Young Travellers continue to perform poorly at schools because of “quite harrowing” racism within the education system, a report has concluded. 

The report Traveller Transitions: Racialised Inequalities in Education by  University College Cork found huge educational disparities still exist between the Traveller and settled community. 

Notably, most Travellers fail to complete secondary school and only a handful progress to college. 

On Breakfast Briefing, Professor Nicola Ingram of UCC's School of Education said Ireland has not moved on much since the days of “deeply entrenched Traveller racism”. 

“We have to come to terms with our history here and really look forward to a future where we eradicate this practice in school,” she said. 

“When it comes to post-primary education, 27% of Traveller young people have completed upper secondary school compared with 97% of the wider population. 

“I mean, these are really damning statistics, really shocking statistics.” 

'A lot of hurt and pain'

Professor Ingram continued that while many Travellers report “quite positive experiences in primary school”, the support they receive tends to end once they progress to second level. 

Combined with institutional racism, the teenage years of Travellers often go hand in hand with “mostly negative emotional experiences of schooling”. 

“There's a lot of hurt and pain in the research,” she said. 

“I think some of the responses from the young people are quite harrowing.” 

One mother recalled her son would often come home and tell her that he wished he was dead rather than go back to school. 

“What a bind for a parent to think, ‘Well, I want my child to be educated, I see the importance of education, but if I send my child to school this is how they feel’,” Professor Ingram described. 

“Given that suicide is more prevalent in the Traveller population compared to the wider population, this would really scare you as a parent.” 

Solution

As a result, very few Travellers attend third level education and there are only thought to be 167 Travellers in Ireland with degrees. 

“Higher education needs to be part of the solution,” Professor Ingram urged. 

“Higher education institutions need to work with schools in order to think about that pipeline into higher education. 

“So, I do think that we need to look at the education system as a whole from early years through primary, through post-primary and into higher education to try to support Traveller young people and to really turn around these statistics.”

Main image: Trinity College and a Traveller family's halting site. Pictures by: Alamy and Rolling News.