Background to the Research

• Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority who are committed to nomadism as a central element of their identity; traditionally, Travellers have experienced antipathy and rejection from the settled mainstream community. A report by the Promoting Social Inclusion Working Group on Travellers (2000) found that Travellers had few, if any, formal qualifications, that illiteracy was rife among the community, and that there may only be a handful of Travellers in further or higher education.
• This research was commissioned in order to provide evidence to the Department of Education on Traveller children's experiences of integration and social inclusion in post-primary schools from an educational and social perspective.
  

Research Approach

• 44 Traveller children from post-primary schools in Belfast and across NI participated in semi-structured interviews. Contact was made with seven Traveller parents who had children enrolled in post-primary schools. These interviews were carried out between December 2002 and March 2003.
• 18 teachers agreed to be interviewed, including teachers who had responsibility for Traveller children in the schools. Four principals and one vice-principal were also interviewed. In addition, 141 questionnaires were sent out to teachers who had one or more Traveller children in their class; 56 questionnaires were returned.
• Lastly, representatives from the five Education and Library Boards and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, as well as representatives from Traveller Movement NI and other Traveller Support Groups, took part in interviews.
  

Main Findings

• Many pupils felt that education was important for obtaining a job in later life but few very attached any importance to achieving qualifications. Six out of the seven Traveller parents were in favour of a more vocational curriculum at Key Stage 4 for their children.
• Approximately half of the 44 pupils felt that they would stay on at school until Year 12, with some intending to go to Further and Higher Education colleges after the age of 16. However, the remainder were undecided or planned to leave post-primary school before Year 12.
• Traveller Support Groups referred to the NI Curriculum as having an adverse effect on Traveller children's participation in education at post-primary level. It was perceived as being irrelevant to the vocational and cultural aspirations of the community.
• Teachers of Traveller children felt that the two main issues were behaviour and attendance. With regard to behaviour, it was noted that Traveller pupils had difficulty conforming to school requirements and were often unwilling to follow instructions. Some reference was made to Traveller pupils' poor attitude to teachers, dislike of correction and aggression. Many teachers noted frequent absenteeism, with little or no explanation provided by the pupils.
• Most Traveller children preferred attending a mainstream post-primary school alongside settled pupils. This was due to the opportunity it gave them to socialise in school with a wider circle of friends. However, five out of seven parents indicated that their children did not socialise with settled children outside of school hours.
• Half of the pupils had experience of being bullied at school, either verbally or physically, and many felt it was because of their ethnicity. Two parents stated that they had a child who had left school early because of bullying.
• Nine out of ten teachers felt that all school children needed to be offered more opportunities to learn about ethnic minority groups, enabling settled pupils to become more understanding of other cultures.
• Traveller support groups identified racism and bullying as two major issues that discouraged Traveller pupils from staying at school until the compulsory school leaving age. However, some members of these groups also noted the additional contributory factor of cultural expectation regarding career aspirations of Traveller pupils.
• The majority of teachers felt that they required further training on minority ethnic groups, including Travellers, in order to: raise their awareness of Traveller life; help them in their teaching of Traveller children; and update their knowledge of Traveller pupils' circumstances.
• Suggestions from statutory agencies for enhancing the integration process included highlighting the importance of, and supporting Traveller parents in, sending children to school from an early age, and addressing the problem of illiteracy among some Traveller parents to help them support their children's work.

The report and briefing are available on the DENI website.