Section 444 of the Education Act 1996

Under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 (EA 1996), a parent commits an offence if they fail to ensure their child’s regular attendance at a school where the child is registered. Under section 444(1A) EA 1996, a parent commits a further offence where the circumstances in section 444(1) apply and the parent knows that the child fails to attend regularly at the school and fails to cause the child to attend.

However, this legislation sets out defences to these offences. In particular, section 444(6) EA 1996, gives parents a defence in which they cannot be found guilty of a school attendance offence, provided that the child is of no fixed abode and:

(a) parents are engaged in a trade or business of such a nature as to require them to travel from place to place, and

(b) the child has attended at a school as a registered pupil as regularly as the nature of that trade or business permits, and

(c) if the child has attained the age of six, that he or she has made at least 200 attendances during the period of 12 months ending with the date on which the proceedings were instituted.

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Education of nomadic children under threat

Under s444 of the Education Act 1996 economically nomadic families can defend themselves against a prosecution for their children’s non-attendance in school by showing:

  • they are engaged in a trade of business of such a nature that requires them to travel from place to place;
  • the child has attended at a school as a registered pupil as regularly as the nature of that trade permits; and
  • any child aged six or over has attended school for at least 200 half day sessions during the preceding year.

In April last year the Government published “Progress report by the ministerial working group on tackling inequalities experienced by Gypsies and Travellers” which announced in Commitment 3 their intention ” to look again at the impact of this legislation and to consult on whether it should be repealed.”

The consultation period runs till 22nd February 2013.

ACERT will make public its submission opposing repeal on the website and we encourage all members and visitors to this to make their own responses to the consultation request.

Undermining Distance Learning

Currently, people whose travelling pattern has a fixed base, can negotiate with schools to keep them on roll and provide distance learning packages to support their education. Support for Distance Learning has been undermined by:

  • cuts to Traveller Education Support Services restrictions on their roles,
  • the demise of ELAMP (the Electronic Learning and Mobility Project) and the successor Home Access programmes
  • the increase in the proportion of Secondary Schools no longer under local authority control, and
  • the emphasis by the DFE and OFSTED on narrower, school-focused definitions of teaching and learning.

The repeal of s444 would add another nail to the coffin, and remove another element of the flexibility which all research has shown is the key to improving the outcomes of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children. Poor attendance by these children is a serious problem, but there is no research evidence to suggest that s444 might be a cause.

Compliance will be impractical

Circus families in London were told recently that it was not possible to admit their children to school for two weeks, even though this is what they have done for years. The central admissions system which operates in many areas can delay admission by several weeks; are parents going to be prosecuted for non-attendance even though there is no school place available to them? Will it be simpler for such families to opt to Home Educate their children, rather than face prosecution, and would the Government regard this as successful outcome?

The Government’s Commitment

Finally ACERT must ask “Why is the Government proposing this change?” On the face of it, they wish to improve the attendance of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils and have entitled their consultation paper “Improving educational outcomes for children of travelling families.” We believe it may be part of a campaign in the run up to the next election to prove to core Conservative voters that they are prepared to get tough with groups who are unfairly privileged by the existing law. We also believe that it may force families who have a nomadic way of earning a living into opting for Home Education; if they do so we can expect to see an improvement in the attendance statistics.

We have made clear that we are not satisfied with the delivery of Commitments 1 and 5 (inclusion of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers in the OFSTED framework and the thematic review of prejudiced bullying) and the jury is out on most of the others.

For our part ACERT will seek to defend the right to a nomadic way of life, and focus our attention on supporting the education of nomadic children through distance-learning and/or dual registration. We will also argue for flexibility in admissions systems to enable mobile children to be admitted for short periods of time.

https://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/departmentalinformation/consultations/a00217692/educational-outcomes-travelling-families

https://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/departmentalinformation/consultations/submit

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Dream Makers


DreamMakers is a 16 months long, UK – wide project (Glasgow, Bolton, Peterborough, Newham, London) . In each location, 6-8 young people (between 13-19 year olds)  of Roma, English Romany, Irish Traveller and non-Roma backgrounds, will be given training in photography, sound and video, to become reporters from their communities. The project is exploring themes of identity, migration, belonging, dreams and aspirations. 
Please visit www.dreammakersuk.tumblr.com to find out more.

A Steering Committe of members from all the partnering organisations is following the project.
After each lot of workshops in each location a community celebratory event/exhibition will take place: first one to be in Glasgow, 11 December 2012.

A final exhibition collating all the materials and bringing together all the participants will take place in London at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, June 2013. It will be surrounded by a series of events and symposiums.

The young DreamMakers will co-curate the exhibiton.

A book with all the materials will be published in Autumn 2013.

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Mediator training oversubscribed

Applications closed on Thursday November 15th for the Council of Europe course for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller mediators. There was a good response with over 50 people applying for 27 places. ACERT, which is organising the course on behalf of the Council of Europe, has offered places to all applicants who have Gypsy, Roma or Traveller ethnicities, completed their applications by the deadline and said they could definitely attend the course. Those who were not offered places may still have the opportunity to attend if initial offers of places are not taken up. Unfilled places will be offered on Wednesday November 21st. If there is a significant number of disappointed applicants ACERT will make the case for another course in the future.

Thank you to all who applied. We hope it will be a valuable course and will pave the way for more community members to be employed in roles that promote understanding and respect for identity and culture.

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