Traveller children: We want an education too

"I'm really happy here. I don't want to move on again, I'm sick of moving. My mam wants to stay in one place too. We just get everything nice and everything done, and then we have to move again."

Diana O'Brien's life has been relatively stable since her family left Ireland and settled on land in Wickford, Essex, bought by her aunt, Josephine.

However, while Josephine has applied for planning permission, if the application is unsuccessful, eviction is a distinct possibility. For 13-year-old Diana, who has settled in well at Chalvedon School in Pitsea, the threat of upheaval is a constant worry. Despite this, she's a committed pupil who loves English, drama and music.

Eviction and prejudice are commonplace experiences for Travellers. But Chalvedon, which has a national reputation for its work, a flexible curriculum and a welcoming ethos, offers hope for children such as Diana and her 11-year-old brother Michael.

"At my last school some people knew we were Travellers and thought we were going to be trouble," admits Michael. "So I tried to explain to them that I don't carry knives or any of that stuff."

Overcoming prejudice

Overcoming community prejudice is an uphill struggle, as the O'Briens know all too well. Diana's nine-year-old brother attends nearby Crays Hill Primary School where protesting parents recently removed their children following an influx of Traveller children, sparking national media attention.

However, a significant percentage of Traveller children don't attend school at all. An estimated 12,000 secondary school-age Traveller children remain unregistered at schools across the UK. And a 2003 Ofsted report, Provision and Support for Traveller Pupils, revealed that Travellers were "the group most at risk in the education system. The only minority group that is too often out of sight and out of mind."

Figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister show that 18 per cent of Travellers are classified as homeless with no authorised stopping place. This nomadic lifestyle exacerbates the difficulties around a lack of co-ordination between social services, education and health teams, and demonstrates the need for joined-up services.

A National Foundation for Educational Research study on Gypsy Traveller children and secondary school, co-authored by the foundation's senior research officer Sally Kendall, reveals the negative impact on Traveller children's education of being constantly moved on. She says that nearly 80 per cent of the 44 children interviewed had experienced name-calling or racism at school. Nearly two-thirds had little faith in the system of redress and chose not to report it, and drop out rates after Year 7 were of particular concern. However, secondary schools with good home-school relationships were more likely to be successful in transferring and retaining pupils.

Providing support and learning

In an effort to build bridges, approximately 130 Traveller education support services operate nationally, employing peripatetic teachers and outreach workers, providing support and distance learning to Travellers.

The service is funded through the Vulnerable Children Grant, at a cost of £84m, which is split between local and central government.

While David Cannon, chairman of the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers, welcomes this proactive approach, uncertainty still remains. "There used to be dedicated money for Travellers, but this is no longer the case," he says. "Where authorities spend the grant solely on Travellers it works well, but those that don't make continuity insecure and it's difficult to plan services ahead."

All is not lost, however, as around the country voluntary and local authority schemes to raise levels of achievement and attendance among Traveller families have increased. These schemes include devices such as tracking children using unique pupil numbers, providing distance learning projects, weaving the history and culture of Gypsies and Travellers into the curriculum, and offering guidance on anti-bullying strategies.

In fact, a Department for Education and Skills report, Aiming High: Raising the Achievement of Gypsy Traveller Pupils, a Guide to Good Practice, made a commitment to ensuring a real equality of opportunity for all pupils in schools. "Gypsy Traveller pupils must be an integral part of schools, local education authority policies and programmes, not just an after-thought or add-on."

But the reality is often quite different. "While best practice exists, it is often there to contrast issues of institutionalised racism. The issue is how to get everyone to follow best practice," says Lucy Beckett, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Traveller Teachers. "Schools cannot refuse to admit Traveller pupils," she reveals. "But there is a fear among some schools, parents and governors that parents will withdraw their children if they do. It is jaw-dropping stuff, but it happens.

"As with all prejudice it's about fear and the unknown, and succumbing to propaganda," she adds. "The kind of assumptions people make require massive changes in the way they think. But we can bring about change largely because of the children themselves."

