This issue's Infon-nation File covers the same themes in relation to the French-speaking community of Belgium. It was compiled by Marcel Leurin, Inspector charge de mission at the Belgian Ministry of Education, Research and Training, member of the Ad Hoc Group of the Commission of the European Communities (Intercultural Education, School Provision for Gypsy and Traveller Children), and by Alain Reyniers, reader and researcher at the Catholic University of Louvain, member of the Council of Directors of the Gypsy Research Centre of the Université René Descartes, Paris, and director of the French review, Etudes tsiganes.

1. Introduction

It is worth repeating, for the benefit of our readers who may be unfamiliar with the administrational situation in our country, that Belgium is a federal State comprising three linguistic Communities (speaking French, Dutch, and German, respectively) and three Regions : Walloon where, with the exception of some 60,000 speakers of German, the spoken language is French; Flanders, where Dutch is spoken; and Brussels-Capital, where both French and Dutch are spoken.

If it were not for the fact that these regions are fully autonomous in many respects, and may therefore pursue quite distinct policies, it would make sense to treat Belgium as a single entity. After all, Gypsies and Travellers, who disregard national boundaries in the course of their travels, pay even less attention to our internal ones between Communities and Regions. It is thus inevitable that there should be some overlap between the analyses and data which follow. and those already published in the Flemish file.

Scholastic failure and early school leaving are an extremely disturbing problem in the French-speaking Community of Belgium: 30% of all pupils repeat at least one year of primary school.

The Minister of Education, is particularly sensitive to this issue, and has greatly increased the availability of resources aimed at improving - or better yet eliminating this disastrous picture. The pattern forms early : of the pupils held back to repeat a year, 70% do so in the first years of primary. It also operates unequally : scholastic failure is five times higher among children from economically and culturally disadvantaged backgrounds.

Among the measures adopted, and which are currently being resourced to the tune of hundreds of millions of Belgian francs, the following should be noted :

- priority education zones;

- the setting up of a mobile team to assist primary teachers in taking the linguistic and cultural characteristics of their pupils, into account;

the setting up of a mobile team to assist secondary vocational teachers in taking the real needs and capabilities of their students, into account;

the setting up of a mobile team to help train teachers in making pupils and their families feel welcome;

the setting up, in the three main urban centres, of reception mechanisms for children whose mothertongue is not French;

assigning mediators to secondary schools with a heterogeneous student population:

adopting structural reforms at both primary and secondary levels, in order to prevent the need for repetition without sacrificing standards.

All of these measures have two things in common, namely, that they are targeted directly at needs, and that they stress the indispensable need for in-service training of teaching personnel - both questions insufficiently addressed in the past.

Nor is basic training neglected : as from the current (9394) school year, the Minister for Internal Affairs, Michael Lebrun, has introduced a modular system which includes teaching practice in disadvantaged areas and training in multicultural education.

The alert reader will have noted that none of the above measures is specifically aimed at Gypsy and Traveller children. There are two reasons for this :

1 ~ the geographic and social criteria under which they operate mean that most Gypsy and Traveller children benefit from them already;

2 - a detailed study of the general situation of Gypsies and Travellers in the French-speaking Community will be out in a matter of weeks; its findings will indicate what if any special measures ought to be taken with regard to school provision for this ethnic group. Three general guidelines are already indicated :

- information to be provided by all appropriate means to teaching personnel dealing with this type of pupil;

- establishing training within the schools themselves, to counteract ethnocentrism, help teachers to open up to other cultures, and master multicultural approaches;

- developing teaching materials which take account of Gypsy culture.

In summary, then, it is reasonable to hope for significant improvement in school provision for Gypsy and Traveller children the near future. This will bring us out of a long period in which their cultural and numerical marginality has prevented them from deriving as much benefit as they - like any one else - have a right to expect from our scholastic institutions.

