Swann (1985)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Contents, Introduction

Part I: Setting the scene
Chapter 1 The nature of society
Chapter 2 Racism: theory and practice
Chapter 3 Achievement and underachievement

Part II: Education for all
Chapter 4 Ethnic minorities and education: historical perspective
Chapter 5 Multicultural education: further studies
Chapter 6 'Education for all': a new approach

Part III: Major areas of concern
Chapter 7 Language and language education
Chapter 8 Religion and the role of the school
Chapter 9 Teacher education; employment of ethnic minority teachers

Part IV: 'Other' ethnic minority groups
Introduction
Chapter 10 Chinese children
Chapter 11 Cypriot children
Chapter 12 Italian children
Chapter 13 Ukranian children
Chapter 14 Vietnamese children
Chapter 15 'Liverpool Blacks'
Chapter 16 Travellers' children
Reflections and conclusions

Part V:
Main conclusions and recommendations

Appendices

Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups

Chairman: Lord Swann

Cmnd. 9453

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1985
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Chapter 16 The educational needs of Travellers' (1) children
[pages 739 - 759]

An ethnic minority group?

1. Many people may be surprised to find not only that we have devoted a chapter of our report to considering the educational needs of children from travelling families, but also that we regard the travelling community as an ethnic minority group at all. There were in fact several factors which led us to decide that this group lay within our terms of reference and that its situation justified consideration. Firstly, from the considerable amount of evidence which we received from traveller organisations and from people working with this community, it was clear that many travellers regarded themselves as an ethnic minority group and were anxious for this Committee to consider their situation - as one group put it in their evidence to us:

'Unless your Committee is prepared to consider them (travellers' children), we feel that there is a very real danger that they will slip through the net of existing provision.'

'... a group of immigrants still not fully accepted by their host countries after four or five hundred years of occupation.'

'... constitute an ethnic minority group and as such are protected against discrimination under the Race Relations Act 1976.'

'... probably the most severely deprived children in the country.'

Background

Size of the community

3. Estimates of the size of the travelling community are notoriously unreliable and have ranged as high as 50-60,000. Data (4) from the Department of the Environment (DOE), based on their twice-yearly caravan counts (5), indicate a current total population of approximately 30,000 Gypsies, including up to 12,500 children, out of an estimated world population of perhaps eight million. Some travellers' organisations however regard the DOE figures as a considerable underestimate. Some travelling families lead fully nomadic lives and some travel on a seasonal basis, while others are more or less settled in one place but do not see themselves as having given up the travelling way of life. Even 'travellers' who now live in houses - who would not be included in estimates of the size of the travelling community - still retain some very distinctive characteristics and are quite likely to return to the 'road' again. About half of the travelling families in England and Wales live on unauthorised and illegal sites because of the severe shortage of official camp sites. This means that, in addition to living, in the majority of instances, in the very deprived circumstances which are inevitable without access to normal services, these families are also under constant threat of eviction and of being moved on by local authorities.

Site provision

4. The issue of camp site provision was raised time and time again with us as being a crucial factor in considering the education of travellers' children. As one Gypsy representative put it:

'You can't educate a person until you find them a place to live.'

'Designation'

5. The 1968 Act empowered a Minister to 'designate' an authority on application, if adequate provision has been made for the accommodation of travellers in that area. Designation makes it an offence for travellers to place their trailers anywhere in the area other than on an official site and enables the authority to obtain an eviction order from a Magistrates' Court with only 48 hours notice. It was envisaged by the Cripps Report that all designations should be reviewed at least every five years and could be withdrawn. The Report had also seen designation as only one aspect of an overall package of measures which required all authorities to prepare time-related programmes for providing sufficient camp sites and allowed the Secretary of State to use powers of direction where an authority was failing to put forward such a programme. To date over 40 authorities have received designation, some having received it as long ago as 1972. According to the DOE representative whom we met, however, no designation order has ever been reviewed as the DOE saw 'no particular need to do so', and no order has ever been revoked. The DOE does not apparently put pressure on authorities to put forward programmes for action and relies on 'persuasion' rather than direction. The DOE has in the past employed a national Gypsy Liaison Officer to encourage authorities to provide sites but this post is not currently filled. The DOE stated in its written evidence to us that it:

'... has not been informed of any example where designation has caused increased hardship to Gypsies occupying unauthorised sites with a designated area.'

