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Ethnomathematics and its Diverse Approaches for Mathematics Education pp 97–123Cite as

Once Upon a Time… The Gypsy Boy Turned 15 While Still in the First Grade

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Part of the book series: ICME-13 Monographs ((ICME13Mo))

Abstract

The need to develop a bottom up curriculum for Roma students (preschool education) in order to support their learning at school—language and mathematics—and with a view to contribute to their social inclusion through an ethnomathematical perspective led us to conduct fieldwork on the Roma students’ community of origin. The ethnomathematical perspective supported the combination of a critical ethnographical fieldwork using critical communicative methodology (CCM) for exploring students’ funds of knowledge as well as the parameters that affect Roma children’s education . Poststructural ideas such as power/power relations contributed to understanding how inequalities are constructed through discursive practices, making the inclusion of Roma (and other marginalized groups) merely rhetorical. The pragmatological material, discourse, discursive practices, practices, representations etc.; derived from the community informed both our practices/our interventions in the kindergarten, and our future actions in the community aiming to respond in social justice issues, important for both Roma and non Roma communities.

I understand access and participation as Social Justice.

—D’Ambrosio (2012)

Project: “Education of Roma children in the Epirus, Ionian Islands, Thessaly and Western Greece”, 2010–2015 (E.U. Lifelong Learning, action code: 304263).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Bishop (1988, 2002).

  2. 2.

    Despite, the official rhetoric at the school where I conducted the research there were two classes purely of Roma children, constituted by children from 7 to 12 years old.

  3. 3.

    Our project included all Thessaly area, a big part of all Greece. The communities we were working with are characterizing by diversity about the broaden society, among them and inside them.

  4. 4.

    The analysis of the two terms exceeds the objectives of this work, but it is necessary a basic reference. Many authors use alternative or complementary the terms. In short, we could say that “being postmodern indicates a historical, sociological point of view. Being poststructural indicates a strategy of analysis” (Yeaman et al., p. 26).

  5. 5.

    In some other cases we took into consideration the needs that were emerged through our communication in the next project’s application (Inclusion and education of Roma children in the region of Thessaly-code 5001369 and IIS integration Judgment A.P.17556/10.14.2016) that has started in November, 2016). For example, among other initiatives we established a school for the parents of Roma students for familiarizing them with the school structure and whatever constitutes the school in order to be able to support their children.

  6. 6.

    The main pragmatological material used here it is coming from this particular community of Aliveri.

  7. 7.

    The above communicative incidence took place the last school year. At this time, his family was living in a house and his children attended school. This school year, because the retailer license is on the name of his wife, they have to move together all around the country, making children’s school attendance problematic. The response to this situation was to send the boy to his grandparents and to stop girl’s attendance.

  8. 8.

    It happens very often to be included in this classes students that have no learning difficulties; students that have just a different cultural background, illegally.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece

    Charoula Stathopoulou

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  1. Charoula Stathopoulou
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Correspondence to Charoula Stathopoulou .

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  1. Centro de Educacao Aberta e a Dista, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto Centro de Educacao Aberta e a Dista, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Milton Rosa

  2. Mathematics, Towson University Mathematics, Towson, Maryland, USA

    Lawrence Shirley

  3. Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica , Heredia, Costa Rica

    Maria Elena Gavarrete

  4. University of the Philippines Baguio , Baguio, Philippines

    Wilfredo V. Alangui

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Stathopoulou, C. (2017). Once Upon a Time… The Gypsy Boy Turned 15 While Still in the First Grade. In: Rosa, M., Shirley, L., Gavarrete, M., Alangui, W. (eds) Ethnomathematics and its Diverse Approaches for Mathematics Education. ICME-13 Monographs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59220-6_5

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