Marcel Leurin

1. General Context

1.1. History

There have been Gypsies in the territories comprising modern Belgium since the beginning of the 15th c. A group appeared in Brussels on 3 January, 1420; another stopped at Tournai on 30 September 1421 and was later noted at Mons on 8 October that same year. After a period of tolerance towards them, the public authorities joined local communities in a common policy of rejection. In 1510, the Emperor Maxmillian and Duke Charles ordered the departure of the "Egyptians" and their followers from the Brabant. Numerous expulsion orders were passed in the Hainaut region from 1534, and in the Principality of Liège from 1540. Nonetheless, Gypsies enjoyed relative clemency in the lands of the Bishop of Liège up to 1672, when the Principality brought its policies into line with the oppressive practices of its neighbours. The anti-"Bohemian" drive was stepped up in the early 17th c. As the Netherlands pursued mass persecutions of Gypsies, whole groups fled via the Ardennes towards Alsace and Lorraine.

The Gypsy groups currently residing in the Frenchspeaking Community descend from migratory waves going back to the 19th c., reinforced by further migration from the 1960's to the present day. The Manouches, Yenish, Travellers and Rom of our regions descend from 19th c. migrants. The first three of these arrived from Alsace and Lorraine, but the Rom did not appear until 1866 as part of a chain of events originating in Transylvania. It should be noted that the Travelling population comprises, and continues to this day to grow as a result of, mixed marriages between Manouches, Yenish, and an indigenous, often marginalised group, acquiring cultural coherence as a result of contact with traditional nomads. The recently arrived Ronia population does not form a homogeneous group. Some, originating mainly from Yugoslavia, arrived during the 60's and 70's in response to the demand for unskilled manual labour in Belgian heavy industry at that time. Apart from their cultural characteristics, nothing distinguishes them from immigrant workers in general. Other "Yugoslav" Gypsies (mostly Bosnian, but also some Bulgarian and Polish) are nomadic, and pass through the country from time to time. Since the former Yugoslavia has become embroiled in conflict, some of these are looking for a stable base here. Others, who were not in the habit of travelling in their former countries of residence in Eastern Europe, have been granted temporary refugee status. Finally, in the wake of the fall of Ceaucescu, Romanian Roma are also demanding political asylum in Belgium.

1.2. Statistical Data

It would be risky to attempt to convey precise statistics. There has been no recent census of the Travelling population, perceived by the authorities more as a population in transit than as a particular component of local society. Most groups cultivate invisibility, and this is increasing in direct proportion to the steady decline in mobile dwellings (caravans, trailers, mobile homes) which are such obvious indicators of cultural specificity. In this context, the only persons definitively identified as Gypsies are those whose lifestyle and behaviour are strongly differentiated from local patterns - a role long assigned to Belgian Rom and to some Manouches and Travellers, but today tending to be filled by Roma of Balkan origin.

Gypsy support organisations (Vlaams Centrum Woonwagenwerk) in the Flemish Community, COPRODEV in the French~speaking Community) estimate the total Gypsy population of Belgium at between 10,000-15,000, of whom 20% live in Brussels, 40% in Flanders, and 40% in the Walloon Region. Some 900 families reside in the French- and German-speaking part of the country; three quarters of them are sedentary or semi-sedentary. Most (90%) of this population comprises Yenish and Travellers. Manouches, who are more numerous in Brussels and Flanders, make up no more than about 6% of the Gypsy population of the Walloon Region. The remaining 4% are Roma of Balkan origin. Belgian Rom are established in Brussels and the north of the country, and make only sporadic incursions to the south.

Manouches and Roma are established mainly in the great industrial agglomerations, particularly in the provinces of Li@ge and the Hainaut. Travellers are concentrated around the cities as well, but are more widely scattered throughout the territory as a whole. Outside of Brussels, the Gypsy population of French-speaking Belgium is concentrated primarily along the length of the Walloon Ridge (running through Mons - La Louvière - Charleroi - Liège - Verviers). This axis, connecting France and Germany, is also frequented by many nomadic Gypsies in transit to and from neighbouring countries. In connection with this, it is important to note that the Walloon Region is an integral part of the habitual travelling territory of many Gypsies who are administratively attached to foreign cities near the border (Lille, for example).