6. Whilst it is not for this Committee to comment in detail on camp site provision, much of what we have heard from representatives of the travelling community seems to cast doubts on the concept of designation and to point to the need for its use by authorities to be far more closely monitored than at present by the DOE. As instances of the type of situation which arises and which should clearly be reviewed:

i. one authority, which has large numbers of travellers, received designation in 1972 with the provision of one official site. This site is now closed 'temporarily for rebuilding' but the designation still applies;

ii. another authority has designation with 15 pitches on 6 authorised sites and 34 unauthorised encampments.

7. We would like to see greater efforts being made by central government to encourage local authorities to establish more official sites and to set up time-related programmes of action, possibly through re-establishment of the Gypsy Liaison Officer post at the DOE. In particular we hope that the travelling community can be more closely involved in the planning of sites and the provision of appropriate facilities. In addition to more permanent official sites there is also a need for more transit and seasonal sites. It is important to remember however that the facilities and position of official sites often leave much to be desired. Because of political pressures and protests from house dwellers, these sites tend to be established on totally undesirable land, for example under motorways or in marshland, well away from other settlement and thus often nowhere near local schools. Whilst we understand the concern of local people about having camp sites placed near them, we also deplore the apparent view of some authorities that 'anywhere will do'. If placed in such bad conditions, travellers are hardly likely to maintain their sites well and vandalism is to some extent understandable. Undoubtedly if you are living, as many travellers have to, next to a refuse tip or a sewage works, this will show you how society sees you and will only serve to alienate you further from everything it has to offer. One official site we visited in a rural area was in a very deep hollow in the middle of woodland where water collected, the facilities appeared to be completely inadequate and the children, none of whom were attending school, were living in very disadvantaged circumstances indeed. We would be surprised if the circumstances we found there conformed to the advice given in the DOE's 'Gypsy Sites Design Guide' (7), and if they did, perhaps this guide itself may need to be reviewed.

Education

8. While nearly half the travelling population are forced to lead an unstable and unsettled existence on illegal encampments because of the shortage of official sites it is difficult to discuss educational provision for their children. (It is important to recognise however that, as we point out below, by no means all the educational problems of travellers' children would be solved were all travellers to be accommodated on official sites.) One Gypsy representative who was himself illegally camped described vividly to us the need for parents to have security and peace of mind before they could be expected to contemplate sending their children to school. As things were now, there was a very real possibility that a family could be evicted and moved on, possibly over the County boundary, during the day and their child could return home from school to find their trailer gone and no sign of his or her family.

School attendance

9. It is difficult to establish precisely how many travellers' children actually attend school. The Plowden Report claimed that less than 10 per cent attended school and a Schools Council study (8) has estimated that between 10 per cent and 25 per cent attended school in 1969-70 but only one third of these had attended on a regular basis and by far the majority of these were of primary age. This widespread non-attendance at school is unique to travellers' children and lies at the heart of their plight. Even where these children are living on an official site and are attending school however, numerous difficulties can arise in meeting their particular educational needs.

Parental attitudes

10. In the eyes of most travellers, education is seen solely in terms of literacy and numeracy and the broader concept of education, especially at secondary level, is seen as irrelevant and unnecessary. Many of the travellers have themselves received little or no formal 'education', indeed some only learnt to read while on National Service, but as one Gypsy representative put it:

'What they lack in education they make up for in common sense.'

Non-attendance

11. The reasons why traveller parents are reluctant to send their children to school are many and varied. We have already mentioned the particular problems which face a family which is illegally encamped and the understandable tendency to reject a society which so clearly rejects you. Also, as the HMI discussion document on travellers' education (9) explained:

'The ambivalence of many traveller parents towards formal education is frequently linked with their own unhappy, unsuccessful and intermittent experiences of school. It is also the case that traveller parents are fearful that their children's presence in school may confirm in others prejudicial cultural stereotypes. Academic backwardness as a result of a previous lack of schooling and unusual behaviour are thought by many parents to be images that would be interpreted in negative terms by schools.'

Expectations

12. If their children do go to school, traveller parents tend to expect very rapid results, for example learning to read in a few weeks. When this does not happen they may lose interest in school as a 'waste of time' and simply withdraw their children. Traveller children tend to mature faster than other children and may be seen as having a role to play in the family very early on, for example, as one Gypsy representative put it to us, the boys are 'little men at eight' and may be expected to help their father in his work then and the girls may be expected to help their mother to look after younger brothers and sisters. Traveller children may be absent from school for many reasons - if there is an illness or a bereavement in the family all the children may be kept at home.