This is a situation Alan Roach, head teacher of Chalvedon School, knows well. Though it has become a school of choice - many of its 12 Traveller children have parents who were once pupils - he is keen to encourage other secondary schools to follow his example rather than avoid the issue by directing Traveller pupils through his doors. He claims: "Some say they have no places when they discover these are Traveller children, when in reality they do. For instance, we've just taken a Year 8 boy who has never been to school before. He just wants the chance to be literate."

Building on success

At Chalvedon, Roach has a strong base to build on as GCSE results are around the national average. Situated in an area of poverty where some neighbouring schools face special measures, it is further proof that inclusion does not guarantee freefall in the league tables.

Iris Pummell, Essex County Council's cabinet member for education, says the authority is committed to equal opportunities for all its children. "At Crays Hill School the media attention was dreadful," she recalls. "They said it had the worst truancy figures in the country - but these are children who travel. We've pledged to keep the school open no matter how many are on the roll. They are just children, they are not from outer space. All they want is an education, and we're committed to giving them one."

Roach agrees. "At present there is no statutory code of practice. I believe we need a directory of best practice to iron out inconsistencies, replicate what is good, and offer support, because these children are not human guinea pigs."

Barbara Blaney, Chalvedon's special needs co-ordinator, was awarded an MBE for her work with Traveller children. Her empathic approach begins with recognition of the literacy difficulties faced by many families, and contact is by telephone reducing the risk of further alienation. Once registered, pupils attend full or part time, with some being taught for an hour a day to introduce them to school life. They're taught individually, in small groups or with siblings in a learning support base.

When Sherrie Price, now 16, began Year 7, the combination of separation from her younger sister and the size of the school proved overwhelming, and she soon left. Two years later, however, she rejoined with Charlene, 14, and they now study GCSE English, maths, science and art together three days each week.

"It was too big and scary before, everyone had their own friends," she explains. "It made a difference coming in with my sister." The girls have also helped raise awareness of their history and put together a display in the school corridor dedicated to Traveller culture.

Encouraged by the school, Charlene has become an advocate for Travellers' rights, writing to editors and challenging negative stereotyping. Her latest piece, which was published in the local paper, The Enquirer, reads: "When Travellers buy a piece of ground they can't get planning permission. If you keep moving around you can't send your children to school, and all children are entitled to an education." And how did it feel to see her letters in print? "Good," she says firmly.

FACT FILE

- More than 17 per cent of Traveller/Irish heritage children received no GCSE/GNVQ passes in 2003

- Under one-third of these children (29 per cent) left school with five A*-C GCSE/GNVQs in 2003

- This compares to five per cent of White British children with no GCSE/GNVQ passes and nearly 56 per cent gaining five A*-C GCSE/GNVQs

Source: Department for Education and Skills.

CASE STUDY - Using IT to help children learn on the move

Tracey Horsley decided to become computer literate after her daughter brought a laptop home from school to use while travelling. Ten-year-old Harley's enthusiasm for her distance learning projects infected the family and now the 43-year-old mother of two, who left school with no qualifications, has ambitions to begin an IT course herself.

"Show people find it difficult to complete an education because we need to learn the ropes and support the family business," she explains. "But seeing how Harley's writing improved was great. She emailed her friends, and this time there were no tears when she went back to school."

Harley is one of the first to take part in the Electronic Learning and Mobility Project (Elamp), run by Surrey council's Traveller education and support service and funded by the local authority and the Department for Education and Skills.

Travelling the country with her parent's astro-slide and shooting gallery stalls, she did an English project: "It was brilliant. I got help with my spelling, and surfed the web," says Harley. "I could also email my teacher if I got stuck, which was good."

Currently the Horsley's van is based on The Plantation, a private site in Surrey that's home to a sizeable fairground community, with many children attending Lingfield Primary School. Head teacher James Gandolfo reveals that most of the children who travelled between Easter and Bonfire Night still managed to hit the national average at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2.

"Our paper-based distance learning was successful, but has already been enhanced by Elamp," he says.

According to Roger Feltham, the Traveller service's area team leader: "I had to knock on a lot of doors to get the funding for this project but I was convinced it would work and it really has."