11. School Provision

II.1. Statistical Data

There has never been a census of the Travelling population of school age. Considering the overall population estimates given above, the high birth rate in Gypsy families, and the overall youth of the Gypsy population, the number of Travelling (Rom, Roma, Manouche, Yenish and Traveller) children aged between 6 -18 in the Walloon Region is probably somewhere between 1,800 and 2,000, divided equally between primary and secondary vocational schools. Most children complete pri-mary level, although absenteeism remains significant and certain groups, notably the Rom, still have little contact with the schools. Few pupils complete the third level of basic schooling, with the result that illiteracy persists. Somewhere between the ages of twelve and fourteen, children seek to play a more active role in the family economy. Irregularity of attendance increases with age. At the same time, it is important to note that some parents push their children towards vocational training, despite the fact that their environment as a whole remains hostile to the school system.

11.2. Specific Measures

In a context marked by the desire for invisibility and parental distrust of the scholastic institution, as well as by a lack of interest on the part of the authorities (in the widest sense) with regard to a transitory population, information is the essential first step in any initiative. It was in this spirit that the Ministry of Education of the French Community of Belgium instigated research into the school situation of Gypsy and Traveller children in Brussels and the Walloon Region. This "stocktaking" is currently under way. It should make it possible to identify priority areas (such as training, pedagogy, programmes, types of intervention) to be outlined in proposals which will be presented to the Ministry of Education. Apart from this, nothing has been done, be it with regard to structures, pedagogy, recruitment or teacher training. This is regrettable, as these needs exist. At local level, they are addressed only insofar as the direction and/or teaching staff of a given school happen to be particularly motivated. Some State primary schools, in areas with significant concentrations of Travelling residents (such as at Nimy, near Mons; Awans, near Aiwailles; and Verviers) do take nomadism into account, but without access to appropriate teaching materials or any outside help. At Verviers, a remedial French language class was set up with the support of the provincial school inspection service: it caters for many foreign children, including Romanian Roma.

11.3. Other Actions for Young People

In May 1990, the Royal Commissionership on Immigrant Policy put forward proposals for short-term measures (re. site provision, information and police checks) and long-term ones (notably the setting up of an interministerial working group) in order to improve conditions for Gypsies and Travelling People in Belgium. During 1992, the General Deputy for the Rights of the Child and Youth Assistance of the French Community of Belgium undertook the initiative of launching a working group on Gypsy and Traveller minors in trouble with the law (for delinquency and begging) in the Liège and Brussels judicial districts. Judges from the juvenile courts, public prosecutors, representatives of the administration and of various Ministries, Gypsy and Traveller support groups and experts, were all involved. The initiative was intended to lead to an open teamwork project focussing on young Gypsies (mainly Yugoslav) who already had a record of court appearances in the Liège judicial district, on (modest) financial aid towards halting sites, and on financing a training and information pilot project on the question of Travelling People in the French-speaking Community of Belgium ( a project which was also supported by the European Social Fund's "Horizon" programme). In this way a tangible effort was realised in the priority fields of information and increased awareness. This effort must be pursued, particularly with regard to local authorities and teaching staff in schools likely to have Gypsy and Traveller pupils. The Minister of Education has indicated his willingness to collaborate with the Minister for Social Affairs in this pursuit.

111. Case Studies

Between 1980-1980, an on-site caravan school operated at Neder-Over-Hembeek (Brussels), but this experiment came to a halt when the site was closed down. Nonetheless, some of the children who bad benefited from this introduction to schooling went on to pursue it further, through the Rom Integratie project at Molenbeek Saint Jean (Sint-JansMolenbeek), which was supported by the Flemish Ministry of Education

Below, we shall outline how Gypsy and Traveller children have got on at three ordinary State, primary schools, at Maisières, Awans, and Hodimont respectively.

111.1. Infant and Primary School, Maisières (Mons)

Capital of the Hainaut, administrative centre of an industrial region, and an important crossroads, the city of Maisi@res has always attracted considerable numbers of Gypsies and Travellers. In the past, nomads were able to set up camp at the very gates of the city, but urban expansion has gradually pushed them further out into the suburbs. Over the last fifteen years or so, significant numbers have stopped at Nimy, on the banks of the Central Canal, on a contiguous belt of public and private sites. Health and hygiene conditions were deplorable, with no water, electricity, or toilet facilities, and completely irregular rubbish collection. From 1983, the Mons local authorities have been looking for some way to accommodate Travelling People. Eventually an official site was set up at Ghlin for thirty sedentary caravan-dwelling Manouche and Traveller families. The situation of nomadic families has yet to be addressed.

