EC meeting 9th December 2024

Minutes 14th October 2024

Matters arising

Curriculum review was made the topic of the Education Support Network on 13th November and ACERT made a submission by the deadline November 22nd.

Agreed

Summary from October 14 to December 8 2024

• Kate Lemon former EC member trying to sell second hand specialist books and papers. Margaret replied and forwarded the offer and list to EC and Education Network.
• Thomas Acton circulated doctoral thesis: Gens du voyage et droit de l’urbanisme.
• Public Policy Exchange sent details of a webinar on Gypsy, Roma & Traveller Communities in the UK: Strengthening Rights and Tackling the Hostile Environment. November 28.
• Julia Suter Centre for Hate Studies University of Leicester julia.suter@protectionapproaches.org sent an invitation to take part in a national consultation collecting the views of civil society organisations, individuals who have been impacted by hate crime, and other relevant stakeholders to better understand what a new hate crime strategy for England and Wales should include. You can fill out an online questionnaire here – Please submit your views by 23.59 on Friday 3rd January 2025. DISCUSS
• Izzy Branch izzy.branch@londonhigher.ac.uk wrote from London Higher, the pan-London Higher Education membership network with an invitation to ‘Representations of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities’, 12 November. Margaret circulated the information.
• Shaun Mongan Traveller Movement with details of a community facing roundtable in parliament on the 10th December wondering if any of us , or any young people we work with would be interested in attending. They have some funding to cover travel if people are coming from a sizeable distance.  education@travellermovement.org.uk Margaret circulated several times.
• Siobhan Spencer Letter of resignation from ACERT.
• Emma Nuttall information on webinar for new schools interested in the GRTSB Pledge on 23 January at 3.45 to 4.45. Book tickets here. Margaret circulated.
• DfE acknowledgement of response to curriculum review call for evidence.

Esther asked for an update on the Relationships Education debate. Candace summarised the decision making process. Brian mentioned the letter to Claire Evans which was circulated to the EC and took account of feedback.

Action

Marie to write something based on experiences of a family member experiencing hate crime.

Candace to draft response to Siobhan and circulate.

Brian to share link to previous EC meeting when Relationships Education was discussed.

Caf Bank £7128.51

PayPal £    973.25

Total £8101.76

Action

Discussion

Marie is in negotiation with Professor Geraldine Lee-Treweek at Birmingham City University. “As a scholar activist with Romani heritage, Geraldine believes in the role of education to change lives, society and the world, through activities such as: civic engagement, participatory research, knowledge exchange, enterprise and widening participation to challenge power relationships.

Their research project has been funded to examine how young people are using the digital in their lives. It is a three year study and Drive2Survive are partners. They will be carrying out interviews, asking participants to undertake diaries to tell us about their daily experience of using digital technology and running a UK wide survey. They are seeking to speak to organisations who work with GRTSB youth.

She is struggling to engage community groups and Marie is helping put together a website.

Action

Marie to act as channel of communication with the project. Aluna can share with Roma contacts.

Irish Community Care in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham would be a good contact.

Discussion

More time needs to be allocated to this but today”s discussion included the following:

• Fundraising
• Higher Education Network, for all staff and students.
• Face to face groupings for researchers in the field to discuss common issues.
• Candace said the research with Laura Way has been unsuccessful because there isn’t enough evidence of need. Similar problems being experienced by other projects. Need for shared group and an ACERT survey to identify key areas of need. Grass roots research isn’t being done.
• Careers research
• Ethics of research without compensation or recognition. Time is money particularly for self-employed individuals. Colin has found health ethics committees are particularly inflexible. Does paying influence the outcomes (Kohn interviewing Roma fortune tellers)? Activist may want to be recognised, not anonymised (appropriation of cultural capital).
• Widening participation.

Action

First meeting of the new year to be devoted to planning our activities for the full year.

15 Jan 2025 at 13:30 to 15:00, GMT

Zoom link.

• Betty Billington – Kushti Bok
• Jethro Shirley-Smith – ROMLIT project update
• Esther Stubbs – short film Rosa Cisneros

Action