not go
to nursery even after their 5th birthday (Magyar, 2003).
Babusik’s  research  highlighted  that  “  the  issue  of  Romany  children  going  to
nursery,  with  regards  to  proportion,  length  of  time  and  age,  is  not  a  question  of
the so-called “Romany culture”, but an issue of hard parameters such as ‘is there a
nursery in their settlement, if there is, what size is it and how close is it to its full
capacity,  etc.”.  To  start  off  with,  a  fifth  of  the  nursery  age  Romany  population
lives  in  villages  with  no  nurseries.  The  location  of  these  settlements  (inclusion
villages,  dead  end  villages,  settlements  geographically  cut  off  from  the  nearby
settlements)  makes  us  suspect  that  children  will  have  difficulties  to  get  to  the
nurseries  to  the  catchment  area  of  which  their  settlement  belongs  (Babusik,
2003b).
4.2  Family background
The  family  plays  an  important  role  in  accomplishing  statutory  education,  in  the
results achieved at school, in the shaping of learning motivation, in regarding un-
successfulness as a failure and in choosing a career.
Ilona Liskó demonstrates the changes of the parents’ ambitions regarding their
children’s education apparent since the 1970s. According to her: “Until the 1970s,
the parents were not particularly ambitious about their children’s education, most
of the children spent only a few years at school and got as far as learning to read
and write. In the 1970s and 1980s most of the parents complied with their obliga-
tions of statutory education of their children, but still only a minority of the chil-
dren had actually finished primary school. In this period the teachers were “fish-
ing” for the Romany children with varied activity and success levels, but the ef-
fectiveness  of  their  education  was  highly  influenced  by  the  fact  that  the  parents
did not consider their children’s education as important, and did not motivate their
children to learn.” The shock accompanying the change of regime made it appar-
ent  for  the  Romanies  as  well  that  without  achieving  higher  levels  of  education
they have no chance “to stop the process of marginalisation, never mind to come
back”. “In the teachers’ opinion, the lack of motivation to learn constitutes current
problem; the parents are now ambitious to send their children to school, but they
still do not motivate them to learn as well. Another current issue is their inability

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
to provide the necessary conditions of successful learning, neither with regards to
school equipment nor with regards to support. The differences in raising children
and  adult  patterns  that  are  typical  of  the  subculture  of  poverty  and  therefore  of
most Romany families, will make complying with the expectations at school dif-
ficult” (Liskó, 2002a).
There is an obvious link between the learning motivation assessed in primary
schools,  the  parents’  educational  level  and  the  financial  situation  of  the  family.
According  to  the  results  of  a  1998  survey  on  behaviour,  the  Romany  children
whose father never finished primary school or claim to come from poor families,
feel more often (33-34%) that their parents only sometimes or never expect them
to have good results at school, than those children whose father finished primary
school or are living in average financial conditions (12%) (Gordos, 2000).
It is hardly surprising then that there is a strong correlation between the chil-
dren’s  failure  at  school  and  the  characteristic  features  of  the  family.  The further
away from the centre of the settlement the family lives and the more segregated
the area is, the more likely the children are to fail at school. The correlation be-
tween the educational level of the parents and the children’s failures at school was
also  significant.  The  lower  the  educational  level  of  the  parents  was,  the  more
likely children were to fail at school (Liskó, 2002a).
According to the teachers, the decline in the results at school is not a result of
the abilities from the children but of the deprived nature of their families and their
socialisation.  The  following  reasons  were  blamed  for  lower  performance  at
school:
−  Missing or incomplete school equipment due to the poverty of the family;
−  Inappropriate conditions for learning at home due to the poverty of the fam-
ily;
−  Distribution  of  work  within  the  family  and  family  lifestyle  that  does  not
leave enough time for learning;
−  Parents do not motivate their children enough to learn;
−  Children  are  missing  from  school  more  often  because  of  family  problems
and disorganisation;
− Assimilation  problems  will  impact  on  their  school  performance  (Liskó,
2002a).
The  behavioural  patterns  of  the  parents  will  also  play  an  important  role  in
leaving school and in the shaping of the willingness to participate in further edu-
cation. As the parents and grandparents have similar experience and memories of
school,  they  also  missed  out  of  public  education,  Antónia  Hága  argues  that  not
finishing school will not cause distress to either for the children or for the parents.
In  addition,  for  the  youth  not  strong  enough  to  cope  with  constant  failure  at
school, following the example of the parents will make leaving school legitimate

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
(Hága, 2002a). At the same time, parents with higher levels of education have a
more definite idea about their children’s future, and they are more likely to con-
sider  their  children’s  participation  in  further  education  more  important  (Liskó,
2002a).
4.3  Accessibility and equipment level of schools
Three  surveys  involving  Romanies  were  conducted  in  2002.  All  three  of  them
pointed out that schools with a higher proportion of Romany children, and parts
of schools where Romany children are taught operate under worse infrastructural
conditions than the conditions provided for the education of non-Romany children
(Németh, without date).
4.4  Inappropriately prepared teachers
The results from the surveys conducted since the beginning of the 1990s suggest
that the quality of the teacher’s work plays a significant role in the shaping of the
knowledge and skills levels of children and their progress in school. Therefore, all
the institutional changes that (maybe indirectly through the selection of teachers)
undermine  the  quality  of  pedagogical  services  provided  for  the  children  of  a
group  with  a  lower  social  status,  will  actively  contribute  to  the  reproduction  of
social inequalities (Kertesi–Kézdy, 2004).
According  to  Havas,  Kemény  and  Liskó,  the  key  to  the  success  at  school  of
Romany children lies in the preparedness of their teachers and their selection of
the right pedagogical methods. Schools where mostly Romany children are taught
not  only  fail  to  employ  teachers  with  high  social  sensibility,  but  their  teachers
usually  have  lower  levels  of  competence.  The  failure  of  education  comes  very
often from the overt or covert prejudices of the teachers. Researchers explain this
situation  with  the  fact  that  most  teachers  do  not  like  to  teach  Romany  children
because it is considered a more demanding task; it is not considered challenging
professionally  and  their  efforts  are  not  accompanied  by  the  feeling  of  success.
Nobody wants to fill the vacant positions in schools teaching primarily Romany
children,  is  it  almost  impossible  to  find  teachers  for  the  shortage  subjects,  and
fluctuation is higher than the average in these institutions. Due to the lack of suc-
cess, teachers eventually become indifferent, are not willing to participate in con-
tinuous professional development, do their task as a routine, they use methods of
passing on information directly and hardly ever introduce innovative pedagogical
methods,  and  the  enhanced  pedagogical  demand  is  not  compensated  for  in  their
salaries (Havas–Kemény–Liskó, 2001).

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
The  results  of  Ferenc  Babusik’s  research  are  based  on  the  responses  of  657
teachers  from  61  schools, who  have  an  average  of  17  years  of  teaching  practice
and spent an average of 13 years in the schools involved in the research. Babusik
linked the research into the attitude of teachers towards Romany children with the
analysis of the question of whether the teachers’ participation in Romany studies
training  courses  in  the  framework  of  higher  education  bears  any  relation  to  the
success of the school (Babusik, 1999).
Mária Nagy and her research team pointed out that the number or presence of
professionals  at  schools  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  proportion  of  Romany  chil-
dren attending the school, it is more the location of the school (character and size
of  the  settlement)  that  will  define  the  professional  competencies  available.  In
view  of  the  result  of  the  research,  even  the  teachers  are  not  satisfied  with  their
own skills to educate Romany children and to cope with the problems related to
pupils with different abilities (Nagy, 2002).
4.5  Segregation, school practices
Discrimination against Romany children in the education system comes from seg-
regation  and  the  inappropriate  pedagogical  methods  used  during  their  education
(Doncsev, 2000).
According to research by Havasi, the tendency to segregate Romany children
at school has become more and more prevalent in the past years. He draws a par-
allel between this process and “the changes in the situation of the Romany popu-
lation after the change of regime; the marginalisation of masses of Romanies; the
more  and  more  impatient  behaviour  of  the  majority  society  as  a  reaction  to  the
signs of crisis; the strengthening of the segregating mechanisms in general; which
create the most varied forms of discrimination that already exists on an ethnic ba-
sis, day by day, in every area of life. These are apparent in the regulation and eve-
ryday  application  of  social  benefits  just  like  in  the  labour  market,  health  care,
choice of residence, administrative procedures linked to residence or education.”
(Havas, 2002).
Segregation  at  school  is  reflected  in  the  distribution  of  Romany  children
among the schools on the one hand, and in segregation within the schools on the
other.
Segregation among schools is primarily influenced by the fact that the segre-
gation of the places of residence of Romanies has become more prevalent in the
past years, partly due to the migration processes and partly because of the deliber-
ate segregation practices of the majority society. The 1994 representative Romany
survey  already  demonstrated  that  although  most  of  the  former  Romany  camps
were  phased  out,  in  the  beginning  of  the  1990s  60%  of  the  Romany  population
lived  under  strongly  segregated  circumstances.  As  a  result  of  this,  30%  of  the

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Romany primary school-age children go to schools in villages with less than 1000
inhabitants, where their proportion exceeds 50%, whereas only 6% of the overall
population in Hungary live in such small settlements (Havas, 2002).
From another point of view, because of a better reputation and better compli-
ance  with  the  expectations  of  the  non-Romany  parents,  the  schools  themselves
will  select  among  the  applicants.  Discrimination  starts  with  the  admission  inter-
view (Ligeti–Márton, 2003).
Thirdly, when choosing the school (not as freely as it is claimed), parents will
consider the following constraining factors: proximity of the school, satisfactory
living  conditions,  for  the  family  crucial  benefits  (food,  clothes  donations)  that
ease  the  lack  of  proper  food  and  clothing;  the  above  have  more  influence  on
choice  than  the  form  of  education  applied  at  the  school.  Very  often  the  parents
themselves require that their children attend special needs schools even if it is not
necessary for other reasons (Ligeti–Márton, 2003).
The tradition of segregating Romany children within Hungarian schools goes
back  for  decades.  At  least a  third  of  the  Romany  pupils  (10% of the  children  in
primary schools overall, which equals 32 600 out of 93 000) are taught in classes
where  the  Romany  children  form  the  majority.  Segregation  in  most  cases  is  not
based solely on ethnic origin; it contains elements of obvious ethnic discrimina-
tion as well as of general social selection that is well known from the literature.
The latter means that, on the one hand, special classes develop for the children of
families with a higher social status, which offer higher quality education and spe-
cial pedagogical services, which may be open for a few Romany children coming
from the most integrated families of highest social positions. On the other hand, it
also means that children from poor non-Romany families, with low levels of edu-
cation and low social status may be in put into classes that were established with
the aim of segregating Romany children (Havas, 2002).
In  the  schools  with  a  high  proportion  of  Romany  children  the  teachers  often
complain that they find it really difficult to cope with Romany children especially
from Year 6 or 7 onwards, as they start puberty earlier, they become impossible to
handle  and  they  disturb  teaching  with  their  destructive  behaviour.  However,  the
majority of the teachers and schools do not have serious problems with Romany
children  in  general  but  with  the  Romany  children  coming  from  poor  and  disor-
derly families who are hardly able to assimilate (Liskó, 2002a).
As  the  literature  review  and  the  various  case  studies  imply,  schools  will  em-
ploy  several techniques to cope  with  the  “difficult”  children,  which  will  eventu-
ally strengthen segregation.
“As they are not prepared for these ‘complicated’ pedagogical tasks and do not
devote time and effort to try and solve the problems, they will very often pass the
problems  on  (sending  the  children  to  a  different  school,  to  educational  counsel-
ling,  to  the  child  support  agency,  etc.).  In  more  serious  cases,  the  majority  of

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
schools simply give up educating the Romany children that “disturb” the peace of
the school; they first fail them then declare them as private students, i.e. they push
the responsibility of educating problematic children back to the family where they
problems arose in the first place.” (Liskó, 2002a).
Failing pupils
According to national statistics, in 1999 2.5% of the children failed and had to
repeat a year, while according to the Romany parents nearly a quarter of the sur-
veyed  children  in  Year  6  had  already  repeated  a  year  at  least  once  during  their
education. Children in special classes for catching up and in classes and schools
with a higher proportion of Romany children are more likely to fail.
Ilona Liskó differentiates between five clearly identifiable types of the school
practices failing pupils:
−  There are schools that fail students without mercy if they cannot pass the
minimum  criteria.  These  schools  will  have  several  older  children  in  the
Years 5–8, repeating years.
−  There  are  schools  that  would  fail  children  in  the  lower  years  (1-4)  in
particular, in the upper years they are more inclined to lower the criteria and
so  not  fail  Romany  children  so  that  they  do  not  end  up  with  problematic
older Romany adolescents in the last years.
−  There are schools where the practice is to fail large numbers of children at
the end of the first semester, but give them a “mercy” pass at the end of the
year, to lower the proportion of the older pupils.
−  One comes across schools as well that will fail even the weakest pupils in
only  a  few  subjects,  so  that  they  can  take  a  re-sit,  also  to  avoid  having  to
deal with adolescents in the classes.
−  Finally, there are also schools that do not keep failing children, they rather
lower the criteria because they do not wish to prolong the time of education
for Romany children (Liskó, 2002a).
Moving children
Declaring  children  as  handicapped  has  become  one  of  the  common  forms  of
segregating Romany children. While only 1% of the primary school children are
sent  to  special  schools  and  classes  for  backward  pupils  (where  the  criteria  are
considerably lower), 9%  of  the  Romany  children  go to  classes  with special cur-
riculum. Longitudinal data suggest that earlier the number of Romany children in
such classes was even higher – although these diminish the children’s chances in
most cases (Havas–Kemény–Liskó, 2001). While the last decade saw a decline in
student  numbers  in  public  education,  the  number  of  handicapped  children  has
continuously been increasing. According to research by Sándor Loss, in Borsod-
Abaúj-Zemplén  County  96%  of  the  special  needs  pupils  are  Romany.  Today  a

