Students from vulnerable groups, including Roma, have higher drop-out and retention rates. The HEDROM project was primarily aimed at improving the quality of vocational and technical education, making it inclusive for all students, and consequently influencing their success at the secondary level of education. We saw an opportunity to do this by training professional staff who work with Roma pupils and to raise their professional competences in working with Roma, as they are the ones who have the biggest impact on the quality of education through their work. The specific objectives we set in the application form: To prepare the basis for the revision of the training programme developed within the GEM (Erasmus+) project, which is aimed at training adult educators who work with Roma, and to adapt it for secondary school teachers, on the basis of the project activities. Prevent early school leaving and failure in vocational and professional education among Roma. Empower secondary school teachers to work with Roma students. Raise the educational level of the Roma community and consequently influence their competitiveness in the labour market.
The application was based on the observations and experiences of the project partners in their work with members of the Roma community. In recent years, there has been an increase in the enrolment of Roma in secondary schools, especially in vocational and technical secondary education programmes, both in Slovenia and Croatia, and this is also true for the partner secondary schools. These schools also face a high drop-out rate among the Roma community, who often struggle to reach minimum standards, do not attend classes and consequently leave school early. Educational institutions strive to ensure that Roma students achieve better learning results, successfully complete secondary education and become competitive with the majority population on the labour market, which would have a significant impact on improving their socio-economic situation and the development of the Roma community itself. In our experience with the Roma community, we have brought together partners from Slovenia and Croatia, as we face similar challenges and over the years we have developed examples of good practice that can be modified and transferred to the secondary school level to address the current needs and challenges of Roma pupils and secondary schools