Migration and Immigration: The Slovakian Roma in Sheffield Dr Mark Payne mark.payne@sheffield.ac.uk
Aims of the presentation • To consider: – Immigration to the UK in general – The Roma from Slovakia – School level impacts: • Case study of Freeport School
The Roma as part of the wider immigration story • The Slovakian Roma can be viewed as a distinct group in Sheffield. • However, I argue that the Slovakian Roma should be viewed as part of the wider migration ‘story’ of recent years. • In many ways, the issue of migrants and migration to the UK has overshadowed and overtaken the Slovakian Roma, at least when seen nationally. • Locally, there are issues focused on the Roma in Page Hall, Sheffield. • The Slovakian Roma are not seen, necessarily, as part of the traditional and historical UK “Gypsy Roma and Traveller” (GRT) Demographic
Immigration to the UK: Types of immigration • Temporary migration – E.g. students, tourists, family visitors, business • Asylum seekers and Refugees – Those fleeing warzones or persecution in their countries of origin. • Asylum seeker has ‘lodged an application’ for protection from a host country. They may be detained at the port of entry or granted temporary admission to the UK ( the Slovakian Roma until 2004 ) • Refugee status is granted by the UK home office an allows an individual to remain in the UK for 5 years • Permanent migration – Visas required for countries outside of EU European Union (EU) citizens may travel freely to look for work and then settle more permanently • e.g. Slovakian Roma • Undocumented Migrants – Some arrivals known to destroy their papers on arrival to a target country
Migrants in Calais
Where do the migrants come from? • Ethiopia – Conflict with Eritrea, • Eritrea – Compulsory military conscription • Sudan – Tensions with South Sudan; Darfur • South Sudan – Tensions with Sudan • Pakistan – Weak democracy; fragile economy • Afghanistan – Ongoing conflict; war
Migration summary • Some 232 million international migrants are living in the world today. • Since 1990, the number of international migrants in the global North increased by around 53 million (65%) • During the 1990s, the global migrant stock grew at an average of about 2 million migrants per year. • During the decade 2000-10, the growth in the migrant stock accelerated to about 4.6 million migrants annually • (Figures from UN/OECD)
The Slovakian Roma in Sheffield
How many Slovakian Roma reside in Sheffield? • In terms of Sheffield: • 1244 Slovak speakers (none ‘Romani Language’ ) (Office for National Statistics, 2011) • A figure of 1320 Slovakian Roma in Sheffield (Brown, Scullion, & Martin, 2013) • One Roma research respondent estimates at least 2000 Roma living in Sheffield (February 2014) • In terms of the Page Hall area: • It is about ‘ 900 families ’ ( Source: key respondent interview, 2014) • Based on a neighbourhood count of Roma pupils of primary and secondary school age, there were 1843 Roma pupils in Sheffield on 7/4/14 of which 891 lived in the Page Hall region. • One local school has 20% Roma from a school population of 800 (Key Respondent)
Sheffield Page Hall
The changing face of Sheffield: Page Hall
School impacts • Of the three local authorities, the largest increase in Roma pupil numbers was seen in Sheffield. • Five years ago, there were approximately 100 Roma pupils in its schools. The latest figures from the local authority indicate that there were around 2,100 Roma pupils, representing fewer than 3% of the city’s total school population of 79,150. • Most are from Slovakia and have settled largely in the Burngreave ward. • Few spoke any English when they arrived at school in England. • By 2014, one Sheffield secondary school had 174 Roma pupils (21% of its roll) compared with 36 pupils (4%) in 2009 – (Ofsted, 2014)
School impacts: Freeport Investigation of the impacts – Through ongoing research with University of Sheffield (mainly in MFL/EAL to date, to be rolled out across the school) Overarching research question: – How can a school foster the integration of a large number of NTE Roma children? Qualitative data collected: – interviews, class observations, field-notes, photos
The School – Diverse catchment including established Pakistani heritage community. – Unprecedented rise in numbers of Roma • E.g. 16 children on Monday 6/1/2014 – Roma pupils presenting challenges in terms of behaviour, language and integrating with other students.
Freeport Ethnicity Breakdown February 2015 Somali 5% Other 25% Pakistani 11% Other Eastern European 2% Roma 8% White British 49%
Challenges with school integration • Roma often lack experience of, or appear not to value, formal mainstream education: • Segregated schooling • 3% of Czech/Slovak Population is Roma but 35-50% of Special School pupils are Roma (Ivatts 2014) • Increased Roma focus on vocational skills • Little understanding of “traditional” school hierarchies and expectations • Roma often lack literacy skills, even in their own language • However, Roma pupils in the study really enjoy school!
Other challenges with integration Findings: Identity and Language • Identity • Language • Self rejection of the Roma label • Misallocation of translators • Negative connotations • E.g. Slovak translators • Misunderstanding of linguistic identity • Varieties of Romani (Matras 2004)
Aspects of school policy • Separate NTE (New to English) facility for new arrivals • Students attend regular (immersion) classes after getting to grips with basic English • English-only policy relaxed • Unintended segregation: • Top set: no Roma, some other EAL • Middle set: few Roma, some other EAL • Bottom set: mostly Roma and EAL
Diverse Languages and challenges “There is one [Roma] boy from Slovakia, one girl from Afghanistan, a girl who is Somalian from Norway, and two Roma girls from the Czech Republic… and an English boy with low ability…”
English/EAL/MFL challenges …….Learning English Whole school Literacy……………….
Mapping of super-diverse school traits (Vertovec 2007) Superdiversity Freeport • • Marked rise in net immigration Slovakia: Roma Slovaks/Slovaks. Pupils Diversification of countries of origin from Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Czech Republic (Czech Roma) etc. Somalian pupil from Norway • • No specific historical, particularly Slovakia, Czech Republic, Afghanistan colonial links with Britain and Somalia no particular colonial links with Britain (some shared history) • • Widely differing statuses within Slovak pupils may or may not: be groups of the same ethnic or national Roma; have been to mainstream or origin segregated schools, educated in the UK, have few literacy skills.
Further super-diversity characteristics (Payne 2014) Characteristic Manifestation • • Unpredictable intake Speed, numbers, languages, pupil biographies • • Unpredictable pupil churn Unpredictable arrival, departure, attendance • • Structural uncertainty School status: comprehensive/academy • • Departmental uncertainty MFL, EAL, MFL-EAL merged • • Professional uncertainty MFL teachers as EAL teachers, new language skills, English and phonics • • Adaptations and innovations Romani/Slovak/Czech staff; Czech maths teacher, move from ‘English only’ to ‘English+’
The Super-diverse School “unstable but not arbitrary” • Likely to be: • Characterized by: – Unpredictability-Uncertainty-Flexibility-Adaptability • Inability to accurately forecast, plan, predict • Ability to react, adapt, evolve • Evidenced in: – Pupil: biographies, languages, educational trajectories, literacy levels, attendances – Staff: roles, skills, languages – School: status, links, networks, support
Wider considerations “we cannot return to a pre-super- diverse era” (Phillimore, 2014) • See super-diversity as unexceptional and increasing... • ..But not for every school. • Schooling for the globalized, super-diverse world.
The Roma Language and Education Tool (RoLET) Based on the TARGET Model (Traveller and Roma Gypsy Education Tool, Wilkin et al. 2010) Adapted for Roma Slovak pupils (Payne 2015)
Acknowledgements Many thanks to all the pupils and staff of Freeport School who contributed their time to be interviewed and observed.
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