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
fifth  of  all  Romany  children  in  Hungary  attend  special  schools  (for  the  handi-
capped) (Magyar, 2003).
According  to  an  earlier  report  of  the  OECD,  from  1996,  the  proportion  of
handicapped  children  in  Hungary  is  very  high  even  in  international  comparison.
While  in  the  proportion  of  the  slightly  handicapped  children  among  primary
school pupils is 2 in 1000 in Turkey, 4 in 1000 in Finland, 9 in 1000 in Italy, it is
35  in  1000  in  Hungary  (and  this  number  has  risen  to  53  by  2002).  At  the  same
time, an international research proved that two thirds of the children in Year 1 and
2 in four special schools (for the handicapped) could fulfil the criteria of “normal”
schools (Magyar, 2003).
Antónia Hága argues that the following factors play a role in moving Romany
children into special classes:
−  The birth weight of Romany children is considerably lower than the Euro-
pean average, and the family environment burdened with difficulties such as
provide  everyday  living,  cannot  provide  the  additional  therapies  for  the
children;
−  The first meeting with the teachers may not be considered successful, pre-
sumably because of the difficulties of communication, by either the parents
or the children;
−  Conserving  unsuccessfulness  (or  failure)  will  result  in  upsetting  all  three
parties, which will then have even more negative impact on the working of
communication channels;
−  The  majority  children  in  the  so-called  normal  primary  schools  have  more
stable socialisation levels, therefore they integrate into the community of the
class much easier;
−  Romany parents usually prefer sending their children to schools where they
used to go or where siblings or relatives go as well; there is also a pressure
on the teachers from the majority that makes them more likely to get rid of
weak students so that they do not jeopardise the school performance (Hága,
2000a)
As  Havas  points  out:  “In  practice,  these  classes  (with  a  few  exceptions)  will
set  lower  criteria  and  offer  lower  pedagogical  quality,  and  this  will  result  in the
acceptance  of  the  fact  that  children  in  these  classes  are  less  able,  therefore  they
need to know less. As a result of this, the gap between them and the other children
will  not  reduce  but  rather  grow  continuously  during  their  primary  education.”
(Havas, 2002).
Turning children into private pupils
According  to  sociological  surveys,  Romany  children  are  eight  times  more
likely  to  become  exempt  from  regular school attendance than  their  non-Romany

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
peers, therefore 10% of the 14–15 year-old Romany children do not attend school
on a regular basis (Magyar, 2003).
Parents have to apply to the school to declare their children as private pupils,
the  headmaster  has  the  authority  to  grant  this  status,  but  the  decision  is  usually
made on the recommendation and initiation of the school. During the research by
Ilona Liskó, the headmasters explained granting private pupil status with the fol-
lowing reasons. In the case of the non-Romany children the most frequent reason
was a health condition (47%). In the case of the Romany children, health reasons
accounted  for  22%,  but  other  reasons  such  as  behavioural  problems,  pregnancy,
getting married (affecting almost half of the Romany children) and being over-age
were more frequent.
Giving  over-age  students  private  status  was  usually  explained  by  three  rea-
sons:
1)  They  are  not  interested  in  learning  any  more  and  they  disturb  the  others
during the class.
2)  They are frequently absent as their help is needed at home, either perform-
ing household duties or being breadwinners.
3)  The  third  most  frequently  occurring  reason  is  that  14–16  year-old  youth
start living together with their partners and some of them even become par-
ents.
Ilona Liskó points out that the reasons used for turning Romany children into
private students are the same problems that teachers listed as the problems Rom-
any  children  encounter  with  regards  to  assimilation  in  school.  This  technically
indicates that schools accept their failure in education after a few years of trying,
and move the children into private student status to attempt to gain the education,
which  they  could  not  cope  with  in  the  regular  structures  of  the  school  system
(Liskó, 2002a).
This status basically means that children are “lifted out” of the community of
the school classes; they attend school for only a few hours a week (for personal
tutoring or remedial efforts), and they have to pass exams at the end of the year. A
certificate acquired this way will obviously have a lower value. The schools will
do everything to get rid of private students, therefore teachers set very low criteria
for the exams as well (Liskó, 2002a).
Lowering criteria
The education of Romany children could produce positive, statistically meas-
urable results only when as well as segregation the criteria were lower in the case
of Romany pupils (Havas–Kemény–Liskó, 2001). Instead of teaching and educat-
ing  Romany  children,  some  schools  produce  empty  certificates  proving  the  ac-
complishment of primary education by manipulating the criteria (Liskó, 2002a).

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Setting  lower  criteria  in  schools  with  Romany  children  or  ignoring  the  real
criteria  in  their  cases  are  both  practices  motivated  by  two  factors:  intentions  of
getting rid of over-age students and maintaining the quota. A frequent occurrence
is,  for  example,  making  large  proportions  of  Romany  children  exempt  from
learning foreign languages (which may be crucial to improve their chances in the
labour  market).  Most  of  these  children  will  suffer  during  the  class  in  the  back
row,  and  a  majority  of  them  finish  school  with  insufficient  knowledge.  The
smaller  the  proportion  of  non-Romany  and  the  larger the  proportion  of  Romany
children is, the more likely it is that the criteria set for the children in these classes
will be lower,  with the  schools  blaming  the  lack  of  abilities  and skills,  or failed
socialisation in the family that the school cannot make up for (Hága, 2002). Most
Romany children, due to the hidden segregation through the curriculum (despite
the efforts of the schools to close the gap), leave primary school without having
learned to read, write or count, and without understanding most of the phenomena
of the natural world that surrounds them (Havasi–Kemény–Liskó, 2001).
5  Characteristic features of Romanies in further
education
Only a few Romany children applied for admission to comprehensive or grammar
school successfully in the 1970s and 1980s. About half of those who were admit-
ted left early. For almost 30 years, the proportion of those who accomplished sec-
ondary  education  (A-levels)  was  between  1–2%  from  each  year.  The  situation
started to change at the end of the 1980s, or more precisely after 1989. The data
from the 1994 Romany survey showed that 3% of the 20–29 year-old Romanies
had passed their exams on finishing secondary education (Liskó, 2002a). The im-
provement in figures relating to participation in further education is indicated by
the  data  that,  according  to  Antónia  Hága,  in  2000  14.3%  of  the  14–29  year-old
generation  participated  in  vocational  education  or  attended  specialised  schools;
5.1% attended comprehensive or grammar schools; with 0.75% going to univer-
sity or college (Hága, 2000a). The situation according to Polónyi’s study shows a
different  picture:  “while  49.8%  of  the  14–19  year-old  youth  has  a  certificate  of
primary education, 20.8% of the 20–24 year olds acquire a certificate in a trade or
profession,  1.2%  have  grammar  school  certificates,  and  0.3%  have  degrees
(Polónyi, 2002).
Ilona Liskó argues that the growing proportion of participation in further edu-
cation can be explained, even in the case of parents with low levels of education,
by  the  recognition  of  the  link  between  professional  skills  and  employment  op-
portunities, with the message being reinforced by primary schools; as well as by

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
the fight for the quota at secondary schools that are ready to set lower admission
criteria to achieve that (Liskó, 2002a).
As  we  saw,  participating  in  vocational  education  is  typical.  According  to  the
teachers,  Romany  children  ranked  the  various  popular  trades  and  professions  as
follows:
−  hospitality (chef, waiter/waitress);
−  commerce (shop assistant);
−  services (hairdresser, car mechanic);
−  healthcare (nurse);
−  light industry (tailor, shoe uppers maker, timber industry);
−  construction industry (bricklayer, carpenter, tiler, painter and decorator);
−  engineering industry (welder, mechanic);
−  agriculture.
The fact that the popular, “fashionable” professions among non-Romanies at
the time  (economics, computing,  electronics)  do  not feature in the  list  drawn  up
by the Romany children indicates that their deprived situation is also apparent in
their choice of careers (Liskó, 2002a).
In relation to the type of school chosen for further education, research under-
taken  by  Ilona  Liskó  indicated  that  the  order  of  preference  among  non-Romany
children was comprehensive school, vocational school and grammar school; in the
case  of  Romany  children  the  order  was  vocational  school,  comprehensive  and
specialised  school.  Despite  the  fact  that  the  proportion  of  Romanies  in  compre-
hensive  schools  has  risen,  the  proportion  of  Romany  students  in  secondary
schools offering A-levels was 19% in 1999, the same proportion of non-Romany
children was 57%.
It  is  noteworthy  that  the  figures  relating  to  participation  in  further  education
were the lowest in the case of the smallest schools. 22% of the children coming
from such schools did not gain admission to secondary schools. The data also in-
dicated  that  the  less  homogenous  the  Romany  environment  is  in  which  the  chil-
dren achieve their primary education, the more chances they have to participate
in secondary education.
In  the  case  of  schools  with  a  proportion  of  less  than  25%  Romany  children
only  5%  of  the  pupils  did  not  continue  their  studies,  whereas  in  the  case  of
schools with at least 75% Romanies, 23% of those who finished primary school
could not progress to secondary school (Liskó, 2002a).
However,  the  higher  proportion  of  admission  to  secondary  schools  does  not
necessarily  mean  that  the  Romany  students  will  actually  finish  the  studies  they
have  started.  Some  of  the  Romany  youth  applying  for  education  in  secondary
schools  do  not  start  their  studies  at  all,  while  others  leave  after  1  or  2  years.

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Leaving  secondary  school  early  was  explained  by  both  family  and  educational
reasons.
The most common “family” reasons cited were the following: more than aver-
age level of difficulties, lack of support on behalf of the family, becoming adults
early and early interest in sexuality (which much more often than in non Romany
cases  may  end  in  pregnancy),  lack  of  positive  examples,  negative  examples  of
relatives and acquaintances who “manage” without education, financial reasons.
Teachers  listed  the  following  factors  as  “educational”  reasons:  frustration
arising from realising the disadvantages, growing demand added to the disadvan-
tages gathered during primary education, lack of personal care and support, preju-
dices (Liskó, 2002a).
Even if Romany children finish their education in the chosen schools, they are
not guaranteed significantly better chances of employment. According to a study
commissioned by the World Bank: “Most of the vocational schools offer educa-
tion  in  areas  (and  this  is  particularly  true  in  deprived  regions  with  a  significant
Romany  population)  for  which  there  has  been  hardly  any  demand  for  years.”
(Hegyesiné et al. 2000).
6  Romany participation in adult education and the
relevant experience
We can attempt to draw conclusions regarding Romany participation in adult edu-
cation almost exclusively based on indirect data.
For example, research by László Zachár indicated that it was mainly the young
people  (70-75%  are  under  30)  and  the  better  educated  ones  (60–65%  had  com-
pleted  at  least  secondary  school)  who  participated  in  courses  designed  to  help
them  getting  employment  (Zachár,  2003),  the  latter  condition  indicated  lower
proportions of Romany participation.
According  to  surveys  conducted by  Babusik,  full-time  students  over  19  were
mainly the ones who had completed secondary education and A-levels. 78.7% of
the full-time Romany students with A-levels studied in higher education, the rest
were taking part mainly in re-training (Babusik, 2004a).
Klára Bajusz investigated the obstacles of participation in adult education per-
ceived by the people most in need, and she highlighted the lack of motivation, the
inappropriate offer of courses and the advancing “knowledge for money” attitude
as the main difficulties. “ As participation in adult education operates on a volun-
tary basis, usually those target groups are most difficult to reach that are the most
in  need  of  making  up  for  the  lack  of  basic  knowledge  and  skills.  The  last  years
saw an improvement in education and skills among people in active employment:
people who could not acquire skills for various reasons (deprived situation, repro-

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
duced  inequalities,  lack  of  educational institution, lack  of  abilities  to  learn,  etc.)
got  excluded  from  the  labour  market  and  became  long-term  unemployed.  These
people would need to acquire professional skills first to be able to move forward.
However, only 3% of the professions or trades listed in the National Register of
Courses  can be  acquired  without  completing  primary  education;  and  the  already
deprived groups can gain the knowledge required for the acquisition of certified
primary education in fewer and fewer primary schools. The problem is made even
worse by the fact that it is the A-levels certificate and a profession or trade build-
ing on that, rather than primary education that have become the pre-requisites of
preserving  competitiveness  and  being  successful  in  the  labour  market.”  (Bajusz,
2000).
Romanies will therefore participate primarily in supported basic courses, or in
courses  that  do  not  require  primary  education.  In  1999,  in  Szabolcs-Szatmár-
Bereg  County,  for  example,  the  courses  offered  specially  for  Romany  adults  in-
cluded agricultural worker, bulrush and willow processing, Romany farmer, bas-
ket  weaver  and  garden  furniture  joiner,  bricklayer,  green  grocer,  park  keeper,
broom maker and medicinal herb collector (326 people participated in the above
courses) (Kerülı, 2000).
7  Government initiatives/programmes to motivate
Romany groups to learn
In 2000, Antónia Hága reported on the government initiatives between 1990 and
2000. The most important events that took place in that period included:
−  The development of a Romany educational programme in 1992 that empha-
sised  the  characteristics  of  the  Romany  ethnic  culture;  devoted  special  at-
tention  to  the  emancipation  of  the  Romany  language  and  culture  (when
comparing  Romany  education  with  nationality  education  in  general);  and
suggested establishing Departments of Romany Studies as well as publish-
ing course books in the Romany language.
−  The Romany educational programme of 1995 retained almost all of the ele-
ments  of  the  1992  programme,  but  also  organised  them  and  extended  the
elements  that  were  only  partially  achieved.  As  well  as  this,  the  objectives
and activities of the 1992 programme were extended to almost every area of
the  educational  system.  The  1995  programme  paid  special  attention  to
helping  Romany  children  (in  statutory  education  and  the  young  unem-
ployed) in catching up, to supporting the talented ones and to the intercul-
tural differences in general. It set out to teach knowledge about Romanies in
the  higher  education  curriculum,  especially  in  teacher  training  institutions.

