Rocío is a secondary education teacher in Málaga (Spain). She studied Business Administration and Law at the University of Córdoba (Spain), where she is currently pursuing her doctorate at the Faculty of Education Sciences. Her research is based on the participation of Roma families in the educational system. Due to the discrimination faced by Roma students and families, there are high rates of academic failure and school dropout, so it is necessary to investigate the structural barriers that continue to hinder their inclusion in the educational system and how to break these barriers. Rocío would like to contribute to this educational research and demonstrate that the participation of Roma families contributes to inclusion, academic success and improving the quality of education.
Her first published article showed that there are institutional barriers that hinder the participation of Roma families in the educational system, drawing attention to the need for specific policies that integrate strategic actions for the incorporation of intercultural formulas for the participation of Roma families in schools. The second article, still in progress, will highlight these barriers based on real-life experiences of Roma people, coming from focus groups made up of heterogeneous members of the Roma community.
For her latest article, she found the CEU Romani Studies Program to be the perfect place to learn and connect with other Romani organizations and people to work on this research. In particular, it seeks successful actions in terms of involving Roma families in the education of their children, carried out in Hungary (including possibly other countries) to create a framework for action and thus promote family participation as a key element of success at any educational stage.