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The purpose of this paper is to offer a new perspective for strategic foresight on the basis of nurture theory. Strategia Sapiens refers to the fact that strategic work needs to be foresight oriented, and foresight should be directly value driven.

The following areas of strategic foresight are offered for discussion: the content of a vision, its emergence process and the characteristics of strategic foresight in time and in space.

The interdisciplinary approach of this research creates a synthesis of and bases its findings on the empirical and theoretical findings of different scientific fields. The primary finding is that nurture theory offers new perspectives to refine and renew strategic foresight. One perspective is the existence of a value- and culture-driven way of life, and the other is the simultaneous self-realisation of individuals. The paper creates the following models on the basis of nurture theory: the system relations of strategic foresight, a complex model of development, the field and system of strategic foresight activities, the logistic life-cycle model and the field of force of social spaces.

This discussion and approach are highly useful for regional and national strategic practitioners, and they contribute to the discussion of the concept and measurement of development. The nurture theory approach strengthens the incorporation of cultural responsibility, as well as an intergenerational view of strategic foresight, which are both fundamental for a renewal of this field.

This introduction from Andrea Óhidy and Katalin R. Forray provides a brief overview of the social and education situation of European Roma and also about the structure of this book. Roma are here described as a ‘hidden minority’ (see the country study about Italy from Valeria Cavioni), because – although they are the largest minority group living in Europe for more than a hundred years – we still know very little about them. Although most of the Roma people have been living for centuries in European countries, their situation is still different from the non-Roma population; they often suffered from poverty and exclusion. There is a host of Roma, especially in Southern and in Eastern Europe, who is considered to be the most disadvantaged group in European societies, for example, regarding their (1) health situation, (2) on the labour and (3) on the housing market and (4) also in education. Questions of education are the central elements of politics making the situation of Roma better. To fulfil these requirements some European countries have taken determined steps. As Natascha Hofmann in the country study about Germany wrote, we are in the phase of the ‘dawn of learning’ because there are more and more policies and programs to develop attainment and success of Roma in European education and lifelong learning. This book gives an overview about retrospective and prospective tendencies in the situation of European Roma in education and lifelong learning.