ACERT is an organisation whose membership comprises Romany and other Traveller members, parents, educational professionals, activists and academics. It should be said that many of our members fall into more than one of these categories. Accordingly we see the role of inspectors in different ways.
As parents our priority is the safety and well being of our children. We want them to do well in school and have opportunities in our own communities and in wider society. We encounter racism and hostility in most aspects of our lives and we expect schools to protect them from racist bullying and hostility, from other children, school staffs and other parents. Sadly a high proportion of families report failures of schools to address their concerns and in some cases actively discriminating against them.
As teachers we are deeply disturbed that the ethnic identification of Gypsy/Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils has highlighted the historic educational disadvantage of our communities but has been largely ignored by policy makers. We understand that it is not the role of Ofsted to make policy but we feel that, as many of the functions of local authorities have been devolved to schools and academy trusts, inspectors have an heightened responsibility to monitor the experiences of most vulnerable groups. Not only are these groups the lowest achievers, but they experience the highest rates of exclusion and high levels of SEND identification.
Educational flexibility is key to the successful inclusion and achievement of our children. Some families are able to prepare their children for school well, support their education and have high expectations of achievement. Others, because of the circumstances of their lives or their own educational disadvantage, require more support from the school to guarantee equal educational opportunities. With increasing Acadamisation, particularly in the secondary phase, we have seen the promotion of “zero tolerance” policies and the suggestion being made to parents that, if their children cannot meet the expected standards, they should find an alternative provider. While the new report cards would represent an improvement on the single word judgements, we believe they still play into an estate agent driven, league table system of evaluation which creates perverse incentives for schools to “lose” pupils who may lower their standards.
Educational improvement is an ongoing process. Most schools are aware of their strengths and weaknesses. If they must be judged, it should be on the efforts they are making to address the areas which they have identified as requiring improvement. Schools may need external assistance to give them ideas of how to move forward but it seems this will only be offered in response to an inadequate judgement in a two day inspection. The focus remains on spotting weaknesses rather than supporting improvement.
We welcome that fact that the proposed report cards separate achievement, attendance and behaviour from inclusion and community awareness. Some schools with a good record of including Romany and other Traveller pupils, may become the school of choice for families in the area, which may have an impact on levels of attendance and achievement. We would like to see Ofsted recognising exemplary inclusion practice at the same time as judging attendance and attainment in that context. We encourage schools to set realistic high expectations for our children and to give them appropriate support to reach them; this is what we would like them to be judged on.
The monitoring of children who for various reason have fallen through the net of provision is an important area which was a responsibility of local authorities often exercised through Traveller Education Services. We know that families disengage from education when they move to a new area and when they transfer between phases, through lack of information, digital disadvantage and concerns about curriculum content. Schools can be proactive is supporting parents through transitions, but we also are aware that schools encourage parents of challenging pupils to off-roll and home educate. The T-code and dual-registration are ways in which schools can recognise and support families who have nomadic ways of earning their living. In recent years government policies have discouraged schools from admitting children for short periods and allowing them to attend tuitional events, such as horse fairs, which have social and economic functions.
The employment of community members within the school workforce is often the key to a school being able to improve outcomes for our children and raise understanding and awareness of our cultures and identities. In our experience we find there are members of the teaching workforce who have Romany or other Traveller heritages, but may choose to conceal them for the same reasons as pupils with those heritages. Yet effective home school liaison is key to improving understanding and respect. Schools with exemplary inclusive practice have identified community members and employed them as Teaching Assistants or mentors, and some of those have gone on to qualify as teachers.
We would argue that the Ofsted recruitment policies should ensure that our communities are represented. As communities most vulnerable to underachievement and exclusion, Ofsted policies and practice should be sensitised towards identifying exemplary and inadequate school practices. Many studies have shown how pervasive is the prejudice against and ignorance of the cultures of Romany and other Traveller communities. As such we believe all book corners and school libraries should include books that recognise our cultures and histories and our contributions to society are recognised in the history, art, music and STEM curricula.
ACERT organises regular Education Support Network Meetings for professionals who are engaged in this work but we know provision has become patchy.
Our communities are dispersed across the country and in many schools there may be only one or two families. Sadly, in these situations, they judge it prudent to conceal their identity in the belief that they will be better treated; unfortunately this may prevent the school effectively monitoring their progress and taking steps to address disadvantage. Children need to see children like them in the books they read, the history they learn, the music they hear and the art they see.