LEA responsibilities

13. Under the 1944 Education Act, travelling children aged 6 or over are required to fulfil only 50 per cent of possible attendances i.e. 200 half-day attendances over a 12 month period (10). The 1980 Education Act unequivocally places a duty on LEAs to ensure that appropriate full-time education is provided for all children residing in their area, whether permanently or temporarily and regardless of the legal status of the camp site where they live. LEA expenditure on provision for travellers' children can be claimed from the 'no-area pool' on the following basis:

i. expenditure on tuition in normal classes may be charged at the full appropriate primary or secondary IAPC rate in proportion to the weeks of their actual attendance;

ii. expenditure on special provision (e.g. special units or classes or peripatetic teachers) may be charged at 75 per cent of the recurrent costs; and

iii. other education expenditure (e.g. special transport) may be pooled in full.

14. Many traveller organisations believe that some LEAs are failing to fulfil their responsibilities in relation to travellers' education and that travellers' children are being intentionally deprived of their right to education. The travelling community take the view that authorities are unwilling to run the risk of provoking hostility from the settled community by allowing travellers' children into schools and that many schools are in any case reluctant to receive these children because of the problems they may present. It was pointed out to us that a local authority which may be seeking to evict a family from an illegal site is unlikely to wish to 'complicate' matters by admitting the children from that family into school which may delay the eviction procedure. Although no definite figures are available, very few prosecutions are made by authorities over non-attendance at school and it is not known how many of these are of traveller parents, despite the fact that so many travellers' children clearly do not attend school. The DES acknowledged in evidence to us that some LEAs might not be fulfilling their responsibilities in seeking to ensure that travellers' children attended school. Because of the community's inherent mobility it was pointed out however that it could be difficult for an Education Welfare Officer (EWO) to trace a child's previous educational experience and thus to prove that the attendance requirement had not been met and so prosecutions were unlikely. Also many LEAs and EWOs took the view that taking legal proceedings against traveller parents was counterproductive since it simply served to alienate them further from society.

LEA policies

15. Three broad approaches are adopted by LEAs to providing education for travellers' children:

• no special provision or support - simply expecting them to attend normal schools;
• special support within normal schools or in special units on the school site; and
• special provision in units, usually mobile, on camp sites.

The first of these - often referred to as the 'open door' policy - which places all the responsibility for a child attending school on the shoulders of the parent, seems to us to be particularly insensitive in view of the reluctance of many traveller parents to send their children to school and may simply encourage and condone non-attendance, especially if no attempts are made to ensure that the children do attend. As the HMI discussion document put it:

'The schools are there, so the policy goes, let the travellers use them; that is if they remain long enough, are bold enough, confident enough, keen enough and persistent enough to seek and gain admission. It is not surprising that in these circumstances many fall at these hurdles, especially if there is an unacknowledged discrimination between those on official and those on unauthorised sites.'

On-site provision

16. Similarly we feel that those authorities which only make provision through mobile units on camp sites, despite the quite remarkable work being done in some of these units (see paragraph 22 below), may also be 'abdicating' some of their responsibilities in respect of travellers' children. Obviously, in view of their reluctance to send their children to school, many traveller parents, if offered on-site provision, will consider this to be sufficient. There is no way however in which such a unit can offer a full and balanced curriculum since its resources are limited and the teachers are often dealing with children of widely varying ages and abilities. A mobile unit is unlikely to call at a particular site every day or for a full day - in one case we came across, for example, a unit was calling at a particular site for one hour every 10-14 days and the travellers' children concerned were therefore receiving only periodic teaching on an irregular basis. Where a unit is on a site the lessons are in any case, as we ourselves saw on our visits, liable to be interrupted by parents withdrawing children for meals or errands, and the children may be easily distracted by activities outside. In this situation there are clearly no opportunities for travellers' children to mix with other children and so their isolation from mainstream society is accentuated. Such mobile units were criticised in very strong terms to us by one of the Gypsy organisations as providing sub-standard education and as being designed solely with the purpose of keeping travelling children out of normal schools - as they put it: 'segregation on cultural grounds'. We ourselves would seriously question the legal position, in the light of the provisions of the 1944 Education Act, of LEAs which, apparently with the knowledge of the DES, provide units offering periodic part time attendance as an alternative to statutory attendance at school. For example, we ourselves visited one such unit which was serving a camp site in an urban area immediately adjacent to a council housing estate and clearly within walking distance of existing schools and where the children appeared to be relatively settled and there seemed little justification for such 'special provision' in these circumstances. We would accept however, that on-site provision may have a role to play as part of a comprehensive strategy for travellers' education as a 'bridge' into school - as the HMI document put it:

