There has been no pressure to welcome Traveller pupils into mainstream schools because of the existence of Traveller-only schools. This was one of the findings in a report on Traveller participation in second-level education and training, which was launched in Dublin yesterday by Southside Partnership, the local development organisation in the Dun Laoghire-Rathdown council area.
According to the report, Traveller-only services can act as a safety valve for the mainstream education system, allowing it to avoid its responsibility to Travellers. Three-quarters of Travellers the 12 to 15 age bracket, who are in education, are in Traveller-only provisions, according to the Task Force Report, 1995.
Sara Boyce, community development worker with Travellers at Southside Partnership, says that, according to the council, there are 70 Travellers in the 12 to 15 age bracket in the area. "Of these, we have 11 in mainstream second-level and another 10 in Traveller-only education," she says.
"The central argument against Traveller-only education is that a young person is best served in the widest environment with a full curriculum and as much choice as possible," says the Southside report. "Travellers need to be made aware that separate education is not all that is on offer, nor is it the same as what is on offer in mainstream schools. Travellers need to be given a choice."
However, Pat Corcoran, a visiting teacher for Travellers in the Ballyfermot and Dublin central area, says that attitudes are changing. "I haven't experienced a refusal this year or last year. That's a tremendous advance on what the experience would have been. That's the yardstick, that's what you have to go by."
He lists a range of schools attended by Travellers, including Cabinteely Community School, Ringsend Technical Institute, Loreto Abbey in Dalkey, St Anne's Secondary School in Milltown and Rockford Manor in Blackrock.
According to the report, "currently the majority of the services, Travellers themselves, the Task Force Report and general educational wisdom on education, would argue that Traveller-only provision is not the answer. In the long run, Traveller children lose out on choice and the whole education system fails to provide with an intercultural education which would better prepare them for an intercultural society."
The Southside research looked at some of the mainstream schools in the area that are providing Travellers with education. It lists Queen of Angels National School, Ballinteer, with 380 pupils, where there are 17 Traveller children. One of their Traveller students has moved into mainstream second-level. Also the Good Shepherd National School, Churchtwon, with a student population of 375 students, including 14 Traveller children.
St Tiernan's Community School, Balally, is a second-level community school of 502 students. At the moment it has two students who identify themselves as Travellers. Two Travellers are enrolled at Cabinteely Community School which has 650 students.
The report also notes that the Youthreach Centre in Rathfarnham has 25 trainees, including six Travellers.
