Racialised underclass: pathways to work for Roma students in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the interplay of class and race in the education of Roma students in the Czech Republic. We contribute to the literature on the role of teachers as gatekeepers to future education and employment by looking into how they assign educational and career routes based on what they perceive as appropriate for particular students, with students' backgrounds being the deciding criterion. Race and social class are central points of reference, which may operate separately or in concert. The perceived low aspirations of Roma children do not only result from an association with their social class but are also a product of a racialised school environment, which builds on an understanding of biologised and homogenous Roma identities. We interviewed twenty pedagogues twice, at the beginning of the school year (2021/2022) and towards the end of the year, as their students were preparing to transition from compulsory to secondary education.

KEYWORDS:

• Roma
• education
• career choices
• inequalities
• racialisation
• Czech Republic

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the guest editors and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful suggestions during the reviewing process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Primary education (for students aged around 6–15 years) is mandatory by law in the Czech Republic. Secondary education is either general or vocational, and it is typically attended by students aged 15 to 18/19 (10th to 13th grade). It is provided by secondary schools or conservatories, and it is not compulsory by law. Secondary education culminates in the Matura exam (maturita), an apprenticeship certificate, or a final examination that allows graduates to access tertiary education. Most of the primary and secondary education in the Czech Republic is covered by public schools.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Technologická Agentura České Republiky [TL03000628].

Notes on contributors

Olga Gheorghiev

Olga Gheorghiev, PhD. is a researcher at the the Czech Academy of Sciences, where she conducts gender-sensitive research on labour market integration of vulnerable groups. She has a Ph.D. in sociology and was a research fellow at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.

Karel Čada

Karel Čada, PhD. is a sociologist. He works at the University of Economics and Charles University. His research focuses on discourses and narratives in public policies, social exclusion and migration. His work has been published in Policy and Society, Voluntas or Critical Housing Analysis.

Alžběta Wolfová

Alžběta Wolfová, PhD. is a Czech social anthropologist specialising in the anthropology of body and health with a long experience with applied research on various topics regarding social inequalities. Among these, she has focused on the issues of education or un/employment and related social politics.