'... an essential first step along the road to normal schooling.'

Provision within schools

17. The other main approach adopted by LEAs to travellers' education is to make provision for travelling children within normal schools but to employ some teachers on a peripatetic basis with responsibility for their needs who can withdraw groups of children for remedial work and can advise the schools and teachers on particular problems. We considered instances of this approach being adopted in two parts of the country. In both cases mobile classrooms were available which could be placed on a school site for withdrawal groups although in areas with falling rolls surplus classroom space within school premises is now becoming available. In one of these areas the specialist team consisted of five peripatetic teachers and one EWO working under the supervision of the multi-ethnic inspectorate. The team's function was to make contact with traveller parents and to ease the admission of the children into schools. The teachers assisted schools by teaching travellers' children in small groups prior to integration into normal classes, joining class teachers during normal lessons once the child had been integrated and sometimes continuing to provide special help in withdrawal groups. The EWO acted as a link between the schools and families but all the teachers visited sites some of the time to provide 'emergency education' to children whose transit time was too short to bring them into schools. We also considered a regional scheme for travellers' education involving 11 shire counties and metropolitan districts and covering an area of some 10,000 square miles. The scheme's staff comprised three welfare officers, three support staff and thirteen specialist teachers, including one seconded from each of the contributing authorities, working under a central coordinator. The teachers moved between different schools with travelling pupils offering help with remedial problems and advice to other teachers about travellers' needs. Because of the regional structure of the service, teachers were able to move freely across county boundaries in order to 'follow' children as they moved to other schools. Whilst we accept the arguments in favour of a regional approach to provision for travelling children, we were concerned that this scheme might in fact be too large to be manageable and to allow for the most economic use of resources. For example we were struck by the fact that two of the teachers we met spoke of driving 100 miles each way to teach in schools for just one hour! We were also somewhat concerned that the authorities which were part of the scheme appeared to take little interest in what was happening in their areas and the scheme seemed to have no clear line of accountability. It seemed possible that, just as with the 'open-door' policy mentioned above, LEAs in this case might also be abdicating their responsibilities in respect of travellers' children and that more efficient use could be made of resources if provision were made at LEA level.

Particular educational needs of travellers' children

18. It would be facile to claim that travelling children do not present schools with considerable problems. When he or she enters school, at whatever age, a travelling child may have had little or no previous educational experience - it is quite possible in respect of travellers' children to talk of the need for 'pre-school' education in the literal sense, for youngsters of 12 or 13. Teachers have said to us that travellers' children 'don't know how to play' and are unable to settle down in a large building, that they cannot concentrate, have no respect for property, especially books, become disruptive if they are frustrated in their work and that the boys in particular do not obey women teachers. Whilst there may be an element of truth in all these assertions, the reasons for these difficulties are understandable if teachers know something of the children's backgrounds and the life they lead on a camp site. If the children live as a large family in a relatively small trailer they will clearly be intimidated when confronted with a large school building with stairs, corridors and rooms. The family is the central influence in the life of a travelling child and he or she is used to being constantly in the company of relations and especially brothers and sisters. Being surrounded by strange children and adults and being separated from brothers and sisters into age-related classes can therefore be very traumatic. The young child on a camp site may play with oddments of scrap metal which are discarded when finished with and the concept of 'looking after' things may therefore be new to him. The children may have no appreciation of the need to care for books and may lack fine motor-skills in using pens and pencils when they first enter school. All these factors clearly affect how a travelling child will respond to school and if they are overlooked or disregarded the education experience may prove unproductive and the child, who will inevitably be conscious of the need to 'prove himself' in relation to his peers, may well resort to assertive or possibly disruptive behaviour. There is therefore a need for some form of in-service training to help teachers respond to the needs of travelling children. In view of the relatively small number of such children it is unfortunately impossible to expect normal LEA INSET courses to do more than perhaps refer to the needs of traveller children in the context of 'multicultural education'. The DES short courses on travelling children have been running since 1973 and are successful in attracting teachers from schools which regularly have pupils from travelling families. There is also a need for informal in-service work through more discussions and exchanges of information and advice between schools with these pupils, more liaison with the Education Welfare Service and more direct contact between teachers and the travelling community including visits to sites. It is only through teachers actually meeting and talking to travelling parents about the aims of education and the work which the school is doing that more positive attitudes towards education can be built up within the travelling community.

