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Education: ITM's ROLE - Actions and Initiatives

Education Working Group

The Education Working Group met 6 times during 2005 in Clondalkin, Ennis, Tipperary, Tallaght, Ballyshannon and the Carmelite Centre in Dublin City. The Group consists of representatives from Clondalkin Travellers Development Group, Tallaght Travellers CDP, Tullamore Travellers Movement, Barnardos/ TESO, the Parish of the Travelling People, National Traveller MABS, the Visiting Teacher Service for Traveller Education and Pavee Point. Inputs are also given from other member organizations who cannot attend meetings via phone, post or email and ITM members with an interest in education are encouraged to join the Working Group by contacting educationitm@gmail.com

The Education Working Group meetings aim to engage Travellers and Traveller parents in discussions about Traveller education and to look at the issues that they experience locally. The meetings also act as a platform to raise awareness about education and accessing rights in education.

The Education Working Group, in conjunction with Graínne O’Toole, developed an education section for the ITM Legal Packs. This developed directly from member organizations at the AGM, who felt education legal rights should be addressed in the legal pack. The Working Group will continue to develop education resources for member organizations in light of new education developments and suggestions through consultation with member organizations.

The ITM Education webpage in the future will look to highlight the work of member organisations in education and initiatives that local Traveller organisations have been involved in. This will provide an invaluable resource for member organisations to highlight their achievements in providing education resources and programmes, and hopefully will act to provide ideas and inspiration for other member organisations in the future. If you would like to highlight an education project that your local Traveller organisation was involved in, contact the ITM at (01) 6796577 or email educationitm@gmail.com

The Development of the Traveller Education Strategy

The Report of the Task Force on the Travelling Community in 1995 made 167 recommendations that related to education and training, which was more than half of the recommendations made in total in the report. From this a Joint Working Group, consisting of members of the Advisory Committee on Traveller Education (ACTE) and the Educational Disadvantage Committee (EDC) of the Department of Education and Science, was formed to develop a Traveller Education Strategy. ITM representatives, as members of the ACTE, were involved from the start in drafting the Traveller Education Strategy.

In order to best represent its member organisations in the development of the Traveller Education Strategy, The ITM, in conjunction with the National Traveller Women’s Forum and Pavee Point, organised 5 regional seminars and one national workshop on Traveller Education. The report on the Consultations with Traveller Parents and Learners can be downloaded as a word document:

[link to consultation document]

The strategy is wide-ranging; covering pre-school, primary, post-primary, further and adult education and higher education. The primary goal of the strategy is to achieve equality for Travellers in education, in terms of access, participation and outcomes.

Once the strategy is published, the ITM will host a series of regional and local seminars to inform member organisations and local Travellers about changes to the education system and what impacts can be expected on Traveller education access, participation and outcome. The ITM will also support member organisations to become actively involved in the monitoring of the strategy’s implementation over the next five years.

ITM Education Submissions and Resources

In addition to submissions made in the development of the Traveller Education Strategy, submissions were also made on education to the National Action Plan on Social Inclusion (NAPSincl) and the Children’s Rights Alliance Combined Second and Third Shadow Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Presentations were made to the Emigrant Advice Network International Conference and AGM in November.

In 2004, the ITM education report "Travellers in Education: Strategies for Equality" was published. This report looks at the existing education policies and the role of Traveller organisations in education provision and support. This document can be downloaded as a word document:

[link to "Travellers in Education"]

The ITM video "Moving On: Traveller and Third Level Education" was launched in conjunction with University College Cork in 2004. The video promotes the possibility and options for access to third level education for Travellers. If you wish to receive a copy of this video, please email educationitm@gmail.com

The video costs €10 including post and packaging.