Traveller students being and relating to an/‘other’: identity, belonging, and inter-ethnic peer relationships in a highly diverse post-primary school

ABSTRACT

Irish Travellers have long endured racism in Ireland. In education, they have experienced significantly lower participation and academic achievement rates relative to the settled community. This paper draws on a study examining how an intercultural approach to education was implemented in one urban DEIS post-primary school with a highly diverse student population. Informed by Critical Race Theory, an in-depth qualitative case study design was implemented. Data collection involved twenty-eight semi-structured interviews with staff, Traveller students, ‘other’ minority ethnic students, and White settled Irish students. Data analysis involved several coding stages, and the development of categories.

This paper examines one category focusing on issues of identity, belonging, and relationships amongst minority ethnic groups in the school, with a particular focus on the Traveller participants. Participants’ constructions of ‘normality’ are considered with regard to how people ‘look’ and behave as well as their perceptions of student peer relationships and the lack of engagement between student groups. The findings are interrogated in the context of Critical Race, feminist, and class theories, and the prevailing discourse about educational disadvantage. The recommendations for policy, practice, and future research provided emphasise the need for critical engagement with and sensitive implementation of intercultural education in post-primary schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Travellers in education
• identity
• peer relationships
• inter-ethnic conflict
• intercultural education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) forms part of the Department of Education and Skills’ social inclusion strategy to support children and young people experiencing educational disadvantage in Ireland. Schools included in the DEIS programme receive additional supports in recognition of the proportion of their students from marginalised backgrounds (cf. DES 2005).

2 For a Table presenting information on all study participants, see Mc Ginley and Keane (2021).

3 Irish Travellers have their own language commonly known as Cant. The Cant word for settled person is ‘buffer’.

4 Slang, derogatory, term for the White working class, that originated in England.

5 A British television documentary series, broadcast on Channel 4, which claimed to explore the lives and traditions of several GRT families as family members prepared to get married. The series was heavily criticised by Traveller and other groups as reinforcing racist stereotypes in relation to the Travelling community.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Irish Research Council: [Grant Number RCS 992].

Notes on contributors

Hannagh McGinley

Dr Hannagh McGinley is an Education Officer at the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) where she is responsible for advancing the recommendations of NCCA’s Traveller Culture and History in the Curriculum: A Curriculum Audit. Her research expertise is Traveller education and intercultural approaches to education. Her roles have included post-primary school teacher, community development practitioner, casual lecturer and module coordinator. She is currently conducting research on the experiences of Irish Travellers in further and higher education.

Elaine Keane

Dr. Elaine Keane is Senior Lecturer (Sociology of Education and Research Methods) and Director of Doctoral Studies in the School of Education at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her research and publications focus on social class and ethnicity in education, diversifying the teaching profession, and constructivist grounded theory.