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Scottish Traveller Education Programme

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Scotland’s Travelling Communities: Identities, Cultures, Continuities and Changes – April 2007 Events at STEP

read the original information about the events

At the end of April 2007, STEP hosted a highly successful 3-day set of events (so the evaluation suggested) to celebrate and raise awareness of Scotland’s diverse Travelling communities. The events aimed to celebrate Betty Jordan’s significant achievements in helping to bring Travelling peoples' educational needs firmly into public debates.

Over 120 people visited the multimedia exhibition, on the first of this 3-day event, a pattern repeated over the following two days. Officially opened by an HMI, Maureen Malloy, the exhibition was based on the themes of Traveller identities – their continuities and changes, which allowed for a fascinating comparison of their diverse historical and contemporary lifestyles. Images loaned from Kircaldy Museum, which charted the ancient history of the Link’s Market, stood side-by-side images of Travelling Showpeople’s working lives in present times. The central role of ‘the family’ in achieving success in their business is clearly as relevant today as it always has been.

Similarly, the emerging family theme was evident in three other exhibits loaned to STEP by the National Museums of Scotland and Save the Children. Their joint working had produced two exciting exhibitions.

First, Look at ME was an exhibition of self-portraits in digital photography, art and plaster casting, created by nine Scottish Gypsy/ Traveller young people. Their artwork exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London from September 2005 to March 2006 was part of an outreach programme at the gallery.

Second, Our World was a collection of short films depicting life in Gypsy/Traveller communities a hundred years ago. The films were researched, written, performed and crewed by young people who used Gypsy storytellers and historical archives to inspire their stories.

Put together by Stranraer Museum’s John Pickin, a third exhibit, The Galloway Travellers, was comprised of a collection of photographs. These marked the centenary of the publication of Andrew McCormick’s ‘The Tinkler-Gypsies of Galloway’, one of the first books to present the lives and cultures of Scottish Traveller communities. It is now regarded as a Galloway literary classic. A catalogue of the photographs was available for £2.50, however should you wish to buy one telephone Stranraer Museum at Tel: 01387 253820.

Perhaps Travellers from the different communities contributed the most exciting aspects of the exhibition!
Gypsies/ Travellers shared their stories and experiences, and demonstrated their skills in painting, making baskets, willow and paper flowers; a bow tent was built in the centre of the exhibition hall.
Also on hand, were Travelling Showpeople who told their stories, and explained the significance of the artefacts they had gathered during their travels across the length and breadth of Scotland, and beyond. Members of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain, Scottish Section contributed other media materials depicting the day-to-day life of Travelling Showmen families and their work.

An exhibition poster can be downloaded for dissemination to promote interest in learning more about Scotland’s Travelling Communities.

Download the PDF Poster

On the second day, a conference for professionals, picked up the same themes. It was well attended with over 100 participants from a broad range of professional and cultural backgrounds. Importantly, delegates included Travellers, Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive civil servants, representatives from a number of police services, site managers, health professionals, artists, academics and teachers from primary, secondary and ‘outwith school’ services. Delegates were animated in their sharing of ideas, issues and the challenges involved in delivering flexible education for Gypsy and Traveller children and young people.

Conference workshops showcased the innovative good practice to be found within Scotland. Some of these are delivered by voluntary agencies, such as Y-sort-it’s Youth information Service, which supports the Romany Action Group in West Dunbarton. The Gypsy/Traveller Education and Information (North East) project raised awareness of specific issues relating to Gypsies/ Travellers in that area. Other cases involved Education Authority funded projects, such as South Lancashire’s Universal Connections Larkhall, and Glasgow’s ‘Laptops for Travellers’ service, which highlighted their innovative use of interactive technologies in supporting mobile Showground Traveller children’s and young people’s learning and teaching. Falkirk also showed its ‘outwith school’ learning support for secondary-aged Gypsy/ Traveller young people. Highland’s workshop provided evidence of how interagency working can achieve a positive impact upon Gypsy/Traveller families’ access to education, and other public services. A visiting academic from Barcelona University, Silvia Carrasco, contributed a Spanish perspective that drew on her respected research with Gypsy families in Spain.

During the buffet lunch, musicians, Mic and Susie Darling treated delegates to songs about their life on the road. STEP colleagues felt that the informal setting encouraged delegates to network with colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds. Hopefully, by promoting and supporting delegates in their sharing of ideas they will be helped to improve and develop educational, and other services, for Gypsy and Traveller families.

Download the PDF of the Conference flier

On the third and final day of the exhibition, Gypsy/Traveller young people delivered well-attended Interactive workshops for primary and secondary-aged non-Traveller pupils. Together with their teachers they enjoyed this valuable opportunity to experience the workshops and visit the exhibition.
Supported by Save the Children and a teacher from Highland Region, the materials and games provided by Gypsy/Traveller young people, aimed to raise awareness and break down negative stereotypes of Gypsy/Traveller people.
In highlighting their culturally distinctive lifestyles, Gypsy/Traveller young people also showed how much they shared in common with non-Traveller young people. Including the HMI, Jane Lopez, all the young people enjoyed a busy and informative morning.

The evaluation forms speak for themselves – all participants learned a lot and pupils clearly enjoyed hearing about these different (to them) ways of living. STEP is most grateful for the wonderful support we received (a list would be too long!) in setting up these events. We are particularly grateful to the Travellers who gave freely of their time and energy by working with us so that the events were successful and fun. We hope you enjoy the images on this page (next time we will get an official photographer!!!), which give some flavour of these busy days.

Download the PDF workshops flier