Keynote speeches addressed different perspectives of workingsuccessfully with Gypsy and Traveller families and young peoplepresented workshops so that delegates were able to hear directly fromthem about their own experiences.
"Having the workshops run by Gypsies and Travellers is really good as itgives a better understanding of what it's like and what issues we face,"commented Shirley Joyce, community development trainee for SouthwarkTravellers Action Group.
These families have been treated with hostility by the widersociety.
In recent years they have continued to be perceived as a "problem" bythe settled community and regularly face racism at an individual levelas well as being subject to legal and institutional racism despite beingprotected by the Race Relations Act.
Their access to and achievement in school is poor in relation to otherchildren: in 1999 Ofsted found that they were the "group most at risk inthe education system".
The Pupil Inclusion Network has been set up so professionals can cometogether to participate in "structured networking", hearing fromcolleagues around the country about their work. The next meeting onThursday 29 June will focus on the education of Black and MinorityEthnic young people.
- www.ncb.org.uk/pin.
