Gypsy, Roma Travellers in Primary Education

Gypsy Roma Travellers in Primary Education

The term Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) is not a single homogenous group (Cromarty, 2018), encompassing a variety of groups including: Roma, Irish Traveller, Scottish Gypsies/Travellers, Welsh Gypsies, New Travellers, Showmen and Circus people, Boat people and Romani (English) Gypsies (Allen and Adams, 2011), indicating that there could be a large variety within the education system. The term gypsy has many negative connotations, mainly used negatively by the media, meaning that they are the most excluded ethnic group in British Society (Allen and Adams, 2012; Foster and Walker, 2013). With these shocking indications from other sources, it is no wonder that GRT communities have poor rates of achievement in education and poor levels of participation in education (Richardson and Ryder, 2012). This blog post will explore Gypsy Roma Travellers within an education context, highlighting the issues that they face and how we can possibly overcome them.

In relation to policy, there are two key policies that can relate to GRT communities. Firstly, the Race Relations Act 1976 which states that no individual can be discriminated against based on their ethnicity (Government, 1976). The second being the Equality Act 2010, which encompasses and builds upon the Race Relations Act 1976, by indicating that all individuals have an equal right and in relation to education, a child cannot be discriminated against during admissions (Government, 2010). This highlights that GRT communities have an equal opportunity within the education system, and highlights that there is legislation in place to protect them against discrimination within education.

Within Wales, we have a new curriculum being introduced (Welsh Government, 2017), which highlights that the curriculum is for all students, regardless of any need they may have, indicating a more inclusive curriculum (Donaldson, 2015). It is highlighted in the new curriculum reform, that the intended curriculum will allow all pupils to make progress along the same continuum, regardless of their speed (Donaldson, 2015). As previously highlighted, GRT communities have poor educational achievement (Richardson and Ryder, 2012), but their attendance is a significant problem (Department for Education, 2010), which may signify a reason as to why these particular children have poor achievement within school. If this curriculum allows for its students to make progress, not matter how fast or slow they are, then maybe it has the potential to be beneficial for GRT communities, allowing them to access the skills and knowledge that they require at key stages of their education, on their own pace of time.

During placement at a local school, there was a high percentage of GRT children within my class. These children did have a tendency for bad behaviour as they were under the influence it was because of their heritage, but this was never singled out in the class. All children understood the different ethnic backgrounds of the children within their class in order to gain a wider understanding of the children within their community, to try and reduce the stigma surrounding GRT communities.

This video highlights that children from GRT communities believe that attending primary school is of an advantage to them because they see learning the basics as an essential, whereas attending high school only leads to more prejudice against their community (Huckleberry Films, 2016). In order to combat these misconceptions about education and the GRT community’s poor educational achievement, there are some strategies that could be implemented in order to try and reduce these.

Firstly, focused staff support, teachers identifying the needs of GRT children and tailoring their support to the individual in order to help engage them in their work, but also teaching assistants (Gould, 2017). Teaching Assistants are able to support the child on a one to one basis, helping them access the curriculum and also supporting the teacher in planning for children from GRT communities (Gould, 2017). This highlights that members of staff within schools can have a positive impact on GRT children’s education by making slight changes to their approaches.

There are many myths surrounding GRT communities and education: for instance, they do not value education (Rose, 2011). However, Rose (2011) indicates that many GRT mothers value education for their children and many of the children in the YouTube video highlight the importance of school for learning basic reading and writing skills (Huckleberry Films, 2016). In order to support GRT children in education, it is indicated that strong parent and school links are the key to success (Gould, 2017). Through these strong links, it is highlighted that family literacy programmes could be implemented which could have a beneficial impact on parental attitudes to helping to support their children at home (Rose, 2011). This signifies that schools need to have a good understanding and relationship with GRT communities in order to support the child and the families so that they can enhance the learning at home. However, Rose (2011) conducted her study in Ireland, focusing mainly on Irish Travellers and so may affect her results, meaning they cannot be a generalisation for all GRT communities within the education system.

Overall, there are many inequalities highlighted in this blogpost against Gypsy, Roma, Travellers within the education system. However, it is key to support not only the child, but their families so that they can further the education of their children.

References:

1.     Allen, D. and Adams, P. (2012) Social work with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children. London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.

2. Cromarty, H. (2018) Gypsies and Travellers. Available at: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8083/CBP-8083.pdf (Accessed: 24.03.2019).

3.     Department for Education (2010) Improving the outcomes for Gypsy, Roma, Traveller pupils: final report. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181669/DFE-RR043.pdf (Accessed: 24.03.2019).

4.     Donaldson, G. (2015) ‘Successful Futures’. Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales. Available at: http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf (Accessed on: 24.03.2019).

5.     Foster, B. and Walker, A. (2013) Traveller Education in the Mainstream: The Litmus Test. London: Hopscotch.

6.     Gould, S. (2017) ‘Promoting the Social Inclusion and Academic Progress of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller Children: A Secondary School Case Study’, Educational Psychology in Practise, 33(2), pp.126-148.

7. Government (1976) Race Relations Act 1976. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/74/enacted (Accessed: 24.03.2019).

8. Government (2010) Equality Act 2010. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents (Accessed: 24.03.2019).

9.     Huckleberry Films (2016) Our Voice: Exploring stigma and barriers to education with the Gypsy Traveller community. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLqM9qHekqQ (Accessed: 24.03.2019).

10. Richardson, J. and Ryder, A. (2012) Gypsies and Traveller: Empowerment and Inclusion in British Society. Bristol: The Policy Press.

11. Rose, A. (2011) ‘Building on existing informal learning in Traveller communities through family literacy programmes: an Irish case study’, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 17(2), pp. 1-18.

12.Welsh Government (2017) New school curriculum: overview. Available at: https://gov.wales/new-school-curriculum-overview (Accessed: 24.03.2019).