Teaching materials

19. As far as the teaching materials used in schools are concerned, it is clear that reading books which deal only with families living in houses and fathers working in offices or factories will be of little relevance and interest to a child from a travelling family. Since we believe that materials used in schools should reflect the actual make-up of society and the mix of pupils in a school, we would like to see more use being made of materials which reflect the travelling way of life. In view of the numbers of children involved one cannot perhaps expect the commercial development of such materials but a considerable amount of work has been done in certain areas on developing suitable materials and in particular reading schemes for use with travelling children which deal with trailers, horses, dogs and other features of their way of life. We would like to see such materials being more widely used in all schools with traveller pupils. Also the availability in a school library of just a few books about travellers could have a very positive effect on the motivation of a travelling child to learn to read and may help to improve the attitudes of the house-dwelling community towards this community.

Record keeping

20. The issue of record keeping in relation to the progress of travellers' children has been mentioned in much of the evidence we have received. It has been pointed out to us that if a child arrives in a school 'off the road', that school needs to be able to establish quickly the educational level the child has reached so he or she can receive appropriate teaching with some continuity from their previous experience. We have seen two main approaches adopted to record keeping - the teaching team in one LEA relied on folders of work for each traveller child attending school which were held by the team while the child was on the road and were passed onto the the new school when the child arrived. These folders were considered important by the teachers in providing a reference point both for the teacher and also for the child who could see that earlier work was not lost and could see some continuity in the education process. The regional scheme already mentioned had an educational record transfer system based on a detailed record card recording the educational progress of each travelling child in school which was returned to the scheme's headquarters whenever he or she moved on, so that, as the scheme puts it:

'Wherever the child next appears, the card can be in the hands of the receiving school in the time it takes to post and deliver.'

Secondary provision

21. Much of what we have said so far about travellers' children in schools has been related to primary schools only, since few travellers' children continue their education after 11 and even fewer continue through to the statutory school leaving age. On the face of it, this situation should be remedied since these children are being deprived of the educational opportunities available to their peers, and their parents are in any case in breach of the law in failing to send them to school. The factors involved in non-participation in secondary education are however rather more complex. As we have already said, travellers and their children see little value in education beyond basic literacy and numeracy. The normal secondary school curriculum is generally seen as a 'waste of time' and entirely irrelevant and meaningless in the context of the travelling way of life. Any work related to gaining public examinations or employment is for example considered unnecessary if the travellers' children will be working within the travelling community like their parents. It has been suggested to us that travellers' children should be offered a limited, specially designed curriculum concentrating on relevant practical skills such as cookery, gardening, metalwork, car maintenance and health and first aid. Whilst we appreciate the arguments in favour of this approach, we would not like to see any travellers' child being offered a scheme of work which was so divergent from the norm as to preclude him or her from participating in the normal full curriculum if they were willing and able to do so. Many of the problems experienced by travellers' children entering primary school for the first time are of course also exacerbated at secondary level - the building will normally be far larger, there will be far more children and far more teachers. Whereas travellers' children may have been able to relate to one teacher in a primary school, they are now faced with a range of subject teachers within the compartmentalised secondary structure. The fact that they may be in need of remedial help may be seen as a stigma and there may be more scope for hostility towards them to emerge. There are also likely to be more rules and regulations which the youngsters may find it difficult to abide by and questions such as affording school uniform may present real problems. Also the fact that travellers' children of necessity mature rather earlier than their peers will mean that at 13 or 14 they are likely to consider themselves 'too old' for school and frustration and boredom may again lead to disruptive behaviour. Whilst many, if not all, of these factors apply equally to other youngsters, particularly those from other ethnic minority groups, non-attendance - as opposed to truanting in the later years - seems to occur on such a large scale only within the travelling community.

