‘Pavee Leaders’ – enablers and inhibitors to accessing higher education for Irish Travellers

ABSTRACT

Historically, Irish Travellers have experienced social exclusion and marked educational disadvantage. Less than 1% of Travellers are documented as being in third-level education, with only 167 adult Travellers reported as holding a third-level qualification (0.5%). This low rate of participation has been targeted by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH). The PATH programme (Strand 3) funded partnership initiatives between higher education institutes in regional clusters. The SOAR partnership initiative in the South Cluster developed a Travellers in Education workstream which delivered three key initiatives: (1) two Leadership in the Community courses delivered at University College Cork (UCC); (2) a Mentoring in Education course delivered at Munster Technological University (MTU) Kerry Campus and (3) a Traveller Graduate Network (TGN) developed at Munster Technological University (MTU) Cork Campus. Two of these initiatives (1 and 2) are bespoke part-time courses for adult learners and the third is a network to support Travellers accessing full-time higher education. Drawing from evaluations of these three initiatives, this paper provides insights into Travellers’ experience of accessing and progressing through Higher Education and identifies supports and barriers.

KEYWORDS:

• Irish Travellers
• higher education
• access practice
• widening participation

Introduction

Irish Travellers in education

Irish Travellers (Mincéirs/Pavee) are an ethnic minority group indigenous to Ireland comprising less than 1 per cent of the population (CSO 2016). They are a heterogeneous group (All Ireland Traveller Health Study Team 2010) previously described as a ‘community of communities’ (Parekh Report 2000). Historically, Travellers have experienced racism, social exclusion and marked educational disadvantage in Ireland, perpetuated by practices of segregation (Boyle, Hanafin, and Flynn 2018; Burke 2009; O’Hanlon 2010). In 1970, the Educational Facilities for Children of Itinerants Report (EFCI) recommended segregated schools or classes for Traveller children (Department of Education 1970). The EFCI report continued to inform education provisions for Travellers for the next two decades. The legacy of segregation is a reality still sorely felt in the community today (Bhopal 2004). The underserving of Travellers in educational spaces is well documented in the literature (Devine and Kelly 2006; Jordan 2000; Knipe, Montgomery, and Reynolds 2005). Devine (Devine 2011) highlighted the low expectations that teachers in primary and post-primary schools had of Traveller children’s academic abilities. Irish public opinion surveys have documented the prevalence of negative perceptions that continue to be held towards Traveller learners which can exceed derogatory attitudes towards any other minority ethnic groups in Ireland (Tormey and Gleeson 2012). Enduring traumatisation arising from exclusion is understandably a deterrent to engagement with mainstream schools (Prout Quicke and Biddle 2017). Although the policy and legislative narrative has evolved over time from early government reports such as the damning Commission on Itinerancy (Ireland 1963), which was underpinned by a philosophy of forced assimilation and charity (Hourigan and Campbell 2010), more recent efforts (Biggart, O’Hare, and Connolly 2013; Kavanagh and Dupont 2021 McGinley and Keane 2022) that promote inclusion have had mixed results, both within the Traveller community and in schools themselves. As Hébert (Hébert 2013) states in his work on Canadian schools, initiatives to recognise or indeed protect individuals may not be ‘sufficient to guarantee against denigration that groups may suffer’. Processes of intergenerational trauma have been documented in other settings globally, such as in people of colour in the US (Alexander 2019) and with other nomadic communities such as Roma (EU FRA 2018). Experiences of Traveller women in education have been documented as distinct, with some Traveller parents in previous years unhappy with elements of the secondary school curriculum (such as sex education) and so girls are leaving school earlier than necessary, often to take on more responsibilities at home and with less freedom and agency than Traveller males (Sheils 2013). Age and marital status can also carry more weight in the Traveller community for women, making it difficult for young women to make their own decisions historically (Sheils 2013). Boyle, Flynn, and Hanafin (2020) report that Traveller children still experience racialised bullying. Furthermore, recent research has found that the practice of reduced timetables has been abused and used as a form of segregation and exclusion of Traveller children by schools (McGrath 2023). Most recent data indicates that attendance/retention rates for Traveller children in post-primary schools are low and only 8% of Travellers complete post-primary school (Boyle, Flynn, and Hanafin 2020; McGinley and Keane 2022). When discussing issues of non-attendance, early school-leaving and unmet literacy needs, it is important to consult the literature on low teacher expectations, bullying in school and low levels of self-efficacy in Traveller children (Connolly and Keenan 2002; Knipe, Montgomery, and Reynolds 2005). Less than 1% of Travellers are in third-level education, with only 167 self-identified adult Travellers holding a third-level qualification (0.5%) (Houses of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills 2019). This low rate of participation in the education system has been targeted specifically by three key initiatives under the SOAR Project Travellers in Education workstream. The inhibitors and enablers for the success of Travellers in the Irish education system as indicated by the initiatives developed and delivered in the SOAR Project form the focus of this article.

