In an effort to support the education of the Roma, the Council of Europe organises European workshops and seminars on the following themes: teacher training on Roma history and culture, training of Roma school mediators/assistants, on the relationship between families and schools, access to quality education, preschool education, and vocational training. A number of workshops have been held in the framework of the Council of Europe "Pestalozzi training programme" for education professionals. Please see the Web site for a list of publications and workshop reports: http://www.coe.int/formation

Some workshops:

• Budapest (Hungary) 31 July-3 August 2008
  The Remembrance of the Holocaust and of the Roma Samudaripen

  The aims of the workshop were to share information related to the history of  the Holocaust and of the Roma genocide, to help a better understanding of the past and present situation of the Roma community and to share information on national and international projects.

  Workshop report: The Remembrance of the Holocaust and of the Roma Samudaripen

• Bratislava (Slovakia) 8-9 April 2008
  The European Conference « Education and training of Roma children and Youth: the way forward »
  The Conference was organised by the Slovak authorities in co-operation with the Council of Europe. Held under the auspices of Mr Dušan Čaplovič, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Slovak Republic and within the framework of the Slovak Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the event was coordinated by the Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for Roma Communities Ms Anina Botošová.
  The conference has focused on concrete measures taken by member states in order to implement the Council of Europe's Recommendation (2000)4 on the "education of Roma children in Europe", as well as the national strategies/action plans. The objective was to provide pointers for future guidelines and actions that will contribute to eliminating the marked educational outcome gaps that exist between Roma and non-Roma populations.

  Conference report: "Education and training of Roma children and Youth: the way forward"

• Strasbourg (Council of Europe) 18-19 December 2006
  How to teach the Roma Holocaust ?
  The meeting gathered together Roma and non-Roma experts in order to:
  - define the specifics of the event for the Roma and what they imply at a didactic level,
  - create pedagogical material for:
  * all Roma and non-Roma children, permitting them to have knowledge of the event and the memory of the Roma Holocaust
  * the training of education professionals to permit the profound knowledge of the event and the acquisition of pedagogical methods for the teaching of the Holocaust in class
  * museums, cultural and historical centres, documentary centres to provide information for the public in general
  - suggest practical paths in order to create a tool for democratic citizenship education, with positive consequences for the Roma in our actual society
  - emphasize and make known this working material in the framework of diplomacy for the remembrance of the Roma Holocaust, at the level of the ministries of education, so that it can be used as quickly as possible and in a flexible manner.
  Meeting report
• Tallinn (Estonia) December 2006
  
  The aims of the European workshop were : to promote the education of Roma children in Estonia, to improve the participants knowledge about the Roma history and culture, to exchange experiences and opinions in order to acquire new skills on the education taking into account the cultural specificities of Roma children and youth.
• Bucharest (Romania) December 2005
  Working meeting on the situation of Roma school mediators and assistants
• Durham (United Kingdom), 5 to 9 June 2004
  Access, attendance, achievement: involving Roma and Traveller parents in their children’s learning
• Budapest (Hungary), 16-17 April 2004
  Teaching Remembrance: the Holocaust:
  The meeting was organised in the framework of the two projects: « Education of Roma children in Europe » and « Teaching Remembrance: education for the prevention of crimes against humanity ».
  Meeting report
• Timişoara (Romania) 1-4 April 2004
  Training of Roma school mediators and assistants
  The seminar was organised under the grant system for the training of educational staff. The aim was to exchange educational experiences relating to the training of Roma school mediators (training content, skills acquisition and official recognition, job profile) as a way of assessing the situation throughout Europe and subsequently disseminating the results so that they may serve as a basis for new practices.
  Publication: Training of Roma school mediators and assistants
• Graz (Austria) 25 au 27 July 2003
  The History of Roma in the European Classroom
  The theme of the meeting was the Roma history. The experts decided on the order of the priorities proposed at the Dijon seminar (see Dijon seminar report) and started work on the history training modules.
  Meeting report
• Dijon (France) 30 June to 5 July 2003
  European training project for the schooling of Roma/Gypsy children
  European summer school. The theme was chosen as a sequel to the seminar above. Following on from the December 2002 seminar which took stock of existing training measures, the aim of the 2003 summer school was to set priorities for training educators in the fields of history, language and culture, and to propose a coherent list of training modules for experts to develop.
  Summary booklet: Training modules for teachers in the history, culture and language of the Roma
• Dijon (France) 4 to 8 December 2002
  Teacher training and research
  Seminar for teachers, trainers, inspectors, etc, on the theme of teacher training and its relations with research. This event, co-organised by the French government, was held in connection with the Council of Europe’s project and Socrates/Comenius, the European Union’s teaching training programme.
  Summary booklet in French: Schooling of Roma children, teacher training and research
  
• Castellón (Spain) November 2002
  Opré Roma: families and school
  European colloquy organised jointly by the Universities of Castellón (Spain), Paris V (France) and Florence (Italy) following research on schooling practices for Roma/Gypsy children in the three countries concerned. The emphasis was placed on relations between families and school, the pictures teachers have of the children and their families and the pictures families have of schools, the reasons for absenteeism, etc.
  
• Kosice (Slovakia) 23 to 27 October 2002
  Education of Roma/Gypsy children: teacher training, preparatory classes
  This seminar, organised under the grants system for training education staff, focused on the introduction of preparatory classes in Slovakia in 1992 to bring children up to the required level and prepare them for entry into ordinary classes: teacher training, teaching content and practices, first results, etc.
  Booklet available in French: Education of Roma children: teacher training, preparatory classes
• Graz (Austria) 12 to 14 September 2002
  Romani language in Europe
  International Conference on Romani Linguistics
  European Centre for Modern Languages
  
  Publication : Romani language in Europe