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
This  programme  regarded  Romanies  as  a  socially  deprived  ethnic  group,
and the action points were based on this recognition.
−  The 1997 educational action plan of the government was mostly a continua-
tion  of  the  1995  programme  in  its  way  of  thinking,  mentality  and  actions,
although  its logic  still left some  room  for  criticism.  The  National  Curricu-
lum  was  about  the  “special  principles  of  education  of  national  and  ethnic
minorities”, and also mentioned intercultural education. The aim of defining
this notion in the National Curriculum was to allow the children of minori-
ties and the majority to acquire knowledge together about the culture of the
minorities  and  the  knowledge  of  the  minorities,  or  even  a  minority  lan-
guage. Another innovation of the National Curriculum allowed the Romany
remedial catching up programme to include the teaching of one of the Rom-
any  languages  according  to  the  criteria  of  language  education  (Hága,
2000a).
Actions taken:
−  Ministry of Culture – Ministry of Education: the Ministry of Culture, as part
of  their  medium-term  action  plan  (Summer  of  1997)  offered  fee  support
grants that Romany university or college students could apply for: in 1997,
153 students were given 7 322 000 HUF, while in 1998 108 students got 2
900 000 HUF grants.
−  The Public Foundation for National and Ethnic Minorities in Hungary pro-
vided  support  for  401  secondary  school  students  and  128  in  higher  educa-
tion, the total support amounted to 29 million HUF, in 1998 540 secondary
school and 103 higher education students were granted more than 37 million
HUF support.
−  The Public Foundation for Romanies in Hungary spent 25 million HUF in
1997  on  grants  supporting  272  young  people  in  primary  and  specialised
schools;  the  amount  rose  to  30  million  in  the  1998/99  school  year.  The
grants were available for children in primary schools who achieve the high-
est marks (Czinka Panna grant), and who achieve good results. The grants
were also available for young adults who want to continue their interrupted
studies to acquire A-levels.
−  Gandhi  Public  Foundation:  while  this  foundation  was  supported  by  325
million  HUF  from  the  budget  in  1997,  the  amount  has  gradually  been  re-
duced until the present day. In 1998, the amount was 230 million, in 1999
210 million, in 2000 the amount was modified to 200 million HUF. One of
the reasons behind the reduction of the amount was that the investment re-
lating to the grammar schools required less and less resources.
−  Normative  support:  The  educational  institutions  claimed  minority-based
normative support for Romany education for 68,312 children in the 1996/97

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
school year, in the 1997/98 school year the support was claimed for 31,034
students. The spectacular difference between the two years comes from the
fact  that  in  the  1997/98  school  year  the  schools  had  to  set  up  remedial
catching up programmes; and had to have these assessed by the local Rom-
any  minority  authorities  or  (if these  were  not  present  in the region)  by  the
relevant department of the Ministry (Hága, 2000a).
A speech by Bálint Magyar provided a summary of the events between 2000
and  2005.  The  most  important  event  of  the  period  was  the  passing  of  the  new
Education  Act.  The  law  was  enhanced  with  elements  of  anti-discrimination;  the
notion of the deprived situation was defined and the period of statutory education
was extended.
Other aspects that merit mention include:
−  Establishment of the ministerial office for deprived and Romany children.
−  Normative  support  for  preparing  for  integration:  this  opened  the  way  for
several  children  to  acquire  the  required  level  of  education  in  the  majority
society. This provided extra funds to end the practice of segregated classes
by providing tailor made support for children lagging behind.
−  Organisation of the National Educational Integration Network: the integra-
tion mechanisms suggested by sociological research are getting realised na-
tion-wide,  and  modern  pedagogical  methods  are  becoming  widely  used  in
the education of deprived children. Children cannot be exempt from learn-
ing foreign languages because they are taking part in Romany minority edu-
cation.
−  Introduction of the “alternative school” method: deprived children are of-
fered  extra-school  activities  that  should  help  improve  their  success  in
school.
−  Ministry of Education PHARE grants: these give a new impetus to innova-
tion in institutions, such as developing Romany Community Centres, mak-
ing  Romany  studies  courses  widely  available  in  the  higher  educational  in-
stitutions, developing integrated pedagogical methods and making these ac-
cessible (Magyar, 2003).
8  Model programmes aimed at improving the educational
level of Romanies
In the past few years, educational programmes were piloted in Hungary that had
been developed by non-Romany experts with experience in teaching and educat-
ing  Romany  children  as  well  as  Romany  experts.  Children  and  parent  had  also

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G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
been involved in their work. These are mainly civil initiatives, which enjoyed and
still  enjoy  help  from  abroad  to  support  them  professionally  and  financially.  An-
other common feature of these initiatives is that children enjoy going to these in-
stitutions. The 1999 study commissioned by the World Bank provided a detailed
analysis of the model programmes (Hegyesiné et al. 2000).
Kalyi Yag Specialised Nationality School for the Romany
The  school  in  Budapest  was  founded  by  the  Kalyi  Yag  Arts  Association  in
1993.  The  specialised  school  is  open  for  students  with  certified  primary  educa-
tion.  The  main  objective  of  the  institution  is  to  provide  the  14–25  year-old  un-
skilled youth with a 2-year course that will make them able to attend another edu-
cational institution in the future. 59 people took part in the course between 1996
and 1998. Only Romany students attend the school.
Alternative School in Józsefváros
The school was established by the Alternative School in Józsefváros Founda-
tion,  which  carries  its  objectives  in  its  name:  it  aims  to  enhance  the  success  in
school of Romany children in Józsefváros (district VIII. in Budapest) and support
them in progressing to further education. The intake is always 48 children, 98% of
which  are  of  Romany  origin.  It  must  be  noted  that  this  cannot  be  regarded  as  a
traditional  educational  method  therefore  the  school  can  claim  only  a  part  of  the
normative support. The Soros Foundation and various Dutch foundations provide
significant support.
Chance for Romanies Alternative Foundation School, Szolnok
The  Lungo  Drom  National  Romany  Association founded  the  school in  1996.
Their primary objective is to provide professional or trade skills for socially de-
prived  Romany  or  non-Romany  youth  who  left  secondary  school  early,  without
basic and specialist education. At the beginning the school had 60 students, by the
year 2000/2001 (with it turning into a secondary school) the number went up to
nearly  400  full-time  or  part-time  students.  The  local  authority  of  Szolnok  took
part in the programme by providing a new school building and entering a public
education  agreement.  With  the  new  school  building,  the  old  building  became
available for setting up a college for supporting talented youth. Originally 50, af-
ter the expansion 80, students could participate in remedial, catching up and talent
supporting  programmes  as  well  as  ethnicity,  character  development  and  self-
knowledge programmes.
Ariadne Specialist and Career Planning School
The  school  was  set  up  in  Budapest  by  the  Ariadne  Cultural  Foundation  in
1997.  The  institution  aims  to  provide  assistance  for  those  who  are  unemployed

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
due to their lack of their education. Together with the Budapest Job Centre, they
educate and help choosing a career 90–110 Romany and non-Romany youth.
Foundation Work School, Edelény
This  educational  project  was  developed  between  1990  and  1991  by  a
team of teachers trained to educate special needs students. In the 1996/97
school year 67 slightly or intermediately handicapped children of primary
school  or  nursery  school  age  attended  the  school,  most  of  whom  were
Romany.
Gandhi Grammar School and Student Residence, Pécs
The institution is run by the Gandhi Public Foundation. The foundation aims
to help the education of open-minded children who are responsive to learning, and
are attached to their people and their mother tongue, by establishing and running
nurseries, primary and secondary schools. The foundation operated with 965 mil-
lion HUF between 1997 and 2000. In the 1997/98 school year 180 Romany and
non-Romany  children  attended  the  school,  rising  to  218  in  the  1998/99  school
year.
Primary School, Nyírtelek
This is  a  primary  school  offering  the  8-year  education  curriculum,  where the
majority  of  the  pupils  are  Romany.  The  school  introduced  the  Romany  pro-
gramme in 1996. The aim is to help as many children as possible to progress into
secondary education. The central element of the programme is the so-called “Nice
House”.
Collegium Martineum, Mánfa
The idea to set up this school was born in 1996, in the minds of people at the
Roman  Catholic  Parish  of Alsószentmárton,  at the  St  Martin  Caritas (Charitable
Organisation) and the Pécs Diocese Caritas (Charitable Organisation) and of tal-
ented  Romany  children.  The  founders  of  the  Collegium  aim  to  educate  venture-
some citizens; people who are familiar with the practice of democracy in family
situations  in  an  atmosphere  that  motivates  them  to  learn.  This  institution  is  also
dependent on foreign support.
Education Integrated With Work
József Mayer argues for the need for methods in adult education that involve
the  mental  preparation  of  children  to  learning,  enhance  motivations  to  learning,
are  individual-oriented  and  take  the  individuals’  learning  needs  into  account.
These methods are included in the educational methodology that was jointly de-
veloped  by  the  Ministry  of  Education,  the  National  Employment  Fund  and  the

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Integration Development Centre of the National Public Education Institute as the
“Education  Integrated  With  Work”  programme  in  2003.  The  programme  was
based  on  the  ‘janitor  programme’  of  Ózd,  and  it  builds  on  independent  learning
while in employment (if the person stops their studies they will lose their job as
well). It is supported by 2 hours a week individual mentoring and also by activi-
ties in preparation for the exams, run by teachers who will be the examiners. Stu-
dents  will  achieve  the  equivalent  of  secondary  level  education  at  the  end  of  the
programme.
The programme launched by the Ministerial Office for the Integration of De-
prived and Romany Children; the Secretariat General of Equality of the Ministry
of  Work  and  Employment  Policy  and  by  the  Office  of  Romany  Issues  of  the
Prime Minister’s Office, offered 150 unemployed Romany young people between
18  and  35  the  opportunity  to  acquire  A-levels  or  a  profession  and  also  work  in
public  education.  The  educational  institutes  (primarily  schools  and  nurseries  in
the  Northern  Hungary,  Southern Transdanubia,  Southern  Great  Plain and  North-
ern Great Plain regions where the proportion of Romany children exceeded 20%)
had  to  apply  for  the  programme  together  with  the  employer.  As  a  result  of  the
programme, pedagogical assistants, youth mentors and children and youth super-
visors  have  been  trained.  The  applicants  took  part  in  2,  3  or  4-year  courses  de-
pending on the number of years they had finished (8 years of primary school, 9 or
10 years) and on their school performance. So-called mentors assisted the partici-
pants in their studies (in the preparation for the A-levels and for the professional
exams)  in  the  supported  institutions,  and  they  did  their  placement  working  as
pedagogical assistants or helpers, for which they got paid. The educational insti-
tutions were obliged to employ the Romany participants for at least another two
years,  which  the  founders  of  the  programme  thought  would  ensure  permanent
employment.
The  Labour  Market  Fund  finances  the  five  years  long  programme  with  640
million HUF, which amount includes the costs of the education and exams of the
150 young people, their salaries (which is 50,000 HUF in the first year, 55,000 in
the second and third years and 60,000 HUF per person from 2006) and the addi-
tional benefits that public servants are entitled to (www.magyarorszag.hu, 2003).
OECD Romany Computing Project
The project financed by OECD funds aimed to develop the content of educa-
tion in computing and to improve the personal and material conditions for that in
the most deprived regions. The teachers training course at the core of the project
focuses on spreading the approach of using modern computing techniques (Fehér,
2004).

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
V
RESULT OF THE GOVERNMENT POLICIES
REGARDING ROMANIES
1  Government policies regarding Romanies37
The  governments  in  power  after  the  regime  change  had  to  face  the  issue  of  mi-
norities that had been pushed to the background for decades, especially the never
solved  problems  of  the  Romany  minority  that  became  even  more  reinforced  by
the social-economical changes.
The Antall Government established the Office of National and Ethnic Minori-
ties in 1990, which played a significant part in developing programmes involving
Romanies  from  the  mid–1990s.  From  1998,  an  appointed  vice-president  was  in
charge of co-ordinating Romany issues within the office.
As  a  major  step  in  legislation  regarding  minorities  was  the  passing  of  the
LXXVII/1993  Law  on  the  rights  of  national  and  ethnic  minorities.  The  law  on
minorities is of exceptional importance for the Hungarian Romany population, as
this was the first item of legislation that had recognised this population as a mi-
nority, as elements of the state, ensuring their individual rights as well as the op-
portunity for collective self-organisation. The process stresses the importance and
impact  of  the  law:  the  years  1994  and  1995  saw  the  establishment  of  477  local
Romany minority authorities and that of the National Romany Minority Authority
involving 53 people. Romany minority authorities were set up in 764 settlements
in  1998,  and  in  998  settlements  in  2000,  which  meant  that  every  second  settle-
ment with a Romany population had a Romany minority authority.
The most pressing issue for the Romanies in the 1990s (and ever since due to
the poverty of their situation) was the radical and quick improvement in their so-
cial and employment conditions, an issue that was more pressing than the priori-
ties  of  other  minority  groups.  The  social  integration  of  Romany  people  in  Hun-
gary sets tasks not only for the government and local authorities but also for the
institutional system of employment and civil organisations as well. An experience
learned from joint actions is that integrative initiatives are most successful if they
build on the continuous activity of the minorities, based on civic self-organisation.