Teachers of travellers

22. During our visits and discussions we have met a number of teachers working with travellers' children, both in normal schools and in mobile teaching units visiting camp sites. Without exception we have been greatly impressed by their extreme commitment and dedication to their work. Whilst we do not, as we have made clear, favour the use of on-site units, the teachers we met in these units displayed great resourcefulness, sensitivity and imagination in making the best possible use of the facilities available, often in appalling circumstances on unofficial and official sites. In some cases these teachers appear to have been left to fend for themselves with very little support from their LEAs. They are therefore in a very isolated position both in physical terms and also in terms of links with mainstream schools. We were pleased to learn of the formation of a National Association for Teachers of Travellers (NATT) which could go some way towards remedying this isolation as well as providing a network for the exchange of information and ideas and encouraging regional cooperation. The DES short course on travellers' education also serves to bring together travellers' teachers from all over the country. Travellers' teachers have told us that they often became identified in the eyes of other teachers and the general public with the travelling community and may consequently be subjected to considerable hostility and verbal and even physical attack by the local housed community who see them as encouraging the travellers to stay. These teachers have also spoken of the effect on their career prospects of having worked in what is seen as a professional 'backwater' with little relevance to 'normal' education. Those peripatetic teachers we spoke to, who visited different schools for a certain time each week and were also allowed time to develop materials and visit sites, were also regarded by the other school teachers as 'part-timers' and working a 'soft option'. This is clearly very far from the truth since all the travellers' teachers we met put a good deal of their own time into their work and because of the daunting problems they faced had in fact very demanding jobs. Since all these teachers had gained so much knowledge and experience from their work, even where they were based in mobile units, we would like to see them involved in any reorganisation of an authority's provision to cater for travellers' children in mainstream schools.

Role of the DES and HMI

23. Many of the organisations who gave evidence to us referred to the apparent 'neglect' of travellers' education by the DES and stressed the need for a lead to be given from the centre in order to encourage local authorities to make better provision for travellers both in terms of sites and education. For some years now, we were told, the DES, under successive Ministers, has stated its intention of issuing guidance on travellers' education. A number of the travellers' representatives whom we met saw the continual delays over issuing such guidance as symptomatic of the DES's lack of concern and commitment to travellers' education. The recent HMI discussion document on the education of travellers' children goes at least some way towards meeting the community's concerns in that it seeks to clarify the legal position as well as discussing various examples of 'good practice'. It still however falls considerably short of the statement of DES policy for which the community organisations have called and for which they will presumably continue to press in the future. We ourselves have been struck by the reluctance of the DES to be particularly forthcoming in relation to travellers' education and there seems to be a clear desire not to look too closely into a 'complex and difficult area' which is invariably troublesome in political terms. We found a guarded approach amongst officials and an apparent lack of concern to improve the present unsatisfactory state of affairs and to ensure that LEAs were fulfilling their responsibilities in respect of travellers' children. This reluctance contrasted notably with the knowledgeable and sensitive comments which we received from the two specialist HMIs concerned with travellers' education, who were clearly deeply concerned about the situation and who were indeed mentioned by a number of the people we met as making valuable contributions to the increasing awareness of the needs and problems of travellers' children.

Racism

24. We have already referred to the particular form of racism which the travelling community faces from the settled community. Much of this hostility surfaces when proposals to establish new camp sites are under discussion in an area and, when seeking evidence, we were overwhelmed by negative references to the travelling community from local newspapers - to quote just one example: a county councillor commenting as follows at a public meeting:

'A civilised society can be judged on the way it treats minorities but I don't put the itinerants in that category because they live outside the realms of common decency.'

'Direct contact between travellers and members of the public take place during brief economic exchanges when travellers are selling to the public or offering homeowners a service like tarmacking their driveway. Other direct contacts are restricted to those that occur between travellers and members of various mainstream institutions - the police, hospital staff, environmental health officers, social welfare employees, and similar people. The average member of the public relies for his or her information on what they see, which is usually the squalor of unauthorised encampments that they drive past, and from what they read in the newspapers, typically accounts of evictions or public protests to a site proposal. Like all ethnic stereotypes, the negative perceptions held of travellers are exaggerated and unfairly generalised to all members of the group regardless of their individual behaviour. In small communities and established neighbourhoods, residents sometimes distinguish between the behaviour of the local travellers and that of outsiders who may periodically move into the area. But even then, the hostility and frustration felt when faced with rubbish-strewn encampments is often directed towards all travellers. When an individual or family fails to conform to the expected behaviour (e.g. keeps a tidy camp), they are regarded as unique and referred to as 'not being like the rest'. In this way stereotypes and prejudice can exist side by side with a person's positive experience of members of a minority or out-group. This attitude was epitomised by a local newspaper quoting a local resident whose property was close to a proposed permanent site location:

"We've nothing against the Gypsy people, but we don't want them on our doorstep."

