A report, Provision and Support for Traveller Pupils, published last week, said that while some LEAs in England were improving education access for traveller children, attendance and attainment levels remained low, and too often travellers were regarded as an 'unseen' minority ethnic group with schools failing to take account of this in developing the curriculum. One council revealed that only 29 per cent of traveller children had received some form of pre-school provision, while another said that 75 per cent of four-year-olds were enrolled in pre-school settings.
The Ofsted report was the result of a two-year survey of 11 LEAs, which evaluated their provision and support in primary and secondary schools. The survey found that in about half the LEAs the quality of traveller education support services is good.
The report said, 'The services undertake a good range of work to raise the achievement of traveller pupils, including training for schools and special initiatives, particularly to support work in literacy.' However, the average attendance rate was around 75 per cent, well below the national average and the worst attendance profile of any minority ethnic group.
While access to education among primary school-age traveller children continues to improve, the survey showed sharp differences in access rates between permanent sites and unauthorised encampments. In one county, school places were only found for 25 per cent of primary age children from unauthorised encampments. The number of secondary school-age children not registered with schools has risen to 12,000, partly the result of some traveller families opting to educate this age group at home.
The survey found that 'a minority of schools achieve considerable success in ensuring that traveller pupils affirm confidently their ethnic status'.
But it added, 'Nevertheless, there are still too many cases where traveller pupils and their parents feel insecure or are unwilling to declare their ethnic identity to schools.'
In many schools, attempts to integrate traveller pupils were 'purely incidental' and often divorced from the mainstream efforts of schools to promote race equality for all. In too many schools, traveller pupils are an 'unseen' minority ethnic group.