37 Some  of  the  following  review  chapters  were  written  based  on  the  publication  Facts  about
Hungary, Ministry of Foreign Affair, 2004 www.kum.hu

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
A  democratic  public  life  and  the  growing  self-awareness  of  the  Romany
population are indicated by the fact that people belonging to the Romany minority
are more and more often willing to declare their ethnic origin. The data from the
last  census  reflects  the  process  quite  clearly.  While  in  1990  142,683  people  de-
clared themselves Romanies, a decade later in 2001 the figure was 189,984, and it
is  well  known  that  the  official  figure  is  much  lower  than  the  actual  number  of
Romanies,  estimated  to  be  between  400  and  600  thousands.  The  proportion  of
Romany  language  users and  the attachment  to cultural  values  that  was  surveyed
for the first time in 2001, also suggests a willingness to declare Romany identity.
At the time of the first census in the 21st century in Hungary, 50,000 people de-
clared  to  have  a  Romany  mother  tongue  (Romany  or  beás)  and  130,000  people
claimed to be attached to the traditions and cultural values of the Romany ethnic-
ity.
The LXXIX/1993 Law on public education is relevant in influencing the situa-
tion and future of the Romany population; the 1996 and 2003 amendments of the
law granted the rights for national and local minority authorities to establish and
run  educational  institutions.  At  the  same  time  they  also  highlighted  suppressing
segregation at schools as an objective.
Another  important  piece  of  legislation  from  the  Romany  point  of  view  is  the
LIX/1993 Law on the office in charge of the rights of national and ethnic minori-
ties, which establishes the institution of the minority ombudsman.
2  Government actions
From 1995, concrete government programmes supplemented the establishment of
the basic minority legislation and its institutional system. The policies regarding
Romanies  (regardless  of  the  changing  political  background  of  the  governments)
have  always  been  characterised  by  the  intentions  to  help  social  integration  and
within that tackling social problems, as well as the preserving of Romany identity,
language and cultural values.
In 1995, the government accepted a short-term integration programme, defined
the  need  to  develop  a  medium-term  programme  and  established  the  Council  for
Co-ordinating  Romany  Issues  and  the  Public  Foundation  for  the  Romanies  in
Hungary to support the efforts to create equal opportunities.
The  first  medium-term  package  of  measures  (1093/1997  government  order)
was  developed  based  on  the  resolutions  of  the  above-mentioned  short-term  pro-
gramme, which among other actions considered the tasks of social integration of
the Romany minority. This defined the most urgent tasks regarding programmes

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
aimed  at  stopping  educational  segregation,  improving  the  employment  situation
and managing social crisis.
The 1047/1999 government order basically followed the objectives defined in
1997, but gave priority to the tasks in relation to education and culture. The pref-
erences  included  a  qualitative  development  of  the  content  of  primary  education
and the prevention of children leaving secondary education early. With regards to
culture, the preferences related to the development of the institutional system nec-
essary to the development of community life and the training of professionals re-
quired  to  carrying  out  the  developments.  In  the  area  of  employment,  the  prefer-
ences  involved  supporting  the  long-term  unemployed  and  first-time  job  seekers,
the need for public service and community development projects and the need for
devising  complex  regional  development  programmes  to  improve  living  condi-
tions.
The Interdepartmental Committee of Romany Affairs was set up in 1999; in the
following years the budget of ministries that involved or were dedicated to Rom-
any-related  activities  grew  every  year  (4.85  billion  in  2000,  5.2  billion  in  2001,
7.4 billion in 2002).
As a result of the above mentioned ministerial order of 1999, the decision has
been  made  to  develop  a  long-term  social  and  minority-political  strategy  and  on
developing government programmes on three levels:
−  Concrete programmes and projects will feature in the yearly action plan of
the individual involved departments,
−  The tasks for the 3-4 year period of a government cycle will be determined
in the medium-term package of measures,
−  The principles and complex objectives for a 20–25 years period will be de-
fined in the long-term strategy.
Another  requirement  concerns  the  further  development  of  the  legislation  on
banning  discrimination,  and  the  need  for  publicity  and  transparency,  as  well  as
for a complex approach to address the problems.
Three sectoral priorities were named to improve the living conditions of Rom-
any people: education, employment and improvement of the conditions of family
welfare. As general priorities, preventing the social-political exclusion of Romany
people  and  encouraging  their  participation  in  social-political  affairs  are  men-
tioned.
The Ministry of Justice, the Office for National and Ethnic Minorities and the
National  Romany  Minority  Authority  set  up  together  the  Anti-Discrimination
Customer Service Network in 2001, a framework within which 30 offices operate.
The new medium-term programme, accepted in March 2004 (1021/2004 gov-
ernment order) defines the necessary government action for the social integration
of  the  Romany  population  in  line  with  the  previous  measures  and  objectives.  A

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
new element of the programme refers to the introduction of follow-up monitoring
of the utilisation of financial resources.
A stronger Romany participation in  political and public life is indicated by the
facts that there are 4 Romany politicians in the Parliament, Romany minority au-
thorities  were  elected  in  roughly  1000  settlements  in  the  autumn  of  2002,  with
almost 4000 Romanies working for them. At the latest local elections more than
500 Romany local authority councillors and 4 Romany mayors were elected. The
first  political  secretary  of  Romany  origin  has  been  elected  in  this  period.  In  the
Medgyessy  Government,  the  issues  of  the  social  integration  of  the  Romany
population and improvement of their social situation and other Romany-political
issues of strategic relevance were under the control and co-ordination of the state
secretary  belonging  to  the  Prime  Minister’s  Office  (at  the  moment  part  of  the
Ministry of Youth, Family and Equal Opportunities).
There  are  also  office  holders  of  Romany  origin  working  for  ministries  (the
Ministry  of  Education  and  the  Ministry  of  National  Cultural  Heritage  employ
Romany ministerial officers).
The  CXXV/2003  Law  on  equal  treatment  and  promoting  equal  opportunities
came  to  force  in  January  2004,  which  in  compliance  with  the  legislation  of  the
European Union, introduced a system of sanctions to reduce negative discrimina-
tion.
3  Latest government measures regarding education
It has become apparent even at government level that education is a key issue for
the integration of the Romany and for ensuring their equal opportunities. 90% of
the Romany children finish primary school, and most of those are completing the
primary education (85%) progress to secondary education. The proportion of Ro-
manies in secondary education has risen, however, it must be noted that the ma-
jority  of  the  Romany  youth  acquire  skills  in  low-prestige  trades  and  professions
that are not in demand in the labour market, and which do not offer job opportu-
nities.  Higher  education  still  seems  to  exclude  Romany  people,  as  only  0.3%  of
them get a degree.
Ministerial and public foundation grants support Romany youth in their stud-
ies. The number of students who were granted support has risen in the last years,
while  in  1998 750, in  2001  12 thousand and in  2003  19  thousand  young  people
received grants to help with their studies.
To  ensure  long-term  equal  opportunities  for  the  Romany  population,  depart-
ments  of  Romany  Studies were  established  at several  higher  educational institu-
tions, or various courses are offered specialising in Romany Studies.

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Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
The  management  of  Hungarian  public  education  adopted  a  new  approach  to-
wards  Romany  children  from  the  beginning  of  the  2003/2004  school  year.  The
1999  modification  of  the  law  on  public education  introduced  stricter regulations
for putting children into “special needs” schools, while the 2003 modification of
the  law  orders  the  ending  of  the  practice  of  segregation  with  “special  needs”
schools, and at the same introduces anti-discrimination measures to ensure equal
opportunities  in  schools.  The  type  of  education  called  “catching  up  education”
with a euphemism that produces segregation, may be succeeded by an integrative
educational approach, which is aimed to assist the development of abilities; which
handles  Romany  and  non-Romany  students  together;  and  which  is  expected  to
result in integration based on joint and same quality education.
According to the data from the European Committee, with the enlargement of
the  European  Union  the  number  of  European  citizens  in  the  EU  who  speak  mi-
nority languages has risen from 40 million to 46 million. This trend and with the
accession of other countries in the near future resulting in an even higher propor-
tion  of  minorities,  indicate  more  obviously  that  the  integration  of  the  Romany
communities (representing the largest proportion among the minorities) cannot be
solved  within  the  national  borders  and  based  solely  on  the  national  efforts.  The
Romany question raises more and more interest in the European international fo-
rums  as  well.  It  may  be  considered  as  an  outcome  of  this  that  “The  decade  of
Romany integration” has been launched, on the initiative of the World Bank and
the  Open  Society  Institute,  with  the  participation  of  the  governments  of  several
countries. The programme aims to develop educational and training programmes
(focussing  on  the  area  of  life-long  learning  in  adult  education)  financed  by  the
Romany Education Fund which is still to be set up.
The relevant Ministry took several concrete actions to ensure equal opportuni-
ties for the deprived and Romany children38 in the year 2003, the starting point of
our analysis. These are:
−  Establishment and management of the National Educational Integration Net-
work
−  Introduction of the integration quota (in order to stop segregation)
−  Revision  of  the  handicapped  classification,  actions  taken  to  phase  out
“pseudo-handicaps” (“From the back row” programme)
−  Modification of the Law on public education (banning segregation and dis-
crimination in schools as well as failing pupils in the years 1-3)
−  Supporting research and educational programmes in Romany Studies
−  Supporting model programmes and special educational institutions

38 Based on the http://www.hungria.org.br/governmental_actions_concerning_roma_affairs.doc

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There was a project fund of 300 000 million HUF available for the 45 selected
so-called  base  schools  to  run  programmes  promoting  this  sort  of  learning.  The
main aim of the integration quota is to help end the practice of segregated classes
by the 2008/2009 school year. The schools could apply for the normative de-seg-
regation  support  of  51  000  HUF  per  student  per  year  for  the  first  time  in  the
2003/2004 school year, to support children in Year 1 and 5.
The revision of the abilities of slightly handicapped children in the years 1 and
2 has also started. The children the experts declared “pseudo-handicapped” were
to be moved to normal schools. In accordance with the evidence of the 2003 sur-
vey, the number of children moved back to ordinary schools was 230, compared
to the 60-70 children per year in the previous years. Legislation ensured the com-
pulsory  admission  of  deprived  children  into  nurseries  and  also  the  provision  of
free  meals.  As  a  new  element  of  the  legislation,  the  alternative  school  method
providing opportunities for additional school educational activities has started to
operate.
Accredited courses in Romany Studies were introduced to the continuous pro-
fessional  development  programmes  for  teachers  of  Romany  children.  Romany
culture  modules  were  also introduced in  the lower  years  of  primary  school. The
ministry has also funded research programmes to assist minority education.
Workshops on Romany culture were financed, whilst young Romanies partici-
pating  in  fee-paying  higher  education  or  in  preparation  courses  for  university
were  provided  grants.  Resources  were  made  available  for  developments  in  spe-
cialist  schools  and  for  extra-school  development,  for  foreign  language  teaching
for Romany children and for supporting talented children.
Calls for research projects supporting  minority education and developing lin-
guistic and methodological course material to assist the teaching of the Romany
and beás languages were announced.