Selective perception and rationalisation are also evident in the many statements made by people to the effect that they do not harbour ill-feelings toward the "proper gypsies" only towards "tinkers" and "itinerant scrap merchants". The negative view most members of the public have of travellers is bolstered by local press coverage which concentrates on provocative episodes. Seldom are the views of travellers taken into account or the root causes of an unsatisfactory situation, (e.g. unauthorised encampment due to under-provision of sites), explored. At their worst, sensationalist headlines such as: "Tinkers Causing Bedlam - Claim", "Clean-up Call on Prostitutes and Gypsies", and "Tinkers Smash a Dream" help create anti-traveller sentiments. Where local press coverage is informed and responsible, the press can be a great help in promoting understanding between travellers and the public and in breaking down negative stereotypes. Ironically public opposition has been responsible for many sites being built in totally unsuitable locations which seriously affects their chances of success, and when they fail, the public's negative view of travellers is reinforced. Unwitting pawns in somebody else's self-fulfilling prophecies the travellers are also victims of the now fashionable "Catch 22 situation":

"People complain about sites being built but they complain even more if we spend the night on the roadside. You just cannot win." (Traveller women.)'

Conclusion

26. In many ways the situation of travellers' children in Britain today throws into stark relief many of the factors which influence the education of children from other ethnic minority groups - racism and discrimination, myths, stereotyping and misinformation, the inappropriateness and inflexibility of the education system and the need for better links between homes and schools and teachers and parents. Many of the official attitudes to travelling families tend towards encouraging them to 'settle down' and in effect to cease being travellers. Since, as we explained at the opening of this report, we believe that all ethnic minority groups have the right to retain their distinct identities, and to see their way of life and culture respected and valued by the majority community, we believe that, without our overall philosophy of 'education for all', ways can and must be found to reconcile the concerns and aspirations of the travelling community and the mainstream education system in a much more positive manner.

27. A central factor in considering the education of travellers' children is clearly site provision, and, as will be evident from our comments, we have been concerned at a number of aspects of the current situation with regard to this issue. We would like to see far greater efforts being made by all concerned to increase the number of sites available and to improve the facilities of existing sites. Education should not be presented to travelling families on a 'take it or leave it' basis, as seems to be the case in some parts of the country at present, and schools and LEAs should not be able to 'turn a blind eye' to travellers' children simply because they may present problems and efforts on their behalf may prove unpopular with the rest of the community. We are concerned that the specific provision in the 1944 Education Act (Section 39(3)) for travellers' children to be required to fulfil only 50 per cent of the school attendances required of all other children (see paragraph 13 above), although presumably intended originally to protect travelling parents from unreasonable prosecution for failing to send their children to school, may in practice serve to deprive travellers' children of equality of access to education; LEAs may see this provision in the Act as offering a convenient excuse for not enforcing school attendance for travellers' children, rather than, as we would wish, striving to achieve full time attendance by all school age children in their areas. In view of the widespread concern about the level of school attendance amongst the travelling community, we therefore urge that Section 39(3) of the 1944 Education Act be repealed, thus removing the present ambiguity over the requirement for school attendance.

28. In relation to specific educational provision, on balance we believe that the approach of any necessary additional educational support being provided within the mainstream system offers the only acceptable way of providing education for travellers' children, whilst recognising that some children may require some form of 'bridge' into normal schools. Only for the small minority of children from families which are almost continually on the move, staying in one place for perhaps only a couple of weeks, should, we feel, any form of provision on-site be considered in any way desirable. We tend to share the view of one travellers' organisation which gave evidence to us that:

'We find it difficult to understand why experimental projects should be set up outside the established system when it is already capable of handling much greater problems than those offered by a comparative handful of Gypsy children.'

