ACERT – Page 14 – Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers

The Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boaters’ Pledge for Schools.

Launch event online

Thursday 16 June, 4.30-5.45 p.m

The Pledge for Schools is a commitment schools sign up to, to work towards creating a welcoming environment and conditions in which Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boater (GTRSB) pupils can stay resilient and thrive academically.

It contains actions such as building a supporting and welcoming culture for GTRSB pupils, data monitoring of GTRSB pupils and staff, cultural awareness training for staff, including GTRSB history and culture on the curriculum, having a named contact point for GTRSB pupils and outreach and engagement to local GTRSB communities.

Come and hear what the Pledge contains, how it is working in a signed up school, and from practitioners in Traveller education, as well as from community members as to why the Pledge is needed.

Chaired by Dr Carol Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Education, Buckinghamshire University, the speakers are:

Margaret Greenfields, Anglia Ruskin University, explaining what the Pledge contains.
Colleen Roper, from Future4Fairgrounds.
Jassy Powles and her son Jem Purry, from the Boater community.
Rosa Cisneros, from the Romanian Roma community
Martin Gallagher, Irish Traveller and academic at Northumbria University.
Sally Barter, Romany, GRT Schools’ link officer for the London Borough of Hillingdon, one of the pilot areas who have received the recent £1m government funding for Traveller education.
Sadie Barter, Romany Gypsy young person, talking about her experiences at school.
Paula Strachan, Head of St Teresa’s school, Darlington, signatory to the Pledge, talking about good practice at the school. St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School serves a diverse community with 54% of pupils from an ethnic minority group. The school and Paula’s leadership are used by the Catholic Education Service as a role model for schools with a diverse community and those with a high percentage of GRT pupils. Paula is regularly asked to speak about inclusion including recently providing oral evidence to the Education Select Committee regarding GRT barriers to education.
Liffy Bond, the Anti-bullying Alliance, talking about the Alliance’s Gypsy and Traveller Anti-Bullying project and audit tool.

Questions can be asked of the panel in the remaining time.

Wee Bessie

“Wee Bessie,” by David G Pullar and Ruthie Redden. This children’s story is adapted for children from Betsy Whyte’s famous book, “The Yellow on the Broom” by her great-grandson, David Pullar, with stunning illustrations from artist Ruthie Redden and wonderfully narrated by Jess Smith.

Tales rooted in the oral tradition

Why the moon travels is a haunting collection of twenty tales rooted in the oral tradition of the Irish Traveller community. Brave vixens, prophetic owls and stalwart horses live alongside the human characters as guides, protectors, friends and foes while spirits, giants and fairies blur the lines between this world and the otherworld. Collected by Oein DeBhairduin throughout his childhood, retold in his lyrical style, and beautifully illustrated by Leanne McDonagh. Why the moon travels won both the Judges’ Special Award and the Eilís Dillon Award at the 2021 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards.

Oein DeBhairduin is a creative soul with a passion for poetry, folk herbalism and preserving the beauty of Traveller tales, sayings, retellings and historic exchanges. He is the manager of an education centre and a long-time board member of several Mincéirí community groups, including having had the honour of being vice-chair of the Irish Traveller Movement and a council member of Mincéir Whidden. He seeks to pair community activism with cultural celebration, recalling old tales with fresh modern connections and, most of all, he wishes to rekindle the hearth fires of a shared kinship.

The book is available in hardback, e-book and audiobook from the publisher Skein Press, which was established in June 2017 to foster and publish writers whose work is fresh and thought-provoking and features outlooks and experiences not often represented in Irish publishing. It also publishes Unsettled, essays by Rosaleen McDonagh, an Irish Traveller writing from a feminist perspective, which “explores racism, ableism, abuse and resistance as well as the bonds of community, family and friendship.”

ACERT makes the case

The House of Commons Education Committee has conducted an inquiry into the Education Challenges facing children and young people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds

The Committee invited written submissions which address any or all of the following areas:

The educational challenges faced by children and young people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds, including those in fixed housing.
How the Government’s £1 million education programme for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children should be targeted.
Whether other initiatives and recommendations are needed to support the educational attainment and employment outcomes for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.

It also invited to give oral evidence our Chair, Lisa Smith, Pauline Anderson of The Traveller Movement, Emma Nuttall of Friends and Families of Travellers and Baroness Whitaker of the all-party committee on Gypsies, Roma and Travellers. You can watch the session below and read our written submission.

ACERT-submission Download