Mr. Feargal Brougham:

The Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, which is the trade union for primary school teachers, thanks the committee for allowing me to speak this afternoon.

As stated already, austerity measures imposed in 2011 led to a substantial reduction in investment in Traveller education. As also stated already, there were cuts of almost 87% in that period. There can be no overstatement of the effect this has had on Traveller citizens in our schools. Education cuts have a particularly significant impact on Travellers, where participation in education has traditionally been fragile. In particular, there was expertise and knowledge in the visiting teachers for Travellers, VTTs. There were approximately 40 of those and they would have spent much time communicating with parents and going to the different houses of pupils. That was lost to the system. There were approximately 400 resource teachers for Travellers, RTTs, and the withdrawal of those services has been a noticeable loss to the system. The visiting teachers offered a specific skill set and had developed an in-depth understanding of the Traveller communities and their culture, providing a valuable liaison between Traveller families and schools in developing relationships and advocacy support.

Responding adequately to the particular needs of Traveller pupils continues to concern teachers in both DEIS and non-DEIS schools. Approximately 50% of pupils from the Traveller community do not attend DEIS schools. The Department of Education and Skills states that the home school liaison teacher could absorb this work but that is not true. Home school liaison teachers are not available in non-DEIS schools and are not available in rural DEIS schools either. Given that only approximately half the Traveller pupil population attend DEIS schools, there is an obvious discrepancy in the system. Moreover, the home school liaison teacher does not currently have the capacity to fulfil the duties previously held by the visiting teacher service.

It is widely acknowledged that Traveller enrolment in education declines as pupils move through the system. A provision of specific supports and additional resources must be made available to Travellers across the continuum of education from preschool to third level education to ensure that they have the opportunity to participate in our education system on equal terms with the rest of their peers. As has been stated, it would be wonderful to see primary school teachers from the Traveller community teaching and reflecting the curriculum in schools. Huge disparities remain between the educational attainment of Travellers and the settled population according to Dr. Cormac Forkan's 2006 work. The expectation that a school's special education team would be able to fully compensate for the loss of the RTTs is also completely unrealistic. The needs of Traveller pupils must be clearly reflected in a school's educational profile, which now determines a school's allocation of additional teachers to support special and additional educational needs.

There continue to be many barriers for Travellers in education particularly around attendance, retention and completion. The additional targeted support offered by the VTT and RTT service had a positive impact on Travellers in terms of these key challenges, particularly at primary level. In 2011, there was confirmation of improved educational enrolment, with 100% of Traveller children being enrolled in primary education. We doubt that is the case today and, anecdotally, there are reports from teachers that the figure has declined significantly. There is a need for clear, robust, independent research on the outcomes for Travellers in education following the withdrawal of Traveller-specific supports and the implementation of the Traveller education strategy.

The INTO notes the recent announcement by the education welfare service at Tuslato pilot a project with the aim of improving the inclusion of Travellers in education. Whereas the move to develop a pilot project is welcome, there remains the need for an immediate response to fill the gap left following the withdrawal of Traveller-specific supports across the system. A colleague who works in a DEIS school has told me that with the cuts implemented since 2011, it will take at least a generation to undo the damage that has been done. We thank the committee for allowing us to speak today.