Footnotes

(1) In this chapter we use the term 'traveller' in the sense in which the DES has defined it:

'The term 'traveller' has come to include a number of different groups each with distinctive lifestyles and traditions. Common to all is their nomadic life although there are great differences in the amount and range of travelling between groups. Gypsies form the largest group in the traveller community. Other travellers are Irish or Scottish tinkers who have travelled in this country for many years and often still have close links with their country of origin. A third group are the children of fairground and circus families.' (From Notes to Editors in DES Press Notice 191/83).

(3) 'Children and Their Primary Schools'. HMSO. 1967.

(4) DOE Press Notice. 19 October 1982.

(5) In July 1978, the Department of the Environment introduced regular twice-yearly counts of Gypsies and their caravans in England in order to assess the progress made by local authorities in fulfilling their statutory duties under Part II of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 whereby they should provide adequate accommodation for the Gypsies in or resorting to their area. The statistics are provided by District Councils.

(6) 'Accommodation for Gypsies.' HMSO. April 1977.

(7) Gypsy Sites Design Guide. DOE. 1979.

(8) 'Education of Travelling Children'. C. Reiss. Macmillan. 1975.

(9) 'The Education of Travellers' Children.' DES. 1983.

(10) Section 39 (3) of the 1944 Education Act states that:

'... if the parent proves that he is engaged in any trade or business of such a nature as to require him to travel from place to place and that the child has attended at a school at which he was a registered pupil as regularly as the nature of the trade or business of the parent permits, the parent shall be acquitted (of any offence against the requirement for full school attendance): Provided that, in the case of a child who has attained the age of six years, the parent shall not be entitled to be acquitted under this subsection unless he proves that the child has made at least two hundred attendances during the period of twelve months ending with the date on which the proceedings were instituted.'

(12) 'Special Accommodation Needs of Irish and Other Long Distance Travellers'. Smith, Gmelch and Gmelch. DOE. 1982.

(13) As indicated in paragraph 13 above, 75 per cent of the cost of such provision could be met from the no-area pool as 'exceptional provision' but in addition an Authority could we understand claim 100 per cent of the cost as 'expenditure on tuition in normal classes.'

Annex: Extract from 'The Education of Travellers' Children' - an HMI Discussion Document. DES. 1983
[page 759]

Fairground and circus children

1. Fairground and circus children experience particular problems in maintaining continuity of education, because their families move so frequently. From October to Easter most fairground children are able to attend local schools in the area in which their winter quarters are located. During the summer season, however, fairground families are on the move for most of the time, often travelling very widely, and many children cease to attend school altogether. Particularly vulnerable are young teenagers who are deemed by the community to have reached adulthood and are of an age to participate fully in the activities of the fair, even though this is precisely the time when they could be taking public examinations. Lost ground is not easily recovered when the children return to normal schooling in the autumn.

2. Some parents have sought to overcome these difficulties by sending their children to boarding school, or by leaving them with friends or relatives during the summer travelling season. However, the idea of family separation is rejected by a majority of parents for whom other ways of maintaining educational continuity must be sought. Where children are able to attend schools for reasonable periods during the summer months, liaison between the 'home' and 'host' school may be one way of promoting continuity, and some system of pupil profiles or record keeping may be helpful in this respect. Often, however, movement is so frequent that continued attendance at school is impossible, and it is left to parents to take the initiative. There have been several examples of parents obtaining work programmes and books from their children's winter schools or other sources, and attempting to continue their children's education while on the road. Such an approach may have reasonable success with young children, although it will inevitably become less satisfactory as they grow older.

3. Circus children face similar problems, often accentuated by the even greater mobility of their parents. Circuses may move on every week for most of the year, so that continuous normal education, even when desired, is difficult to achieve, and some circuses have considered establishing their own teaching units. One owner estimated in 1976 that in a single year his circus stopped in over 40 different towns, covering a large number of local education authorities. Subsequently, he appointed a qualified teacher to supervise the education of the 20 or so children attached to his circus. At first they were taught in a tent, but then a single decker coach was converted into a well equipped mobile teaching unit, and some of the resources of the circus, including audio-visual aids, were made available to the teacher. For 12 months the financial burden was borne by the circus itself but eventually a local education authority agreed to assume the administrative responsibility for educating the children and the costs incurred became poolable.