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VI
GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE AND EFFORTS IN
ROMANY AFFAIRS39
1  The positive and negative sides of the efforts towards
Romany integration
No one would argue that the Romany integration is a national issue (6–8% of the
population is of Romany origin). Their social integration is of key importance in
terms of the competitiveness of the country. More than 90% of the ethnic popula-
tion are dependants; therefore they cannot contribute to the GDP. It is in the na-
tional and  economical interest  as  well  as a  social  one  to  turn the  dependants  re-
ceiving  benefits  into tax  paying  citizens. “350,000  of  the  600,000  Romanies  are
active, but only 80–90,000 are in employment. There is no information about the
rest. Therefore the  task  is  to  pull the  rest in to the  labour  market.” The  employ-
ment  institutions  and  “their  operations  do  not  seem  to  satisfy  people,  especially
not the ones concerned”.
Romany people suffer from discrimination, “the character of which is roughly
known but the symptoms are not always easy to recognise.”
According to some opinions, the question is not decided in practice yet as to
whether we should be talking about assimilation or integration. The governmental
measures refer to one in some cases and to the other element in others. This im-
plies  that  even  the  developers  of  the  programmes  are  still  not  clear  about  this
theoretical-methodological and practical question.
Experts argue that “we cannot generalise, we need a layer-specific approach”.
“The notion of poverty is not equal to the notion of Romany lifestyle, nor should
we allow people to use them as synonyms.” In the opinion of the interviewees the
situation has not got much better in the institutions. It is difficult to do anything
from  outside  even  through  legislation  because  of  the  internal,  very  often  hidden
segregation within the schools.
“Things have started to change” some suggested. “Romanies are now present
in  public  administration  and  education.”  The  government  declared  the  issue  as
important  and  are  dealing  with  it  on  a  daily  basis:  a  secretary  of  state  has  been
appointed  and  there  are  Romany  ministerial  officers  and  referents  dealing  with

39 The statements of the following chapters are based on the interviews conducted with the relevant
ministerial officers and referents in ministries dealing with Romany affairs

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
Romany  questions.  The  status  of  the  Romany  referent  seems  to  be  well  known,
however: “the people in question have not got enough latitude; they would need a
wider  sphere  of  authority.”  “The  government  has  done  a  lot,  but  not  enough”
some pointed out with a hint of sarcasm. This year, the “cutting of the budget will
impede even more” the realisation of certain of the tasks. Although there are ref-
erents  in  the  ministries,  they  have  neither  authority  nor  a  budget  to  work  with.
They are on their own within the ministries concerned. “The system is badly or-
ganised.  The  Inter-Ministerial  Committee  of  Romany  Affairs  expects  a  report
from the relevant ministries only once a year.”
The  Public  Foundation  for  the  Romanies  in  Hungary  programme  provides
grants  for  20  thousand  Romany  students  a  year.  However,  there  were  no  major
successes  or  basic  changes  in  the  last  10–15  years,  only  parts  of  the  resolutions
ever  seem  to  be  realised. The  measures  will  presumably  have  more  value  in  the
future, so that the next generation will be able to enjoy the results.
A  strong  opinion  suggests  that  even  with  the  frameworks  established  so  far
(beyond the legislative conditions) the system can only work if or when the Rom-
any  intellectuals  of  today,  the  Romany  people  themselves  are  in  position  to  be
able to pass on their values within the middle class, and if or when the majority
society is also able to accept those. “There are no signs of mixed marriages yet”,
which  could  be  considered  as  real  signs  of  social  integration.  The  example  of
middle-class mixed (Romany and non-Romany) families could act as a motivator
for further integration. “The relationships with Romany people may even be con-
sidered exotic; however, no long-term relationships or marriages are established.”
“We can talk about integration when Romany people really have equal oppor-
tunities” others suggest. Several interviewees emphasised the importance of pre-
serving Romany culture. Integration will only happen, as one of our respondents
summarised  the  various  opinions  “when  both  social  groups,  Romanies  and  non-
Romanies, enjoy the same rights and conditions.”
“Integration  is  decided  at  local  level,  it  depends  on  the  leaders  of  the  settle-
ments  as  well.”  If  they  and  the  local  elite  do  not  support  Romany  integration
within  the  settlements,  there  is  hardly  any  chance  that  the  attitude  will  become
widely spread and the practice of integration encouraged to develop.
According to the interviewees, some of the major achievements of the integra-
tion process are: the development of the Romany intellectual; the support system
that is already in operation; the laws and the shaping of the new institutional sys-
tem; the government order 1021/2004 that defines the responsibilities; the grow-
ing  numbers  of  Romany  civil  organisations  and  their  operation;  the  social  com-
munication on the subject; and the fact that more and more people from the ma-
jority society consider integration important as “they realised this is the problem
of the country not of the Romany population.”

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
The negative side of the process is that only some of the organisations of the
public  administration  system  understand  the  necessity  of  integration.  According
to the respondents, several people are not aware of the meaning of social integra-
tion.  “Some  people  in  the  ministries  are  in  the  belief  that  ‘integration  concerns
handicapped people’, the ‘Decade of the Romany People’ programme is only an
empty  phrase”. The  “1021/2004  government  order  needs  improving”,  which  de-
fines education, housing, health care and employment as priorities. These are the
key areas along which integration needs to be discussed. “It is not enough to de-
clare  what  needs  to be  done  and  how: substantial financial  resources  need to  be
mobilised”, that would produce results in 10–15 years.
Several of the opinions given list the negatives. When only one in every 100
Romany studies in higher education, “there is no Romany intellect”. The Romany
organisations “claim to have a national mandate, although in most cases they only
have  regional  authority.”  The  cohesive  forces  are  missing  that  could  move  the
social processes in the right direction. Several people are now disillusioned about
policies regarding Romanies. “Only a few Romanies ask themselves the question
whether they want to work in politics concerning Romanies, as what they can see
is that the promises usually are not kept.”
Positive discrimination also seems to be regarded as nothing more than a slo-
gan. “The way it is communicated suggests that Romanies get priorities, but this
is not the case.” “Politics, the unsuitable PR activities and the unsuitable experts
who do not communicate information properly are mostly to be blamed for that.”
The general stereotypes society holds also impede progress.
In the opinion of our interviewees, there have not been significant changes in
the lives of the Romany groups, their conditions worsen and their situation seems
hopeless. “There are no high hopes that anything would change in the near future,
apparently not even in the National Development Plan II.”
We heard some interesting personal opinions during the interviews and present
them here in the following paragraphs.
The  Romany  minority  authorities  “have  no  resources,  membership  is  not  a
condition of education, and they cannot afford to employ advisors.” “Their work
depends on the big local authorities, which usually reign over them.” “The local
authorities act as dictators during the Romany programmes.”
“Forms of education developed for the Romanies as ways of catching up: they
mean segregation at mass level! Integration cannot work like that!” “Teachers do
not  acquire  qualifications  before  starting  their  career;  there  is  no  “prejudice-fil-
ter”.  “They  participate  in  only  a  few  courses  where  they  could  learn  about  de-
prived children.”
“There are no group solutions for the problems of the Romanies as these tend
to  do  more  harm  than  good,  they  need  individual support.  However,  if  someone

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starts  to  act  charitably  in  a  village,  everybody  will  assume  the  person  wants  to
become the mayor.”
“A  modern-age  slavery  has  developed  after  the  change  of  regime,  we  can  be
grateful that it has happened without blood shed.”
“Ethnic discrimination exists, as it is not the knowledge or experience that is
decisive but the ‘goodwill’ of the employer.”
2   Priorities and necessary actions
Some argue that “Everything is interrelated with everything else”, but if it comes
to prioritising, “education must come first”. “The lack of education constitutes a
major problem. The gap seems to have been widening between the Romany and
non-Romany  people’s  educational  level since  the  regime  change”;  therefore  this
has led to the Romanies being more and more excluded from the labour market.
This is one of the reasons why life-long learning is so important. Unless they are
integrated at least into the education and training systems preparing for employ-
ment, “Romanies will get employed even in the best case only in the grey or black
economy for the rest of their lives.”
Almost all the opinions agree that making education a priority is the first task;
education  requires  more  support  than  the  current  practice,  so  that  “children  are
able to learn even if the parents are unemployed”. Changing the parents’ attitude,
providing the opportunity to learn and “enabling children to achieve higher levels
of education than their parents” are of key importance. These may be giant steps
with regards to inter- and intra-generational mobility.
Among the learning conditions “ensuring the living standards of families is the
most important”. The parents’ employment mobility needs to be enhanced; “they
need  to  be  trained  to  be  able  to  react  to  the  supply  of  the  labour  force.  (“We
should not train ‘National Register of Courses’ certified park keepers!”)
Facilitating  involvement  in  education  and  training  is  a  key  issue  of  life-long
learning. The job centres do not consider offering a third qualification to someone
already with two trades or professions a challenge. A challenge is to acquire the
first  qualification.  If  someone  has  a  negative  experience  from  school,  they  will
find it difficult to start again. Life-long learning is the future but the foundations
of this need to be laid in the present. “You can always bring the values out of an
individual.  It  is  important  that  the  deprived  recognise  that  they  can  help  them-
selves.”  “The  complexity  of  the  issue  needs  to  be  seen  and  shown.”  However:
“Willingness  and  strengthening  of  personal  and  community  motivation  must
come first”.

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Employment comes second in the list of priorities; housing is third (however,
“they need to be prepared to live in a flat before they are provided a home, they
need to learn what is it like to live in a flat, how to appreciate it with all the re-
lated costs and problems”); health care comes next. “Culture follows these on the
list.”
Developing new forms of employment and ensuring permeability will also en-
hance the social integration of Romany people(for example we were asked “how
some doing community service or participating in the social land programme can
become a qualified worker with a stable living?”).
Those  who  claim  that  the  system  does  not  help  them  “will  not  choose  legal
employment because of the taxes and contributions”.
“In Hungary, people’s values are considered as an ethnic question.” The Rom-
any community is especially sensitive to that. The majority society forces its val-
ues  on  to  the  minorities.  It  is  therefore  important  to  fight  discrimination,  to
strengthen social partnerships, to make work places accommodating and to adjust
the  project  funds  system.  It  is  also  crucial  to  raise  the  number  of  programmes
aimed at Romanies but only when and where they are necessary; otherwise they
will  lead  to  segregation.  “If  the  management  is  vigilant”,  they  know  to  which
point the Romany and non-Romany groups need to be handled separately.
“The plans are impressive”, some of the interviewees comment, “but most of
them never get realised due to the lack of funding”.
3  Practice of educational mobility
“This notion does not exist” in the Romany population, as a lot of the respondents
suggest.  Most  of the  Romanies  do  not  possess  knowledge  and  skills  valuable in
the labour market, only ones that are temporary and outdated. The training insti-
tutions have different interests to helping a number of people getting employed. It
is a “circulation system”; they “expect the re-trained people back”.
“A  few  years  ago  there  were  38  courses  in  the  National  Register  of  Courses
altogether  that  could  be  done  with  only  8  years  of  primary  education.  Now  the
number is even less, one usually needs at least 10 years of education to acquire a
qualification.”
The Romanies participating in higher education and the graduates can be men-
tioned as good examples of educational mobility, “but what is also true is that a
lot of today’s intellectuals did not start like that”. Not only has their professional
and general knowledge changed due to education, but also their value system and
maybe their attachment as well. “Becoming part of the middle class” is more and

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more likely to bring with it a change in their identity, with it the need and practice
of segregating them from the original group.
4  Dissemination of the practice of life-long learning
“There are basic problems that impede dissemination” – some people argue.
“The  old  Romany  communities  were  ‘knowledge-based’  communities,  but
they are not like that today!”
“The  Romanies  cannot  see  themselves  in  today’s  Hungarian  society.  If  they
cannot  perceive that they  have  also  contributed  to forming  that  society,  they  are
not  going  to  feel  contented  in  it.  Dissemination  cannot  be  achieved  if  the  target
group cannot see their place in society!” “The number of Romanies in the Hun-
garian  society  is  too  high  for  the  country  to  be  able  to  support  so  many  under-
qualified people.”
The Romany community in Hungary is far from homogenous: there are three
distinct  groups, all  of  which  have  their  own character,  therefore  they  need  to  be
addressed considering that.”
According  to  several  people  “establishing  the  practice  and  dissemination  (of
life-long learning) are possible only of the conditions of primary and further edu-
cation  are  changed  and  they  are  harmonised.  It  seems  pointless  to  try  and  dis-
seminate  the  practices  for  involving  adults  who  have  negative  experience  from
school.”
Life-long learning “makes  sense if the basic conditions are given”. Those in-
volved need to be able to read and write; to store, synthesise and utilise informa-
tion. Laying the foundations of life-long learning may start in primary school. In
the current situation, the suitable measures and methods to educate generations of
uneducated adults must be found after the period of statutory education, after the
completion (or without the completion) of primary education. “To educate now is
much  cheaper  than  providing  unemployment  or  other  social  benefits  to  growing
social groups for a life.”
The  dissemination  of  good  practice  is  also  unrealistic:  there  is  no  working
practice to speak of. The lack of life-long learning is more pronounced in the case
of Romany groups; however, the attitude is far from widespread in the country in
general. The educational system is not ready to enable Romanies to get employed
in marketable jobs. It is important that the Romanies participate also in education
and training as well as social programmes.
The school system must be enabled to help the above processes, either by the
already  existing  popular  university  movement,  or  establishing  a  modern  school
for workers, fully integrated into this system of popular education, with civil or-

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ganisations  and  businesses  made  interested  in  the  results.  The  current  structures
are  unsuitable  for  these  tasks,  “the  job  centres  do  not  respond  to  the  real  chal-
lenges  and  they  cannot  follow  the  events.”  “The  system  of  education  does  not
work properly.”
Teachers training needs reforming as well. Filtering discrimination in schools
is an urgent task (for example reducing the prejudices teachers hold; according to
statistical data, only every second teacher is suitable to teach Romany children),
just as training more Romany teachers is important.
Parental motivation plays an important role. Parents must be made interested,
as in most cases there is no positive example that they could pass on to their chil-
dren. The parents’ motivation must therefore be developed that would result in a
positive attitude regarding this issue. In the first period financial help may be the
most suitable approach, later on positive examples of successful (better) educated
Romanies may become a source of motivation.
With all this, the most important issue is the socialisation of the younger gen-
erations, as the  lack  of  this  will reproduce  unqualified  people  and  their  segrega-
tion from society.
Making nursery school education compulsory and watching the impacts on so-
cialisation  of  mixed  groups  may  be  effective  even  at  a  young  age.  “Children
should not only attend the preparation for school classes”; some people emphasise
that it is not enough.
There are already initiatives in the school system: Romany pedagogical assis-
tants could help, and more Romany teachers are necessary, as they would provide
a positive example. Segregated education must be stopped (for example Romany
children should never be sent home to sleep instead of attending classes).
Organising  programmes  that  make  children  interested  in  learning  at  an  early
age could be considered as another solution. Learning must be made attractive for
them. Children should not be expected to develop a great deal in a short period of
time; the system should be more relaxed (less time concerned) and should allow
more  time  for  tasks.  Deprived  children  should  not  be  made  to  compete  as  they
start with a handicap anyway.
Nursery  school  and  the  lower  years  of  primary  school  are  the  most  crucial;
everything gets decided there!
Discrimination must be prevented (with the establishment of colleges working
in a scholarship system, to support deprived children).
A  scholarship  system  should  also  be  introduced  in  primary  schools;  it  could
work as a motivation both for the children and their parents.
Another  important  factor  is  the  attitude  of  the  non-Romany  classmates  and
how  it  can  be  shaped.  Positive  attitudes  from  the  peer  groups  could  work  as  a
strong motivating force.

