Ms Maria Joyce:

I thank committee members and welcome the opportunity to highlight the issues and experiences of Travellers in education today. The National Traveller Women's Forum is a national network of Traveller women and Traveller women's organisations from throughout Ireland. We recognise the oppression and racism experienced by Traveller women in Irish society. There are stark inequalities between Traveller girls and women and the general population in participation, attendance and attainment in education. This has wider human rights consequences by exposing Traveller girls and women to low educational attainment, future unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. The two key barriers for Traveller women and girls with regard to education are racism and a lack of implementation of positive policy developments. I will not name them all as they have been identified by previous speakers. However, while we have policies and actions, we are not seeing implementation or monitoring.

While the committee’s role is to examine the progression of Travellers through second level and third level education, it cannot do so in isolation from the very negative experience of many Traveller children in primary school, not just historically but also today. There is an absence of positive visibility of Traveller culture in the curricula and the whole-school environment. Bullying and racism are experienced by Traveller learners from their settled peers and also from educators. Discriminatory practices are still evident such as enrolment processes that exclude Traveller children. Moreover, as has been said, a growing number of Traveller children are placed inappropriately on shortened and reduced timetables. This impacts significantly on their educational opportunities and outcomes. Expectations of Traveller learners are incredibly low. Transfer rates from primary to second level are less than 100%. Given that this is illegal, it is an incredible statement to make. Many Traveller children who have completed eight years in primary school or even secondary school do not know how to read and write.

Based on the data we have from the 2016 census, limited as they are, we know that seven out of ten Traveller children live in families where the mother has either no formal education or a primary education only. The census also shows that only 13% of Travellers complete secondary education, in comparison with 92% of the general population. It is essential that Traveller girls be supported in primary and secondary school to ensure opportunities at third level will be taken up, as they are the future mothers and role models who will influence and shape their children's education. Fewer than 1% of Travellers are in third level education. Five times more Traveller women than settled women are needed for an equivalent proportion to hold a basic degree. The attainment and retention levels of Traveller students in second level education should be a source of serious concern for the committee.

I will outline some ways forward. Proactive initiatives and programmes are needed to support Traveller teachers within the education system. We welcome the recent scholarship put in place to support them, but it is tiny and a huge amount remains to be done. As Mr. Collins highlighted, that kind of targeted initiative is also highlighted in the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy, NTRIS, but implementation and prioritisation are needed. Traveller children within the school system must see teachers who are the same as them and a curriculum in which they are reflected, rather than solely the wider settled society. We need to ensure discriminatory practices in schools are identified and swiftly brought to an end. The process of addressing these practices is too drawn-out and often does not happen at all. An implementation plan must be developed for all 14 education actions in the national Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy in a real and equal partnership with Traveller organisations. Outstanding recommendations in the 2006 education strategy should be addressed in a similar manner.

The reality is that we have policies, but we are not seeing action and implementation. One of the key reasons is the institutional racism which has been spoken about. Compulsory anti-racism and intercultural training is required for all teachers as part of pre-service and continuous in-service teacher training. It should not be an add-on but a core component of training, with visibility of Traveller culture in the curricula. Appropriate desegregated data collection needs to be prioritised within the education system. Analysis of the data is needed to ensure targets and actions are having an impact for Traveller women and girls in education and put the necessary appropriate targeted initiatives in place. There is data collection within the education system, but we are not seeing the statistics and figures from it.

We need adequate resources. As has been said, there have been huge cuts across the education sector. They have been combined with the huge cuts across all areas of Traveller life such as accommodation provision and health services. We need to see practical supports such as uniforms, books and lunches. Programmes such as the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, and the education and training boards need to ensure they are meeting targets set out for Traveller engagement in education, but they are not doing so. The Higher Education Authority must set ambitious targets for Traveller access to third level education, with a range of supports to ensure the targets are met.

Third level institutions must build on the knowledge they are developing in their current work with Travellers. They are beginning to identify and support Traveller learners returning to education, but they must apply that learning in developing stronger links with the community to ensure collective and sustainable outcomes for Travellers in third level education.