Not just content, but style: Gypsy children traversing boundaries

Levinson, M.P (2008) 'Not just content, but style: Gypsy children traversing boundaries.' Research in Comparative and International Education, 3 (3). pp. 235-249. ISSN 1745-4999

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/rcie.2008.3.3.235

Abstract

The policy to integrate English Gypsy children in schools tends to overlook the difficulties facing such youngsters in their attempts to negotiate between contrasting practices and values at home and school. Contradictions between such practices/value systems at home and school entail not only knowledge/skills, but also differing modes of instruction/transmission. Informed by learning theories and New Literacy discourse, along with evidence from previous accounts of Romani learning practices in the home context, this article draws on findings from an ethnographic study of English Gypsies (1996–2000), and data from a follow-up study, involving original and additional participants (2005–6). The article explores attitudes across age-groups, outlining, in particular, the knowledge/skill base valued in the home setting, highlighting the mismatch between home and school expectations, and the difference of expectation in child-adult relations in each context. It argues that policy-makers need to consider the wider impact of school education on identity and group membership.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
L Education > L Education (General)
Divisions: School of Education
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.2304/rcie.2008.3.3.235
Date Deposited: 13 Jan 2017 11:33
Last Modified: 15 Aug 2021 09:44
URI / Page ID: https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/8826
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