Travellers hide their identity in workplace and school

TRAVELLERS are hiding their identity from fellow students and work colleagues because of perceived stigma about their culture, according to research about their educational experiences.

More than 80% of Traveller students leave the school system before the end of second level, and only 102 completed the Leaving Certificate in 2008 out of a total Traveller population of more than 22,000.

The study by Dr Niamh Hourigan of University College Cork’s sociology department and Maria Campbell of St Angela’s College of Education in Sligo identified numerous obstacles to Travellers progressing through the education system.

“The main obstacle we identified form their perspective was prejudice from the settled community, Travellers believed there was a huge stigma attached to their cultural identity. More than half the Travellers we spoke to who had participated in the workforce or further education had hidden their Traveller identity from co-workers or fellow students,” Dr Hourigan said.

Most of the 50 Travellers interviewed said they first became aware of stigma at school, where they were mocked because of their speech and many experienced racist name-calling.

“They were more likely to be excluded from birthday parties or sleepovers with classmates, even in schools with large numbers of migrant children.

While the move from primary school to second level was found to be more stressful for Traveller children, the later teenage years were even more critical as progression is based almost entirely on marriage. Dr Hourigan said Traveller teenagers find it almost impossible to follow the route of settled counterparts who seek to move on to work or education, tending instead to leave school and marry during this period.

“For the Traveller community, there is almost equal stigma about members staying in education or going to work, as it is looked on as being assimilated into the settled community. So those issues need to be tackled, as well as the prejudices among people who are not Travellers,” she said.

The research has also found fear of losing welfare entitlements contributes to a reluctance to engage in full- time work, with the fear of losing medial cards shown to be a particularly important obstacle to progression.

The study was carried out in response to the recommendation of An Bord Snip Nua’s report last summer that the 33 Senior Traveller Training Centres be phased out. Most are already feeling the effects of funding cuts, with one of the largest centres, in Ennis, Co Clare, cutting the number of training places from 52 to 37 in September.

While the authors do not suggest retaining the centres, they recommend that dedicated Traveller adult education spaces be kept in the VEC structures.