In 2010 the EU set an agenda to tackle early school leavers within Gypsy/Roma/traveller (GRT) communities across Europe by 2020. The target - rates should be below 10%. However, there is little evidence that any improvement has been made. The EU Youth Guarantee states all young people under the age of 25 should receive ‘employment, continued education, apprenticeship or traineeship within a period of 4 months of becoming unemployed/leaving formal education’. However, in 2017 the European Parliament’s assessment on the initiative showed that the programme did not reach all vulnerable groups, and this specifically included Gypsy/Roma/traveller (GRT) youth. Inspired by a group of Gypsy Traveller girls in West Wales, this project aims to look at education/opportunities/inequalities within the GRT communities in our schools. ILG will work with partners and GRT pupils to look at barriers that impact on them having equality of access/SOCIAL INCLUSION within society and within the communities themselves. Our shared problem across our three partner regions/countries is that less than 5% of GRT pupils remain in upper secondary education. Those who are mobile may face interruptions and a lack of continuity to their education, and whether mobile or not, children/young people from the GRT communities or any Traveller culture, may need support to overcome barriers to learning. Changing negative perceptions is central to increasing attendance; transfer rates to Secondary school; retention in Secondary education and attainment. To understand the ways in which these barriers can be minimised we will research and collect up-to-date accounts of good practice in engaging families across Wales. Many GRT girls are often denied the right to continue into further education by more traditional family members. This project will work with GRT families, their children and wider community to look at these issues from a gender equality angle. We recognise that other communities may have similar problems and this project is not limited to GRT communities. The sustainability of this project is using the guidance developed in IO 1 & 2 into other marginalised groups of school pupils. We will work with 350+ GRT pupils (direct beneficiaries) and 50+ teachers directly teaching/supporting pupils. Indirect beneficiaries, 1000+ school pupils in 4 partner schools and 50+ teaching staff/education professionals in 3 LA/Educational organisations. We will share effective practice across our schools/wider in two innovative IOs providing schools/GRT support services with recent/relevant good practice on developing strategies to reduce barriers preventing GRT children in engaging fully in education. IO 1 ‘A GRT pupil Approach to Gender Equality’ will raise the profile of GRT pupils in school and remove the often-biased perceptions of pupils/teachers towards GRT communities. IO2 ‘A School’s Approach to Gender Equality’ has the capacity to work with all pupils/staff in all 4 schools and has wider transferability. Improved understanding of GRT communities will contribute to the anticipated change in attitude of GRT families towards education reversing the trend of not sending their children to school beyond primary/lower secondary schools. Estyn reported (2019) ‘Nearly all GRT pupils/parents say that they would value their culture being reflected more in school. They believe that this could help to give pupils from the settled community a greater understanding of the GRT background/lifestyle.’ We will carry out a baseline assessment of GRT pupils involved in this project to measure the impact of the project on identified key indicators of project success and impact. These will include: • Increased confidence of GRT pupils to take responsible action/change attitudes/values of more traditional members of GRT communities • Improved attendance of GRT pupils particularly in upper secondary education and hence a reduction in early school leaving particularly disadvantaged groups • Reduction in barriers to education attributable to gender equality for GRT girls • Improvement in key competences/skills acquisition/overall attainment by GRT pupils • GRT families & communities have a better perception of support for their children in school through reduction in prejudices by pupils/teachers • Improvement overall in schools, with regard to Gender Equality and opportunities for all In carrying out this work we will contribute to the aims of many European policies directed at supporting GRT families/communities including: ET2020 – reducing early school leavers/improving competence in key skills Council of Europe Strategy for Gender Equality 2018-2023 through supporting and empowering GRT females in improving their educational outcomes. Council of Europe’s updated Strategy for the Rights of the child (2016-2021) with a focus on the access of GRT children to inclusive/quality education, and reduction of school drop-outs/absenteeism, in particularly girls.
The project worked hard to change negative perceptions of the GRT community; to improve attendance of the GRT participants; increase participation rates on transfer to Secondary school; to improve retention rates in Secondary education and to improve attainment. The partners wanted to understand the ways in which these barriers could be minimised through research and collecting up-to-date accounts of good practice through engaging with families across Wales/Romania and Spain. Many GRT girls are often denied the right to continue into further education by more traditional family members. This project worked with GRT families, their children and wider community to look at these issues from a gender equality angle. We recognised that other communities may have similar problems and this project was not limited to GRT communities. The sustainability of this project used the guidance developed in Intellectual Outputs (IO) 1 & 2 into other marginalised groups of school pupils.
This project was inspired by a group of Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) girls in West Wales, and aimed to look at education/opportunities/inequalities within the GRT communities in schools across Europe. ILG worked with partners and GRT pupils to look at barriers that impact the on them having equality of access/SOCIAL INCLUSION within society and within the communities themselves. Our shared problem across the three partner regions/countries is that less than 5% of GRT pupils remain in upper secondary education. Those who are mobile may face interruptions and a lack of continuity to their education, and whether mobile or not, children/young people from the GRT communities or any Traveller culture, may need support to overcome barriers to learning. The project aimed to gain a greater understanding of the GRT community, explore what barriers to educational engagement exist in the GRT community and explore ways to increase inclusivity in our education systems through a wide arrange of interactive activities and giving GRT females the opportunity to have their voice heard in regards to their education.