The Citè des Espinois local primary school in Maisières is more or less the "site school" for Ghlin. The school buildings are situated about one kilometre from the caravans. Most parents from the site bring their school-age children there each morning, and collect them in the evening. The school is an integral part of the ordinary school system, and enjoys adequate facilities. Travelling and Gadjo children often find themselves side by side in the classroom. The administration has shown itself to be very sensitive to the specificities of Travelling children. There has also been some i-al)l)i-o(.hemeiit between Travelling and Gadjo parents on the occasion of various festivities organised by the school (notably in connection with Mothers' Day).

Gypsy and Traveller children comprise half (fifteen out of a total of thirty) of the pupils in one of the first year classes. (There are other children attending higher classes.) In addition to her teaching work, the class teacher must also bring two different worlds into peaceful coexistence. This is not her first experience of such a situation : she used to teach at a different school in the same region, and had Travelling children in her class there as well. At Maisières, with the support of the administration, she imposes a policy of "class spirit" forbidding any form of ethnic discrimination. Travelling children are accepted with the same goodwill as all other children. The derogatory ten-n "Boh6mien" is banned both in the classroom and on the school grounds.

Does a climate favouring Gypsy and Traveller children's integration into an ordinary class have any impact on their overall adaptation to the school system? If so, to what degree? To answer this question, we shall examine four indicators : attendance, class participation, scholastic achievement, and progress in the school system.

a) Attendance

The site is nearby, and parents have taken on the responsibility for getting their own children to and from the school. But their attendance patterns differ:

- the majority, whose parents are semi-sedentary, come regularly (except when physically unable to do so, or as a result of unexpected events within the family);

- children of nomadic parents tend to attend regularly while stopping in the area: here, parents demonstrate a confidence in the principle and teacher, but may behave differently when stopping elsewhere, and this makes scholastic continuity difficult;

- some economically disadvantaged and socially isolated parents only send their children to school for the first few years of primary, after which their attendance becomes increasingly sporadic, diminishing with age.

Despite the welcoming attitude of the school, Travelling families have not adopted a uniform approach to regular attendance; however, those families which are still nomadic are aware of its importance, and cite school attendance among the "pull" factors bringing them to Mons.

b) Participation

Gypsy and Traveller children are considered to be unusually "wide awake" and strongly attentive to novelty; however, their capacity for sustained attention is weak, and declines after about ten minutes. These are, moreover, children who "love freedom", and who have a greater need than other children to move about. Instead of reprimanding them, the teacher treats them flexibly, giving them greater freedom of movement and a wider choice of facilities. While other children are subject to general school rules regarding discipline, Gypsy and Traveller children can, if they wish, go over to the "toys and library" corner of the classroom (where they spend hours deciphering comics and illustrated books, or developing their oral expression by organising improvised puppet shows), or go outside to play.

At the beginning, the other children greatly resented this differential treatment, but the teacher patiently explained the motives behind her attitude, linked to the socially marginalised lifestyle of the Travelling People and the particular environment of Travelling children : "In their own environment, they go from one caravan to another. So, here at school, they go from one part of the classroom to another. They love to go and play by the river at the back of the school. It's the same river that flows near their site; when they go there, they're back in a familiar setting."

c,) Scholastic Achievement

Gypsy and Traveller children are distinguished from other pupils by their practical knowledge based on personal experience/observation (particularly with regard to their detailed understanding of the habits of certain animals which Gadjo children tend not to notice, such as lizards, grass snakes, and birds), their ability to work together (in contrast to their Gadjo peers, who tend to operate individualistically), and their affective capacity (a greater need to receive, and to give, affection, than is characteristic for other children, protection of the weak, etc. : Gypsy and Traveller children appear to be better integrated into their own group than Gadjo children in theirs). These children bring a great deal to the classroom, both intellectually (they share memories of their travels, they watch a lot of television) and practically (when the teacher asks the class to tidy up books, toys, and other bits and bobs, it is the Gypsy children who participate most enthusiastically).