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“Integration cannot be possible without training teachers who accept the Rom-
any  culture  and  foster  the  social  integration  of  the  Romany  population.”  A  well
prepared Romany or non-Romany teacher can do a lot to help Romany children to
cope with the “cultural shock” of school standards.
Learning material that is easier to understand and to communicate needs to be
developed, written in a language that everybody can relate to (not the language of
“academics”):  “simple  people  need  easy-to-understand  material  which  does  not
use  technical  terms”.  “Even  the  leading  politicians  would  not  read  long  docu-
ments of dozens of pages; they get somebody to write a summary.” The Romany
intellectuals  also  need  to  communicate  better  with  the  less  educated  majority,
“when an educated Romany political leader attends forums, it may not be effec-
tive  enough  because  he  or  she  is  usually  not  able  to  establish  the  right  contact
with the Romanies”. Romany people can be motivated by positive examples. “If
you  finish  this  course,  you  can  earn  as  much  as  this,  get  as  far  as  that…”  “But
positive news is no news for the media…”
“The Romany minorities need to be better positioned as well. At the moment,
90%  of  them  believe  they  are  politicians,  but they  are  not, they  are  members  of
representations of interest!”
Several of the programmes are aimed not only at Romanies, but for some rea-
son  this  is  not  communicated”,  some  of  the  interviewees  suggested:  the  press
makes it look like that “it was the Romanies who got something again!”
There are some layer-specific needs. “The Ministry of Employment and Work
uses 18–20 active measures to help unemployed people back to the labour market
(for example, paying their contributions instead of them, supporting their salaries
if they get employed, etc.). No matter how well-structured these actions are, they
are not enough on their own.” “Complex labour market programmes may offer a
better solution. The training courses run by the programmes should last longer.”
It  presented  a  dilemma  for  the  interviewees  as  to  whether  “general  or  target-
oriented programmes should take place”. The government view is that there is the
need for both. But if there is no proper foundation for a general programme, the
target groups may react in a very sensitive manner. Therefore, “the programmes
must  be  worded  more  carefully”,  some  respondents  suggested,  and  there  is  de-
mand for focused projects as well. The Romany groups must be addressed appro-
priately; “they need to be involved in the joint work”.
Some  of  the  opinions  suggest  that  “offering  alternatives  may  also  assist  in
building a motivational base”. This may be the demonstration of a trade or profes-
sion  that  is  not  far  off  from  the  Romany  attitude  (stable  hand,  goldsmith,  etc.).
“The Romany people are not stupid, but they are not willing to learn because of
their  traditions  and  negative  socialisation  relating  to  education.”  “The  different
alternatives  must  be  drawn  out  in  personal  co-operation  with  the  different  peo-
ple.” However, this is not a routine and simple task.

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According  to  the  Romany  office  holders interviewed,  “there  should  be  Rom-
any civil servants working in the de-centralised public administration as well, not
only in the central administration.” There is a need for local decision making as
well as national ones. The media also must help to raise awareness that Romany
people exist. (“For example, Romany children could be shown in nappy adverts.”)
5  Role of digital knowledge and computing skills
The question of digital knowledge has also divided the respondents. Several peo-
ple argued in connection with computing skills that “lots of things are not right”,
although  these  have  or  may  have  a  major  part  to  play  in  the  integration  of  the
Romany population.
The digital world appears to be the symbol of the 21st century, so “Romanies
cannot be left out of it either”. At the moment there is a vacuum in this area. The
willing  and  interested  Romanies  should  be  encouraged  to  learn  computing  and
entrepreneurial skills and this may result in filling the vacuum. Digital knowledge
is  important,  but  “not  for  the  unemployed  who  cannot  even  read  or  write”.  E-
learning  can  be  realised  only  among  a  certain  layer  of  Romanies,  for  example
among young Romanies with A-levels “who have concrete objectives”. Unfortu-
nately, these are in scarce supply.
A more differentiated approach and complex, layered programmes are crucial.
“Digital knowledge is not redemption, but is certainly a positive thing.” Real
help and accessible services are needed, not just token gesture programmes.”
“People who have never seen a computer in their lives, who are not aware of
the benefits of computing and  who  very  often  have  not  got enough  money  even
for bread, are not going to buy a computer.” A development of the attitudes is also
necessary so that “the computer does not appear as a scary object and as a piece
of  equipment  used  for  exams.”  Beyond  the  ECDL  course  and  basic  level  com-
puting courses, “there is a need for many more practical applications to be shown
and taught”. The “Sulinet” programme (where concessions are offered to families
with school children to buy computers) “does not seem worth it” for the majority
of Romanies with low incomes.
It  is  important  that  the  Romanies  also  acquire  useful  and  useable  computing
skills. “It would be worth investing in it at national level. The Ministry of Com-
puting and Communication equipped Romany community centres with computers
and  also  established  a  digital  secondary  school.  The  development  of  the  former
programme stopped for some reason, it would be worth continuing with that.”
“Romany  children  are  especially  attracted  to  the  digital  world”,  but  no  pro-
gress can be expected while the families do not have computers, the schools are

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poorly equipped, and when these children continue to “live in unstimulating set-
tlements in depressed areas”.
Developing  a  digital  culture  is  necessary  from  the  point  of  view  of  both  the
work  place  and  learning.  “For  the  people  who  cannot  even  pay  the  utility  bills,
computers and the Internet are out of the question.”
Romany families must get support to be able to buy computers. It is important
that this kind of support reaches the rural areas as well, “as families are larger and
poorer in those areas”.
“The  Ministry  of  Computing  and  Communication  had  already  taken  actions
(digital college, organising related courses) but these stopped presumably due to
lack of funding.”
“The best programme initiated by the Ministry of Computing and Communi-
cation”  was  the  establishment  of  the  Digital  Secondary  School  in  Miskolc
(www.digitaliskozepiskola.hu).  In  the  first  year,  members  of  Romany  civil  or-
ganisations  and  Romany  minority  authorities  could  apply.  The  school  offers  A-
levels and a qualification in computing. The students study and receive their tasks
through the Internet, a major advantage of this is that no travelling is necessary.
The  programme  has  been  running  for  3  years,  as  a  part-time  course  but  has  not
been accredited yet. It is now accessible for anyone. The establishing of a digital
college and making the course available for everybody are also among the plans.
Another aim is to develop the programme into a nation-wide network with several
centres.
6  Co-operations beyond ministries
Inter-Ministerial Committee of Romany Affairs
The predecessor of the committee was set up in 1995; the current organisation
was formed in 1999.
Deputy political secretaries represent the ministries involved. However, “par-
ticipation  is  usually  only  at  referent  or  head  of  department  level.  This  may  not
necessarily be a problem though, as the political secretaries may not see the issues
in the depth required.” The Committee operates along the lines of the 1021/2004
government order; the various ministries determine its tasks.
The Committee works as a new way of monitoring the developments as well,
through  which  (in  theory)  the  ministries  receive  feedback  on  their  programmes.
“No continuous and actual work is done as the ministries report once a year on the
activities undertaken that year.”
The main objective of the Romany Programme Support Network is to enable
people even in the worst situation to apply for project funds.

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Decade of the Romany Integration Programme (www.romadecade.org)
The programme was designed to run between 2005 and 2015 with the partici-
pation  of  9  governments  of  8  countries  (9  because  of  Serbia  and  Montenegro).
The initiative started in 2003, with a conference hosted in Budapest entitled “Ro-
manies  in  the  enlarging  Europe.  Challenges  of  the  Future.”  The  rationale  of  the
programme is to promote the co-operation of the countries in the region involved
in  Romany  integration  (5–6  million  Romanies  are  affected  altogether),  and  as  a
political resolution they agreed to undertake joint research and devise action plans
in four key areas (education, health care, employment and housing).
The programme aims to speed up the process of improving the social and eco-
nomic situation of the Romany population, and also to contribute to the positive
attitude forming processes of public opinion.
Forum of the European Romanies and Gypsies
The Forum works alongside the Council of Europe. The first plenary meeting
was held in December 2005. It is an international civil organisation, not an inter-
governmental  one,  working  as  an  umbrella  organisation.  The  Romany  civil  or-
ganisations from every country delegate members to the Forum, consisting of 75
people. It enters a special agreement with the Council of Europe. At the Forum,
the  representatives  of  the  civil  organisations  can  make  suggestions  and  recom-
mendations in areas relevant to Romany issues.
Széchenyi Entrepreneurial Programme (Romany Projects)
Several millions of forints (HUF) were spent on supporting Romany small and
medium-size  enterprises  in  the  framework  of  the  programme  last  year.  400  new
jobs  were  established,  capital  of  2  billion  HUF  was  mobilised,  and  220  project
bids were submitted.
Romany Enterprise Support and Innovation Centre
The planned location  of  the  centre is in  Mátészalka. István  Zsukk  (Szabolcs-
Szatmár-Bereg County) is in charge of writing the feasibility study for that devel-
opment.
The building would spread over the net area of 2000 m². The support includes
the attractive rents, as the enterprises are charged only a third of the market price.
The amount  of the  rent  would  be raised every  year,  and  after  5  years  new  busi-
nesses would be provided with the opportunity to move into the centre.
The  centre  would  organise  training  events,  provide  support,  help  developing
business plans, and provide accountants, solicitors, and conference rooms for the
Romany entrepreneurs and those who employ Romanies.

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VII
RECOMMENDATIONS
1  Highlights from the recommendations determined
in the literature on life-long learning among Romanies
There is hardly any doubt that the situation of the Romanies can be improved only
with extremely hard efforts – and even with them it is going be incredibly diffi-
cult to break out of the vicious circle that the lack of education, low prestige jobs
and unemployment create (Polónyi, 2002).
−  Three important elements of the educational and political methods must be
highlighted.  These  are:  a  defined  anti-discrimination  policy,  ensuring  the
rights of minorities in education, support systems to ease the differences in
opportunities  caused  by  the  unfavourable  social  and  economic  position
originating mostly in Romany identity (Radó, 1997).
−  A radical change of attitude in the area of education is necessary. At the
moment, the prejudices of the whole of the society are apparent among the
teachers, headmasters and school managers, educational politicians as well;
furthermore, even some of the experts are unable to escape the trap of com-
fort prejudices. Due to the activities of the latter group, the existing stereo-
type of the “criminal Romanies” has been accompanied by the stereotype of
the  “impoverished,  deprived”  Romanies,  in  other  words  the  stereotype  of
Romanies being of lower rank. This is enforced by the media, even by the
so-called  Romany  media.  In  a  situation  like  this  it  can  hardly  be  expected
that the basic needs of children get any attention. In most cases the teachers
do  not  even  attempt  to  understand  what  the  Romany  pupils  and  students
think of themselves, of others, and of the world in general, and what sort of
expectations they may have. They are told off for not being able to fit in to
the  tried  and  tested  pattern  and  then  get  segregated  when  they  try  to
(Romano Rácz, 2002).
−  Programmes aimed at helping deprived regions to catch up would result in:
improvements  in  the  employment  situation,  easing  of  social  tensions  and
forcing  back  prejudices,  as  well  as  strengthening  the  initiatives  of  cultural
self-organisation (Romano Rácz, 2002). Péter Farkas also draws attention to
the  fact that  improving  the  success  levels  of  Romany  children  at  school is
only  possible  with  the  help  of  complex  programmes,  which  set  out  to  de-

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
velop the pedagogical methods, as well as to assist in the parents’ education
and employment and also attempting to improve living conditions.
−  Education  of  people  starting  with  disadvantages  in  the  labour  market
and/or learning (people with low educational level, the handicapped, Rom-
any people, etc.) must be provided with extra support. A basic condition of
their success in education and of their participation in labour force training
is the discovery of suitable and continuous motivation. Pre-requisites of this
kind  of  motivation  are  the  establishment  of  an  interest  in  a  career  and  the
development of the abilities to learn. The education of the deprived groups
(according to the experience in Hungary) can be ensured and developed by
complex  programmes,  which  include remedial  catching  up  courses  offered
before starting vocational or specialised education, multi-stage modular pro-
fessional  education  as  well  as  work  experience  and  job  seeking  training
(Zachár, 2003).
−  The organisational and institutional conditions of life-long learning for de-
prived  youth  and  adults  need  improving.  The  main  objective  is  to  provide
more support for the learning programmes from the point of view of the la-
bour  market  to  make  them  more  attractive  to  the  deprived  layers  and  im-
prove “access” to labour market training opportunities. To achieve this ob-
jective, the enforcement of the schools and basic educational institutions for
adults and the establishment of the so- called “second chance” schools are
essential tasks. A consortium of institutions that deal with the training and
education  of  deprived  children  and  adults  (such  as  schools,  regional  job
centres, training enterprises and civil organisations) could logically establish
this type of institution (Zachár, 2003).
−  Making  the  completion  of  primary  school,  the  acquisition  of  a  first
qualification and in the long run the acquisition of secondary education gen-
eral practice should be considered a key task. This needs to be supported by
incentives both to the institutions and to the individuals, in a more organised
manner.  The  training  of  the  active  but  deprived  youth  and  older adults for
the labour market should be considered a special task. To realise this, vari-
ous complex, highly funded programmes are necessary (Zachár, 2003).
The initiative to offer the Romany minority modular specialist courses linked
to employment that comply with certain criteria is based on the value system, the
expectations and the learning culture of the majority society. The criteria can be
seen to be the following:
−  Complexity: the general characteristics that the employers appreciate (such
as  persistence,  regularity,  reliability  and  precision)  need  to  be  developed,
the  external  factors  helping  with  job  seeking  and  making  assimilation  at

