ACERT – Page 64 – Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers

Channel 4 grilled over Bigger Fatter Gypsier campaign

Evidence compiled by ACERT was used by MPs on the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, meeting on the 16th October, to challenge senior Channel 4 managers about the impact of the Bigger, Fatter, Gypsier billboard campaign on children. The evidence was gathered from teachers subscribing to the trav-ed mailing list.

The following day, David Enright, who spearheaded the campaign which resulted in the Advertising Standards Authority finding against two of the four adverts, was named “Solicitor of the Year” by the Law Society.

Advertising Standards Authority condemn Bigger, Fatter, Gypsier advertising campaign

Eric Avebury and Yvonne MacNamara — Lord Avebury, ACERT chair and Yvonne Macnamara, CEO of the Irish Travellers Movement in Britain celebrate the Advertising Standards Authority decision on the Bigger, Fatter, Gypsier campaign.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today (Wednesday 03/10/2012) announced that Channel 4’s “Bigger Fatter Gypsier” billboard advertising campaign was irresponsible, endorsed prejudice against Gypsies and Travellers, was guilty of depicting a child in a sexualised way, and was likely to have caused mental and moral harm to children. Details of the case can be found on the ITMB website.
ACERT compiled evidence from teachers across the country on the impact that the programmes and the advertising campaign had on relations between Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils and other children in school. One teacher described how staff and children anticipated each new series with dread.

ACERT AGM 2012 provides food for thought

The 2012 AGM was well attended and provided a high quality input from speakers and participants. We took a shortened lunch break and abandoned the final session because the discussions around each issue were so engaging. In the next few days we’ll try to summarise the content to give those who attended the opportunity to feed back their reflections, and to those who couldn’t make it a flavour of what they missed.

The Executive wishes to thank all those who contributed in any way, and hope we can use the ideas and enthusiasm to sustain the campaign for the rights of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the forthcoming year.

DFE seeks consultant to gather community views of law change

The DFE has responded positively to the argument, put by ACERT and NATT+, that it should not rely on on-line consultation methods when gathering the views of hard to reach communities. The Department plans to appoint a “Mobile Families Outreach Contractor” to consult families likely to be affected by the proposal to repeal s444(6) of the 1996 Education Act. Applications must be submitted by noon on Friday 24th August, for a minimum of 20 days up to a maximum of 25 days between 3 September 2012 and 28 October 2012 inclusive. Full details are available on the DFE website. The online consultation is likely to take place over the same period.

ACERT recognises that the law has rarely been used and frequently misunderstood. In the current climate of zero tolerance of absences and the automatic issue of penalty notices, the concept of a defence being available strikes us as quaint. Nevertheless, we are aware that Showpeople and New Travellers who have regular travelling seasons fear that they will be criminalised for not sending their children to school; the change of law will add insult to injury caused by the undermining of distance learning by the withdrawal of funding for laptops and the cuts to Traveller Education Support.

ACERT members find that children may be absent from school because their families are responding to family crises; s444(6) does not offer any defence to such families and we would argue that any successor law should.

What is emerging is a better understanding of the Government’s notion of “equality.” In this case, and in Nick Gibbs response to Lord Avebury’s letter, it is becoming clear that equality means being treated in the same way as everyone else, rather than offering positive action to counter educational disadvantage. The ACERT AGM will provide an opportunity for everyone who shares our aims to discuss strategies for the future.

ACERT is committed to working with the communities and other organisations to press for a legal framework which recognises the validity of a nomadic way of living, and the importance of extended family responsibilities.