However, there are persistent difficulties regarding mastery of the French language (a second language for some, while others cling to dialect versions), reading, and, for some, of writing. These children rapidly identify and opt for everything practical, useful, concrete; their facility for abstraction, linked to the ability to learn to read, is weak. Likewise, in mathematics, the Gypsy and Traveller children easily grasp basic sums, particularly if these are taught through play, but once it comes to abstract concepts (the theory of sets, for example) they fall behind. By contrast, the so-called "discovery" subjects (such as introduction to natural science) are a great success.

Apart from a handful of children demonstrating exceptional intellectual ability (mostly among the girls), the majority of Gypsy and Traveller children are handicapped by their almost total lack of any sort of pre-schooling, a gap to be bridged during the first year of primary: they have to be taught how to hold a pencil, how to write their name, practice graphic exercises, work on oral expression. By the end of the year, they have reached the level they should have been at at the beginning; this probably explains why so many Gypsy and Traveller children run into difficulties over the first two years of primary. At this level, Gypsies' and Travellers' scholastic difficulties are analogous to those of immigrant children's. They ought to get special help to break down the pedagogical barriers and bring them up to the required level (for example by increasing the number of available teachers and monitors so that more individual teaching can take place).

Nomadic children pose the additional problem of how to organise scholastic continuity. When they arrive in the classroom, it is difficult to ascertain their level, so their first day is devoted to assessment, and they continue to need sustained pedagogical support for the next while. It is very obvious that, while some of them have been attending schools where their needs have been conscientiously met, most come from establishments where they have been left to fend for themselves.

This gives rise (once again) to the idea of a "school record booklet" (here called a "log for the road" or "accompanying notebook") which would, in conjunction with a liaison structure for teachers with nomadic pupils, facilitate efficient scholastic continuity.

d) Progress in the School Svstem

The pupil enters the school system where, in theory, he evolves in stages, climbing from rung to rung of intellectual development. Yet even in a school as welcoming as this one, the overwhelming majority of Gypsy and Traveller children develop according to an entirely different system. If they go to school, "it's not to make lawyers of them", but rather to seek out certain skills which will be useful to them in their lives as Gypsies and Travellers. Since they are subject to general regulations regarding compulsory schooling, they go to school. But this does not mean that their own education system ceases to operate. On the contrary, in a school such as that at Maisières which is well disposed towards them, we observe a sort of "colonisation" of the Gadjo school system by young Gypsies and Travellers.

Certainly, they do find themselves at a disadvantage from the first year onwards, and they experience difficulties relating to abstract conceptualisation which are not easily overcome. Yet all of them progressively, at their own pace, do acquire something : such children may make astonishing progress over a couple of days after months of struggling to keep up. And progress of this kind may be noted later on, in other schools. There is also the importance of the affective role among Gypsy and Traveller children : the child's emotional relationship with the teacher is paramount. It is this relationship rather than any desire for "book learning" which motivates the child to come to school. Also, it is far from rare to see children fighting tooth and nail to get into "their" teacher's class, attracted by her personality and regardless of their scholastic level.

e) Conclusion

The prevailing climate in this class is due to the personality of the teacher and the support of the school administration, both of whom have successfully valorised the cultural difference of Gypsy and Traveller pupils to the benefit of the school as a whole.This teacher is carrying out a sort of multicultural pedagogy using the means available locally. The very existence of this class proves that it is possible to integrate Gypsy and Traveller children into mainstream schooling, provided the teacher has the required qualities (a spirit of openness to cultural difference, organisational flexibility, great sensitivity to individual needs), the unfailing support of the administration, and the goodwill of all pupils and their parents. Various means, both material (school record booklet) and structural (some form of liaison between teachers of Travelling children) could improve these children's chances of scholastic continuity.

The majority of Travelling children in Belgium attend ordinary schools. This is also the preferred option of persons close to the Travelling People; moreover, the eventual aim of the experiments at Mortsel and Neder-Over-Hembeek is to integrate young Rom into mainstream provision. The situation at the Maisières community school is encouraging, despite the fact that many scholastic problems are far from sorted as yet. The fact is that many Gypsy and Traveller children are far from encountering such a favourable scholastic climate. What is more, the situations described in 111.1 (Travelling children forming a tiny minority in the classroom, to whom the teacher does not always devote the required attention, the hostility of other pupils, accommodation-related difficulties, parental lack of motivation, etc.) are still commonplace.