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work  easier  need  to  be  ensured  (ways  of  dressing,  behaviour,  cleanliness),
and primary school and marketable qualifications need to be provided.
−  Principle  of  gradience:  the  programme  consists  of  3–6  months  modules,
which  link  two  to three  objectives,  for  example:  farmers training  +  house-
hold  work  and  gardening  +  developing  reading,  counting  and  communica-
tion skills; agriculture or hospitality of crafts + accomplishing primary edu-
cation + raising health awareness, etc.
−  Family orientated approach: regarding the fact that very often both parents
are unemployed, their education and employment needs supporting.
−  Distinguished objectives: it must be taken into account that the traditional
female role in the Romany community cannot be altered. In the education of
young  women,  who  may  be  themselves  raising  several  children,  general
education  must be ensured; the  level  of  general  knowledge  must  be  devel-
oped and it should offer preparation for raising children. The Romany fami-
lies  must  also  become  partners  of  the  schools  so that  they  are able  to take
care of the children and help them with their studies. Besides the above, an-
other  aim  is  to  pass  on  knowledge  and  skills  that  are  useful  in  the  labour
market (considering demand). The education of men can also have different
objectives, in the light of their existing qualification, age, health conditions
and personal ideas.
−  Suitable  income  (worthy  of  human  existence):  education  integrated  into
work  can  only  be  viable  and  effective  if it  provides  the  participants  an  in-
come that covers the costs of living. If the subsistence level reaches 35-40
thousand HUF per person per month, then 180–200 thousand HUF are nec-
essary to provide a living for a family of five.
−  Improving housing conditions, reducing costs: if the unfavourable housing
conditions that  are  typical today  do  not improve,  Romany  children  are  not
likely to be successful at school. In a run down and overcrowded home par-
ents will not be able to relax either, therefore the re-training programme is
in danger as well. Suggestion: training men in trades in the construction in-
dustry and agriculture; or in the areas of community development projects:
home improvement, gardening, and animal breeding.
−  Managing conflicts, with an integrated and regional approach: the majority
will  only  accept  the  generous  support  based  on  needs  provided  to  the  Ro-
manies without conflict, if their living conditions change at the same time.
Support for the Romany minority cannot stand on its own; it must be part of
complex small regional programmes that will improve infrastructure as well
as  the  living  conditions  and  employment  opportunities  of  the  majority  as
well.  (Complex projects where the beneficiaries are the majority population
as  well  as  the  Romanies  may  provide  room  for  co-operation  between  the
two  groups.)  The  Romany  educational  and  employment  programmes  may

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
be  considered  as  up  market  employment  programmes  for  the  majority  as
well (Farkas, 2002).
A  group  of  intellectuals  feeling  responsible  for  the  education  of  Romanies,
civil organisations and experts in Romany education presented a complete resolu-
tion  plan  in  2001.  This  plan  emphasised  the  importance  of  handling  separately
ethnic and nationality education and social, catching up training and stressed the
dangers of mingling the two areas. It also suggested the development of a meas-
urable  and  fundable  structure  that  will  provide  opportunity  also  for  the  Romany
youth  to  acquire  new  marketable  skills.  It  is  strongly  argued  that  “The  tasks  of
nationality education must solely consider the preservation of the national culture
and  language,  and  the  establishment  of  the  cultured  coexistence  of  different  na-
tionalities”,  therefore  the  practices  that  reinforce  segregation  must  be  separated
from  it.  “Social  problems  which  impede  being  successful  at  school  at  a  mass
level,  must  be  addressed  by  social,  socio-cultural  and  socio-pedagogical  meas-
ures. The nationality-related methods are not designed to do that.” The plan also
suggests  an  urgent  revision  of  the  methods  for  tackling  the  problems  and  estab-
lishing communication and co-operation among all the parties involved (Ambrus
et al. 2001).
2  Further suggestions
It is well known, and was also confirmed by our research supported by the NFI,
that  further  more  systematic  Romany  and  Romany  –  non-Romany  comparative
research is necessary to enable the establishment and development of educational
and training effectiveness. Despite the shallow simple accounts of public opinion,
we do not have sufficient synthesised real knowledge in this area. Therefore the
effectiveness  of  governmental  and  other  resources  used  is  much  lower  than  it
could be.
−  Education is a significant mobility channel in the open societies. It plays a
crucial role in the integration of social groups that are lagging behind and in
enhancing the effectiveness of equality policies. For these reasons we find it
important to assess the impacts of the integrated, multi-cultural education on
the aspirations of Romany (and non-Romany) groups that are left behind as
well as the impacts on the notion of social integration of their environment.
−  As the relationships between the different sorts of capital are determined by
social-regional  inequalities,  it  is  important  to  examine  how  the  traditional
social-regional  inequality  mechanisms  get  diluted  and  what  sorts  of  break-
out points they offer among the participants of integrated education.

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Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
−  Since the ‘long’  decade  of  change,  the cultural  capital  (a  notion  of  Pierre
Bourdieu) has influenced the  aspirations of  wide  layers  of  society  in  Hun-
gary,  a  notion  which  includes  the  individual’s  educational  level,  qualifica-
tions and general knowledge as well. As a major part of the cultural capital
comes  from  the  family,  it plays  an  important role  in passing  on  privileged
social situations, as the different famial subcultures will prepare children for
the school career differently. Max Weber puts the same idea forward when
he observed that the school certificates serve to monopolise chances in life.
−  This is another reason why the educational initiatives that target these issues
also inform the lagging-behind groups about the essence of the hidden cur-
riculum; making the acceptance of the norm systems, of the patterns of be-
haviour at school and of rules possible. In summary we can say that beyond
the language used, the more or less frequent contact with the “high culture”
taught  and  required  in  schools  (such  as  the  number  of  books,  visiting  cul-
tural institutions, extra classes, topics of conversation within the close fam-
ily,  etc.)  will  have  a  significant  impact  on  the  children’s  performance  at
school and later in life.
−  The nation-wide social land programme that has been running successfully
for more than a decade is an excellent socio-political method with its edu-
cational and socialisation related functions. The further development of the
programme is also necessary from the point of view that it may reduce so-
cial  marginalisation  and  poverty;  it  may  establish  the  opportunity  of  long-
term active social support among the groups left behind. A group of experts
and politicians working under the guidance of a political officer in the Min-
istry  of  Agriculture  and  Rural  Development  could  focus  on  widening  the
land use programme. A government order is expected in the spring of 2006,
which is expected to determine the most important issues.
−  The  courses  in  Romany  Studies (aiming  to  change  attitudes,  based  on  re-
search  results)  organised  for  experts  and  officials  (from  teachers  to  public
officers) who are in daily contact with Romany people may assist the social
integration of the deprived Romany youth.
The Romany referents of the main offices are typically working in the human
political  areas  of  the  relevant  ministries.  The  position  of  the  jobs  and  the  tasks
within the ministries indicates that the human political nature of the tasks related
to Romany integration have been recognised within government.
− According to experience gained from the interviews that were conducted for
this  research,  the  establishment  of  the  actual  and  continuous  co-ordinating
functions of the Inter-Ministerial Committee of Romany Affairs seems nec-
essary. This would ensure a more focused use of the resources that are often
dissipated.

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− Dealing  with  Romany  affairs  (a  task  at  ministerial  level  at  the  moment)
must be a compulsory task with central funding at regional and local level
as well.
− The  further  co-ordination  of  the  operation  of  the  relevant  ministries  is  a
necessary task.
Alongside  social  discrimination  that  does  not  seem  to  reduce,  the  danger  of
segregation  and  lagging  behind  is  already  significant  and  is  getting  more  so.
There  is  also  a  lack  of  information  to  be  observed  among  the  long-term  unem-
ployed  about  their  possibilities.  Even  the  experts  do  not  always  recognise  the
problems  causing  the  disadvantages  and  discrimination  in  their  context.  At  the
same time, the public opinion of the experts is not coherent either when consid-
ering the main directions of actions.
−  It  would  be  worth  devoting  time  and  suitable  resources  to  develop  action
plans  to  help  the  Romany  groups  with  catching  up.  These  action  plans
should be based on comprehensive research, accepted by a consensus of the
involved experts, politicians and representatives of the interest groups. The
realisation of the plan must be based on the concentration of resources.
− Long-term thinking is or would be crucial. The 2–3 year programmes based
on  the  complex  and  integrated  development  concept  and  operative  pro-
grammes  to  integrate  Romanies  into  society  should  be  sped  up,  with  the
help  of  significant  EU  funding.  The  complexity  of  the  problems  makes
complex handling and management necessary. Establishing stable resources
and EU-compatible monitoring are also important.
−  It would be important to set up a National Crisis Management Service (with
centres  at  small  regional  or  other  levels  in  the  areas affected),  with the  in-
volvement  of  experts  who  are  familiar  with  the  situation,  the  process  and
methods of deprivation management.
−  The institutionalisation of ‘training the trainers’ style of courses cannot wait
any longer.
− The  institutions  of  adult  education  (secondary  schools  and  more  signifi-
cantly  higher  education  institutions)  are  located  in  towns  and  cities.  The
need  for  life-long  learning  and  personal  motivation may  prove  insufficient
and disappear in the Romany families that live in very poor conditions, be-
cause of the costs of travelling and accommodation, as well as the costs of
education and the course materials. Therefore, to realise even the first steps
of  life-long  learning,  physical  and/or  virtual  accessibility  of  schools  (dis-
tance  learning,  Internet-based  courses)  must  be  established.  Providing  ac-
cess to course materials is also important (establishing the foundations of IT
education).

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−  Demonstrating the practice of positive ‘Romany-related’ initiatives at local
and regional level and supporting the spreading of these practices could also
contribute to the effectiveness of the integration.
Several  earlier  and  current  research  studies  indicate  that  a  number  of  factors
contribute to the persistence of long-term unemployment. These include personal
characteristics, the wider economic environment, the regional characteristics, in-
terest,  etc.  Therefore,  tackling  the  problem  of  unemployment  (being  without  a
job)  must  use  a  complex  approach.  The  programmes  devoted  to  address  unem-
ployment must be in line with the reforms aiming to improve the educational level
of the Hungarian Romanies and of the poorest layers in society; as this is the only
way to achieve results in the attempt to close the gap between the most deprived
groups  and  the  majority  society.  The  reduction  of  discrimination  in  the  labour
market  can  only  be  achieved  if  more  rigorous  monitoring  and  sanctions  against
the employers are introduced that deter everyone from using discriminative meth-
ods.
−  An  important  element  may  be  the  development  of  courses  for the  players
that influence the labour market from the employer’s side, which make the
financial managers, entrepreneurs, regional development experts, and teach-
ers, etc. more ‘humane’.
−  The  tax  and  contribution  concessions  and  loans  available  for  unemployed
people who choose self-employment must be more differentiated, taking the
(small) regional differences in the socio-economic development level more
into account.
−  The passive support and benefit systems must be revised and new incentives
should  be  built  into  these  that  will  motivate  the  active  long-term  unem-
ployed people to return to the legal labour market.
−  In case the number of jobs in the primary labour market is very low in the
settlement and the small region, it would be sensible to offer employment in
community development projects rather than forcing them to do community
service,  which  is  considered  low-prestige  and  degraded  in  general  public
opinion.  It  is  however  crucial  from  the  integration’s  point  of  view  that
Romany  and  non-Romany  unemployed  undertake  such  tasks  together;  and
there are no jobs that are ‘reserved’ for the Romanies only.
−  The long-term unemployed should be motivated to participate in character
development and other courses with a much more effective support system,
as the benefits they receive nowadays are hardly enough to provide a living
for the family. As a result of this, at the moment most of them would choose
jobs  in  the  black  (or  grey)  economy  that  ensures  an  income  in  the  short
term, even though it creates deprived conditions in the long run, rather then
education.

