In Northern Ireland, approximately 75% of Irish Traveller children continue to leave school with less than five GCSE pass grades, ten years after an initiative to bolster educational levels was introduced by Stormont’s Department of Education. This programme, inaugurated in November 2013, aimed to help Traveller children attain educational standards akin to those of their non-Traveller peers within ten years, however, many continue to depart school with substandard grades, or no qualifications at all.
Between 2003 and 2012, roughly 8.5% of Traveller children exited school in Northern Ireland with a minimum of five GCSEs at grades A*-C, while 63% left possessing no qualifications whatsoever. Fast forward to the period between 2013 and 2022, and approximately 25% of students now leave with at least five GCSE passes – a small increase. Nonetheless, during this period, nearly one-third still accomplished fewer than five GCSEs and 42% still received no qualifications at all.
Dr Robbie McVeigh, co-chairman of the task force responsible for setting up this strategy, said it has evidently not been successful. He suggests that further consultation with Travellers is necessary to get insights as to why the current system isn’t serving their needs.
This initiative was a response to a 2011 report by the Department of Education which declared a “collective failure” spanning several decades in improving the Traveller community’s education. The report indicated that Traveller children were “deeply disadvantaged,” citing irregular school attendance, low academic grades, and a significant proportion with ‘special needs’.
Traveller children’s mothers described to Belfast’s investigative website, The Detail, the lack of adequate support provided for their children’s education. They lamented that Traveller children are frequently deemed “too disruptive” and consequently, are isolated and left to engage with computers independently.
Mary-Patricia McGeough, a mother from Armagh, expressed the concern that while children might enjoy their time at school, they might not comprehend that their education is being compromised. Almost 50% of children from the Traveller community require specialised support, in comparison with 19% of the larger child demographic. McGeough iterated that these children are often sidelined.
She revealed that the marginalisation of Traveller children is not a recent phenomenon, but one that existed even during her own younger years. The implementation of a new strategy in 2013 did manage to raise the attendance of Traveller children from 68% in 2011-2012 to 73.7% in 2019-2020. Unfortunately, the figure dropped back to 68% in 2020/21 and remained stagnant from that point on.
Data shows that the majority of Traveller children do not complete mandatory education. For instance, in the academic year 2010-2011, 86 Traveller children registered in Year 1. However, by the year 2021-2022, only 37 of them were still enrolled in school by Year 12, which is the final year of secondary education.
The Education Ministry explained the inconsistencies in Traveller student attendance, which made it difficult to monitor their progress using school census data. They indicated that they do not track individual pupils over the years.
According to a study by Queen’s University Belfast, half of all Traveller children attending schools in Northern Ireland reported experiencing bullying. Consequently, many of these children end up leaving school. Amy Ward, a Traveller activist working for the Irish Traveller Movement in Dublin, shared her own distressing experiences from Northern Irish schools prior to relocating to England. She recalled instances of overt discrimination and physical assault her sister had to face due to their Traveller heritage.