111.2. The Awans Community School (Aiwailles)

Situated near the border with the Liège region, the Aiwailles district has a high Gypsy and Traveller population. Some live scattered throughout the town itself, while others have set up home in nearby rural areas. Among the latter, many are to be found near the village of Awans, be it on a nearby official site or on a private one situated on the Hoyemont road. Other families, related to or otherwise linked with these established residents, also pass through the village. The local community school has been taking in Gypsy and Traveller children for over thirty years; there were fifteen such children on the rolls for the 1992-1993 school year. Some of these have adapted extremely well to compulsory schooling, and pursue their studies with success. The majority of the other children face the following three problems :

- Regular attendance : some children, whose parents are fairground operators, attend only from October to Easter, then set off on the fairs circuit with their families. Others only attend as a direct result of police intervention. Their parents do not have a positive attitude towards the school.

- Absence of pre-schooling : a period of adaptation to the school system, to its demands and discipline, is sometimes necessary. A child who sees the outside world as threatening, and the school as a prison, is disruptive in class, demonstrating aggression if not outright violence. Such children usually end up spending some time back in infants' class. Generally speaking, such problems could he easily resolved, if the children attended preschool, but their parents see no reason for them to do so.

- Intercultural contacts : apart from the friction inherent in late entry into the school system, there are no major problems in this regard. Nonetheless, rejection may crop up in the form of insults or fighting in the school yard between Travelling and Gadjo pupils. The school principal maintains good contacts with the families of Gypsy and Traveller pupils, and this certainly smoothens the children's way in to the school system.

111.3. The Hodimont Community School (Verviers)

This school is located in an area populated by first generation immigrants and disadvantaged Belgians. 87% of the pupils are of foreign origin. There are three distinct groups of Travelling children attending the school :

- Manouches : two or three families of Belgian nationality. These children differ from the majority in that their attendance is relatively irregular. and their involvement in the school system weak.

~ Travellers : four or five sedentary families, whose children attend regularly but who are stigmatised by social behaviour which is atypical for the area.

- Romanian Roma : five families who have applied for refugee status and who, under an injunction from the CPAS (Centre public d'aide social ), send a total of 13 school-age children to the school.

A "French for Foreigners" class, with 25-50 minute lessons given by a qualified (ACS status) teacher and aiming to help the children catch up, has been in operation since I March 1993. Since the school's location means that it will be taking in considerable numbers of pupils with little or no command of French for the foreseeable future, this provision is a permanent necessity. With this in mind, the City of Verviers Deputy Burgomaster in charge of public instruction and the county and principal school inspection authorities have undertaken a series of steps.

At the moment, the Romanian children pose the greatest problems. From the outset they have been very strongly differentiated from the student body as a whole. It has been particularly necessary to see to their hygiene and to supply them with clean clothing. Their parents, living in bad conditions, send them to school in direct response to CPAS pressure, and show little interest in how they get on there. These parents have little contact with school staff; when this does occur, it is usually limited to the mothers, whose role it is felt to be. While inter-pupil relations may be good within the school itself, there are often conflicts within the neighbourhood. Young Romanian Gypsies are often rejected by their neighbours, who accuse them of verbal aggression, lack of respect for other people's privacy, dirt, and roaming about in irresponsible gangs.

In the school itself, an appropriate approach to teaching must take account of two important factors, namely, the fact that a high proportion of the "clientele" are of foreign origin, and the fact that the numbers on the rolls continue to grow over the school year (for example with the arrival of new refugees). Activities pursued at the school are varied, based on the concrete and focussing on certain attractive themes such as sport, cookery, and physical expression. This approach is particularly emphasised in the remedial French class. It enables new arrivals to integrate more easily into groups of children of their own age. Their academic achievement level is regularly monitored by the class counsellor who may decide even in the middle of a school year to move a child over to a more appropriate section. Judging by the pupils' success rate in county examinations, this approach seems to work well overall.