School 'a hostile place of hurt and pain' for Traveller children, new research finds

Early post-primary school was identified as a particularly vulnerable period for students, marking 'a turning point where school began to feel less safe, less supportive, and increasingly alienating'.

Urgent action is needed to address persistent barriers facing Traveller students, according to new research documenting how discrimination, exclusion, and structural inequality remain embedded within the Irish education system.

New research published on Thursday highlights the significant obstacles Traveller pupils continue to face throughout their education, despite policy and legislative change.

Early post-primary school was identified as a particularly vulnerable period for students, marking “a turning point where school began to feel less safe, less supportive, and increasingly alienating”.

The report, led by the School of Education at University College Cork and the Cork Traveller Education Unit, also lays bare the stark scale of educational inequality experienced by Travellers.

Just 27% of young Travellers complete at least upper-secondary education, compared with 97% of the wider population.

Participation in higher education also remains low, with less than 1% of Travellers in third-level education, and just 167 adult Travellers reported as holding a third-level qualification.

Through interviews documenting the experiences of Traveller young people, their families and education workers, the study highlights how Traveller young people “very often experience school as hostile places of hurt and pain”.

It found:

• Segregation is a feature of schooling for Traveller young people and a significant factor in thinking about leaving school;
• Anti-Traveller racism is not always experienced as overt; it happens through everyday micro-aggressions;
• Most Traveller young people in this study reported negative relationships with teachers.

Many of the young people taking part described being treated differently from their peers, often targeted for minor behaviour or isolated from their friends. Disciplinary measures were also perceived as harsher for Traveller students.

Positive relationships with individual teachers were often described as the exception rather than the norm, and most of the young people taking part described painful or strained interactions with school staff.

While the practice of formally segregating Traveller young people from their settled peers based on ethnic identity is now recognised as a form of overt racism, the study found segregating practices continue to be enacted inside schools.

Examples of segregation, where Traveller pupils were grouped together or isolated within schools, were reported by both mothers and students taking part.

The study also noted at the same time, “some Traveller young people described school practices that restrict their social interactions with other Travellers at lunchtime or in the classroom, causing them to feel loneliness and engendering negative attitudes towards schooling".

The report provides insight into how Traveller young people are navigating the everyday realities of post-primary school life, according to Professor Nicola Ingram, head of UCC School of Education.

“For too many, school is experienced as a hostile place of hurt and pain, marked by negative interactions and exclusionary practices. Our research finds ethnic segregation and restrictions on social connection can deepen feelings of isolation, loneliness and disengagement from education.” 

Anne Burke, chairperson of the Cork Traveller Education Unit, said: “This report makes clear that the barriers facing Traveller students are part of deeper structural inequalities that require urgent attention.

"Education should be a place of opportunity, dignity and belonging for every child and young person. Listening to Traveller voices is essential if lasting change is to be achieved.”