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−  It  is  important that  the expert approach tackling  long-term  unemployment
differently in each case, both at a personal level and in case of groups in dif-
ferent conditions. We can often hear unemployed people complain that re-
gardless of their education, age and other characteristic features they are of-
fered  the  same  advice  and  opportunities  from  the  experts  at  job  centres,
which makes them feel this provision of support is just an automatic service
with little efficiency.
−  The skilled unemployed who have sufficient motivation must be provided
with mediator-type help to support their job seeking efforts. The job centres
have shown a lot of improvements in this area in the last months of 2005.
−  The people with low motivation and limited (or for some reason restricted)
human resources must be provided both character development courses and
vocational education.
−  There is a need for continuous employment programmes and other courses
that  improve  the  chances  of  the  unemployed  that  live  in  severely  deprived
conditions and are pushed to the periphery of the labour market.
−  Tackling  long-term  unemployment  must  focus  on  the  development  of  the
individuals’ ability to adapt as well as on the improvement of the environ-
mental conditions.
−  To stop providing assistance becoming an automatic mechanism, mental re-
generation programmes must be organised for the professionals working in
the areas of employment and social care.
−  Several studies point out the anomalies involved with community service,
therefore  rethinking  what  sort  of  strategic  objectives  this  should  serve  is
necessary; and its operational and financial conceptions must be reformed as
well.
−  The  recent  study  also  revealed  that  the  long-term  unemployed  living  at
different levels of the settlement hierarchy often face different problems. It
also  confirmed  the  fact  that  the  residents  of  small  villages  are  in  the  most
deprived  position  from  the  employment  perspective  for  a  combination  of
reasons; difficulty of access, lack of information, etc. Therefore we suggest
the  establishment  of  a  ‘mobile  employment  information  service’  based  on
the  examples  of  mobile  libraries,  post  offices  and  similar  initiatives.  The
service  could  visit  the  people  concerned,  so  that  the  residents  of  inclusion
settlements who have difficulties travelling due to financial reasons (or for
lack of motivation) could also be given another chance.

− The Ministry of Youth, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities em-
ploys people from the target group to provide a preliminary opinion on the
initiatives during the preparation process of laws and regulations, which en-

115

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
ables the legislation  to  be drawn  up  to  reflect  on  the real  issues facing  the
groups. A similar initiative could also work in the case of the ministry con-
cerned,  which  would  also  serve  the  aim  of  providing  opportunities  for  the
long-term unemployed.
−  In the case of the complex programmes that were often mentioned as our
suggestions, the most deprived groups should enjoy positive discrimination.
The resources necessary for this objective need to be ensured by involving
national and international sources at every step, but at a faster pace than that
demonstrated by the current practice.
−  This  makes  the  enforcement  of  the  non-profit  institution  system  that  is
responsible  for  the  delivery  of  these  programmes  necessary,  both  by  pro-
viding more substantial financial support and by providing continuous pro-
fessional development courses for the staff within these institutions.
−  Strengthening employment partnerships is another important task, where the
active  involvement  of  local  authorities  and  small  regional  partnerships
would be of most importance in terms of tackling the problem effectively.
−  The government and the ministries must improve the relationship and flow
of communication between the various elements of the institutional system.
−  Furthermore, there is the need for a legislation method concerning the laws
themselves as well as looking at the support system that would be effective
in reducing the regional differences.
The  need  to  preserve  the  Romany  cultural  heritage  (traditions  and  attitudes)
and to speed up the integration process by paying attention to many of the tradi-
tions,  unique  cultural  features  and  language  use  were  presented  as  hypothetical
suggestions during the research.
−  New  ways  of  passing  on  Romany  traditions  must  be  established  (such  as
pedagogical  programmes,  regional  folklore  museums,  local  history  collec-
tions, crafts workshops, etc.). The effectiveness of the family’s role (of par-
ents and grandparents) in that is diminishing.
−  The public educational programmes at local level should be more attractive
for and recipient of Romany groups. This may result in the widening of the
social  relationship  network  of  Romanies  (which  is  limited  mostly  to  rela-
tives and neighbours at the moment); and it also may reduce the cultural gap
between the Romany and non-Romany groups.
−  Character and community development programmes need to be given more
emphasis  in  the  pedagogical  programmes  of  schools.  Growing  self-confi-
dence,  the  ability  to  express  oneself,  the  experience  of  inclusion  and  the
community were all factors that were listed as motivators in the acquisition
of higher educational levels.

116

G. Fekete, Éva - T. Hargitai, Judit - Jász, Krisztina - Szarvák, Tibor - Szoboszlai, Zsolt :
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning Among the Romany Ethnic Groups.
Pécs : Centre for Regional Studies, 2006. 122. p. Discussion Papers, No. 53.
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Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
The Discussion Papers series of the Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian
Academy of Sciences was launched in 1986 to publish summaries of research findings on
regional and urban development.
The series has 5 or 6 issues a year. It will be of interest to geographers, economists, so-
ciologists, experts of law and political sciences, historians and everybody else who is, in
one way or another, engaged in the research of spatial aspects of socio-economic develop-
ment and planning.
The series is published by the Centre for Regional Studies.
Individual copies are available on request at the Centre.

Postal address
Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
P.O. Box 199, 7601 PÉCS, HUNGARY
Phone: (36–72) 523 800
Fax: (36–72) 523 803
www.dti.rkk.hu
www.rkk.hu

Director general
Gyula HORVÁTH

Editor
Zoltán GÁL
galz@.rkk.hu

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Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
Papers published in the Discussion Papers series
Discussion Papers /Specials
BENKİNÉ  LODNER,  Dorottya  (ed.)  (1988):  Environmental  Control  and  Policy:  Pro-
ceedings of the Hungarian–Polish Seminar in the Theoretical Problems of Envi-
ronmental Control and Policy
OROSZ, Éva (ed.) (1988): Spatial Organisation and Regional Development Papers of the
6th Polish–Hungarian geographical Seminar
DURÓ,  Annamária  (ed.)  (1993):  Spatial  Research  and  the  Social–Political  Changes:
Papers of the 7th Polish–Hungarian Seminar
DURÓ, Annamária (ed.) (1999): Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration.
Proceedings  of  the  11th  Polish–Hungarian  Geographical  Seminar  (Mátraháza,
Hungary 17–22 September, 1998)
GÁL, Zoltán (ed.) (2001): Role of the Regions in the Enlarging European Union
HORVÁTH,  Gyula  (ed.)  (2002):  Regional  Challenges  of  the  Transition  in  Bulgaria  and
Hungary
KOVÁCS, András Donát (ed.) (2004): New Aspects of Regional Transformation and the
Urban-Rural Relationship
BARANYI,  Béla  (ed.)  (2005):  Hungarian–Romanian  and  Hungarian–Ukrainian  border
regions as areas of co-operation along the external borders of Europe
Discussion Papers
No. 1
OROSZ,  Éva  (1986):  Critical  Issues  in  the  Development  of  Hungarian  Public
Health with Special Regard to Spatial Differences
No. 2
ENYEDI, György – ZENTAI, Viola (1986): Environmental Policy in Hungary
No. 3
HAJDÚ,  Zoltán  (1987):  Administrative  Division  and  Administrative  Geogra-
phy in Hungary
No. 4
SIKOS  T.,  Tamás  (1987):  Investigations  of  Social  Infrastructure  in  Rural
Settlements of Borsod County
No. 5
HORVÁTH,  Gyula  (1987): Development  of  the  Regional  Management  of  the
Economy in East-Central Europe
No. 6
PÁLNÉ KOVÁCS, Ilona (1988): Chance of Local Independence in Hungary
No. 7
FARAGÓ,  László  –  HRUBI,  László  (1988):  Development  Possibilities  of
Backward Areas in Hungary
No. 8
SZÖRÉNYINÉ  KUKORELLI,  Irén  (1990):  Role  of  the  Accessibility  in  De-
velopment and Functioning of Settlements
No. 9
ENYEDI, György (1990): New Basis for Regional and Urban Policies in East-
Central Europe

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Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
No. 10
RECHNITZER,  János  (1990):  Regional  Spread  of  Computer  Technology  in
Hungary
No. 11
SIKOS T., Tamás (1992): Types of Social Infrastructure in Hungary (to be not
published)
No. 12
HORVÁTH,  Gyula  –  HRUBI,  László  (1992):  Restructuring  and  Regional
Policy in Hungary
No. 13
ERDİSI,  Ferenc  (1992):  Transportation  Effects  on  Spatial  Structure  of  Hun-
gary
No. 14
PÁLNÉ  KOVÁCS,  Ilona  (1992): The  Basic  Political  and  Structural  Problems
in the Workings of Local Governments in Hungary
No. 15
PFEIL,  Edit  (1992):  Local  Governments  and  System  Change.  The  Case  of  a
Regional Centre
No. 16
HORVÁTH,  Gyula  (1992):  Culture  and  Urban  Development  (The  Case  of
Pécs)
No. 17
HAJDÚ,  Zoltán  (1993):  Settlement  Network  Development  Policy  in  Hungary
in the Period of State Socialism (1949–1985)
No. 18
KOVÁCS, Teréz (1993): Borderland Situation as It Is Seen by a Sociologist
No. 19
HRUBI,  L.  –  KRAFTNÉ  SOMOGYI,  Gabriella  (eds.)  (1994):  Small  and  me-
dium-sized firms and the role of private industry in Hungary
No. 20
BENKİNÉ  Lodner,  Dorottya  (1995):  The  Legal-Administrative  Questions  of
Environmental Protection in the Republic of Hungary
No. 21
ENYEDI,  György  (1998):  Transformation  in  Central  European  Postsocialist
Cities
No. 22
HAJDÚ, Zoltán (1998): Changes in the Politico-Geographical Position of Hun-
gary in the 20th Century
No. 23
HORVÁTH, Gyula (1998): Regional and Cohesion Policy in Hungary
No. 24
BUDAY-SÁNTHA,  Attila  (1998):  Sustainable  Agricultural  Development  in
the Region of the Lake Balaton
No. 25
LADOS, Mihály (1998): Future Perspective for Local Government Finance in
Hungary
No. 26
NAGY,  Erika  (1999):  Fall  and  Revival  of  City  Centre  Retailing:  Planning  an
Urban Function in Leicester, Britain
No. 27
BELUSZKY, Pál (1999): The Hungarian Urban Network at the End of the Sec-
ond Millennium
No. 28
RÁCZ, Lajos (1999): Climate History of Hungary Since the 16th Century: Past,
Present and Future
No. 29
RAVE, Simone (1999): Regional Development in Hungary and Its Preparation
for the Structural Funds
No. 30
BARTA, Györgyi (1999): Industrial Restructuring in the Budapest Agglomera-
tion
No. 31
BARANYI,  Béla–BALCSÓK,  István–DANCS,  László–MEZİ,  Barna  (1999):
Borderland  Situation  and  Peripherality  in  the  North-Eastern  Part  of  the  Great
Hungarian Plain
No. 32
RECHNITZER, János (2000): The Features of the Transition of Hungary’s Re-
gional System

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Discussion Papers 2006. No. 53.
Idealistic Vision or Reality? Life-long Learning
Among the Romany Ethnic Groups
No. 33
MURÁNYI,  István–PÉTER,  Judit–SZARVÁK,  Tibor–SZOBOSZLAI,  Zsolt
(2000): Civil Organisations and Regional Identity in the South Hungarian Great
Plain
No. 34
KOVÁCS, Teréz (2001): Rural Development in Hungary
No. 35
PÁLNÉ, Kovács Ilona (2001): Regional Development and Governance in Hun-
gary
No. 36
NAGY,  Imre  (2001):  Cross-Border  Co-operation  in  the  Border  Region  of  the
Southern Great Plain of Hungary
No. 37
BELUSZKY, Pál (2002): The Spatial Differences of Modernisation in Hungary
at the Beginning of the 20th Century
No. 38
BARANYI, Béla (2002): Before Schengen – Ready for Schengen. Euroregional
Organisations  and  New  Interregional  Formations  at  the  Eastern  Borders  of
Hungary
No. 39
KERESZTÉLY, Krisztina (2002): The Role of the State in the Urban Develop-
ment of Budapest
No. 40
HORVÁTH,  Gyula  (2002):  Report  on  the  Research  Results  of  the  Centre  for
Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
No. 41
SZIRMAI,  Viktoria  –  A.  GERGELY,  András  –  BARÁTH,  Gabriella–
MOLNÁR,  Balázs  –  SZÉPVÖLGYI,  Ákos  (2003):  The  City  and  its  Environ-
ment: Competition and/or Co-operation? (A Hungarian Case Study)
No. 42
CSATÁRI,  Bálint–KANALAS,  Imre–NAGY,  Gábor  –SZARVÁK,  Tibor
(2004): Regions in Information Society – a Hungarian Case-Study
No. 43
FARAGÓ, László (2004): The General Theory of Public (Spatial) Planning
(The Social Technique for Creating the Future)
No. 44
HAJDÚ, Zoltán (2004): Carpathian Basin and the Development of the
Hungarian Landscape Theory Until 1948
No. 45
GÁL, Zoltán (2004): Spatial Development and the Expanding European
Integration of the Hungarian Banking System
No. 46
BELUSZKY, Pál – GYİRI, Róbert (2005): The Hungarian Urban Network in
the Beginning of the 20th Century
No. 47
G. FEKETE, Éva (2005): Long-term Unemployment and Its Alleviation in
Rural Areas
No. 48
SOMLYÓDYNÉ PFEIL, Edit (2006): Changes in The Organisational
Framework of Cooperation Within Urban Areas in Hungary
No. 49
MEZEI, István (2006): Chances of Hungarian–Slovak Cross-Border Relations
No. 50
RECHNITZER, János – SMAHÓ, Melinda (2006): Regional Characteristics of
Human Resources in Hungary During the Transition
No. 51
BARTA, Györgyi – BELUSZKY, Pál – CZIRFUSZ, Márton – GYİRI, Róbert
– KUKELY, György (2006): Rehabilitating the Brownfield Zones of Budapest
No. 52
GROSZ, András (2006): Clusterisation Processes in the Hungarian Automotive
Industry

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