REF Readies Romanian Teachers and Monitors for the ESF-funded Project, Roma Children and Parents Want to Go to School!

In late October 2014, the Roma Education Fund (REF) Romania organized two training courses to improve the skills of 240 people who will actively be involved in the prevention and remedy of early school leaving by young Roma pupils currently living in the Central, North East and South Muntenia regions of Romania.

In late October 2014, the Roma Education Fund (REF) Romania organized two training courses to improve the skills of 240 people who will actively be involved in the prevention and remedy of early school leaving by young Roma pupils currently living in the Central, North East and South Muntenia regions of Romania.

Ninety teachers of Romanian Language and Literature and Mathematics attended the first course (held October 24-26, 2014), which aimed to develop their strategies, teaching methods and evaluation techniques for working with Roma students who are at risk of dropping out. Another 150 teachers attended a second training course held October 31-November 2, 2014. The course focused on the implementation of regional Second Chance activities aimed to support Roma adults to complete their education. The purpose of this course was to help teachers acquire the professional skills such as counseling in adult education, negotiation techniques in school-community relationships, and the adaptation of the teaching methods and processes tailored for adult education in line with Romanian and European legislation on equal opportunities.

Another meeting was organized January 12-13, 2015 in Bucharest for 31 monitors employed within the project.  The school monitors’ role is to support, coordinate and monitor the activities implemented within the 43 beneficiary schools. The purpose of this meeting was to plan the activities that will be carried out in schools and to establish efficient techniques and working methods for the implementation of the project activities in order to achieve the expected results and indicators.

Background

Roma Children and Parents Want to Go to School! (ID 132 996) is co-financed by Sectorial Operational Program Human Resources Development and runs from April 2014 – August 2015. It has an integrated, dual impact, including both preventive measures (providing an integrated package of mentoring, guidance, counseling, additional educational support and subsidies for 800 Roma children in grades five to eight at risk of early school leaving) and corrective actions by providing Second Chance educational services for 310 Roma adults.

For more information, visit http://www.romaeducationfund.ro