Scottish Traveller Education Programme

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Research

Learning at a Distance Supported by ICT for Gypsies and Travellers: Young peoples' views

Dr Pauline Padfield, Director, STEP

Many secondary-aged Travellers don’t attend school at all, sometimes because of family mobility, but often because the young person wishes to avoid racism at school. And, would many prefer to begin earning by learning a trade from their own family members.

This report is based on evidence gathered with Gypsy and Traveller children and young people. It describes their views on and aspirations for education and how interactive communication technologies (ICT) could help overcome disruptions to their learning. Importantly, many Travellers fear loosing their Traveller cultures and lifestyles and view ICT supported learning as a way of finding out more about their histories.

download "Learning at a Distance Supported by ICT for Gypsies and Travellers: Young peoples' views" in PDF format

Impact of national guidance: inclusive educational approaches for Gypsies and Travellers: within the context of interrupted learning schools and practice

The Scottish Traveller Education Programme carried out research, funded by the Scottish Executive through its Project 7 Equalities Budget, with schools and Gypsy and Traveller families.

The research explored the impact and effectiveness of the Guidance on local authorities' and schools' development of inclusive educational approaches for Gypsy and Traveller pupils, and support for Gypsy and Traveller families.

Based on this evidence, STEP also drew up a set of recommendations to inform further developments in educational services in schools and out of school settings for school-aged Gypsies and Travellers in Scotland and identified a set of broader issues emerging from its data analysis, some of which have been and continue to be acted upon, while some remain outstanding.

download the Imact of national guidance report in PDF format (950kb)

Issues in school enrolment, attendance, attainment and support for learning for Gypsy/Travellers and school-aged children and young people based in Scottish local authority sites

Pauline Padfield & Betty Jordan

This research, funded by the Scottish Executive, carried out by STEP and reported in March 2004 , involved making contact with, Gypsy/Traveller parents and pupils, Scottish local authority chief executives, the majority of Scottish education and housing departments, the site managers of Scotland's 37 local authority sites, designated Traveller teachers, and schools (pre-school, primary and secondary) reported to be used by Gypsy/Travellers.

The report is available to download in PDF format. You will need Acrobat Reader to open this document - you can download it at no cost from the Adobe web site.

Download the report (PDF format - 977kb)
Download Table 2 (PDF format - 56kb)

"Are these really for us?" Laptops for Teachers of Pupils Education in Outwith School Settings

Pauline Padfield and Betty Jordan, 2003

download final report in PDF format (1.44 MB)

This report concludes a research process that examined Scottish education authorities' provision of laptops for pupils described as experiencing interrupted learning (Jordan 1999).

'Interrupted Learning: laptops and their communicative possibilities'

Abstract: Across Europe, Occupational Traveller childrens' experiences with computer-based learning initiatives (Topilot, Flex and Trapeze) have shown that open and distance learning raises questions about 'educational quality'. Anecdotal reports, from Scottish teachers with experience of laptop provision for 'out of school' learning, suggest that teaching staff are not receiving specialised training in the use of technology. Teachers also report pupils require significant parental input of practical help and encouragement if laptops are to succeed in supporting children to achieve positive educational experiences. As a technological means of keeping a pupil in touch with a 'base school' and its curriculum opportunities, 'laptops' and other forms of ICT offer an opportunity of finding new ways of transcending problems of accessing to schooling for pupils educated in 'outwith school' settings.

Travellers at School: the Experience of Parents, Pupils and Teachers

(Lloyd, Stead and Jordan, 1999)

The findings from this research project were published in a report in 1999 and discussed in a number of articles. The research built on two previous studies. The STEP research on school attendance (Jordan 1998) and the Scottish government funded research on disciplinary exclusion (Munn at al 2000) had both identified issues to do with processes of school exclusion and inclusion. Both had recognised that how schools respond to the behaviour of their pupils depends on how school staff construct and make sense of the pupils' actions. It was also well documented that disciplinary exclusion is connected to the broader social exclusion of particular groups of pupils, in relation to class and ethnicity (Booth 1996). In England OFSTED had identified the disproportionate exclusion from school of Gypsies and Travellers.