The SOAR project

The SOAR Project is an inter-institutional collaboration on Access. It brings together the South Cluster of higher education institutions (HEIs), i.e. Munster Technological University (MTU Cork and Kerry Campus), South East Technological University (SETU Carlow and Waterford Campus), and University College Cork (UCC). In collaboration with community partners, the project devises and implements strategies to increase access to higher education for underserved groups. The SOAR Project is funded by the Higher Education Authority Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) Strand 3 and is operationalised through five work streams: Travellers in Education; Enabling Transitions; Connecting Communities; Connecting Curriculum; 1916 Bursary Fund and Partnership for Access. Three key initiatives are operational under the Travellers in Education workstream: 1. The QQI Levels 6 & 7 Leadership in the Community courses University College Cork (UCC) 2. The launch of the Traveller Graduate Network (TGN) at Munster Technological University (MTU) Cork Campus and 3. The QQI Level 6 Mentoring in Education at Munster Technological University (MTU) Kerry Campus.

Travellers in education SOAR project funded initiatives.

Leadership in the community (University College Cork)

The White Paper on Adult Education (Government of Ireland 2000) highlighted the significant role community-based women’s groups had on reaching ‘marginalised women in disadvantaged areas’. In line with this ethos, the Southern Traveller Health Network (STHN)¹ took the initiative in delivering leadership courses for Traveller women. Working in partnership with Access UCC and the Centre for Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) in UCC, the STHN sought to develop a leadership programme that would reflect the needs and interests of Travellers. The Leadership in the Community course was a one-year part-time QQI (QQI is the state agency responsible for the external quality assurance of further and higher education and training in Ireland). Level 6 course delivered during the 2019/20 academic year. The course was held on two consecutive mornings a week and learners also attended an additional study morning in their local Traveller organisations. The course was divided into four modules: Social Analysis of Community, Principles and Practices of Community Work, History and Theory of Community Development, and Group Work Skills. Twenty-two women completed the Level 6 course.

Mentoring in education (MTU Kerry Campus)

Ongoing consultation by the Traveller Access Practitioner at MTU Kerry Campus, with the Traveller community in Tralee (the town where the campus is located), indicated that peer mentorship within primary and post-primary schools could make a positive contribution to the educational experience of Traveller children. This prompted the development of the QQI Level 6 part-time Certificate in Mentoring in Education which was informed by ongoing consultation with the Traveller community to ensure that the course content met the needs of the community. Key topics identified included: access routes to higher education outside of the Leaving Certificate (The Leaving Certificate Examination is the final exam of the Irish secondary school system and the university matriculation examination in Ireland); information on available financial supports; complaints procedures within various educational contexts; governance structures such as the schools board of management etc. Based on these insights from the Traveller community two modules addressing ‘The Irish Education System’ and ‘Mentoring in Education’ were developed. The latter placed an emphasis on the learners designing their own learning through imagining relevant roleplay scenarios, where communication skills could be practised and learned to support the acquisition of mentorship skills. Thirteen women completed the course.

Traveller graduate network (MTU Cork Campus)

The Traveller Graduate Network (TGN) was initially established in 2019 and arose from research undertaken by the founding member of the TGN with Traveller parents in 2016. The educational experience of ridicule, loneliness and exclusion was widely reported. The TGN is a peer-to-peer network of graduates, professionals and changemakers from within the Traveller community who seek to promote education and employment progression among their peers and younger generations of Travellers. The TGN has clear ambitions to support and orientate Traveller learners towards higher-level education through liaising with post-primary schools, providing support and encouragement in the higher education space for Travellers and continuing this support post-graduation, promoting inclusive workplace environments. The TGN’s core belief is that Travellers can fulfil their potential and continue with their education if the right supports are put in place both within and outside the community. The TGN enables Travellers who have already experienced the higher education system to help, mentor, support and advise other Travellers, and their families, to progress to further or higher education.

Justification for research

The purpose of this article is to provide a critical synopsis of research findings arising from evaluative research conducted on each of these three focused initiatives between 2020 and 2022. It distils key learning about enabling and inhibiting factors that shape Traveller access, engagement and progression within the Irish education system.

Materials and methods

Five core principles of ethics as set out by the Social and Ethical Research Committee (SREC) underpinned the research process: anonymity; confidentiality; the safety of participants; informed consent and freedom to withdraw. All research was framed by feminist ethics of care to inform ways of responding to and understanding groups (Thompson 1992; Tronto 1993). Every effort was made to uphold a strong ethical obligation to the participants (Rizvi 2019) and a commitment to social justice. In all three processes of evaluation, a qualitative approach was taken in order to allow the Traveller participant’s stories to emerge in their own voices. Verbal and written informed consent were obtained from all research participants. With the exception of research participants who took part in the evaluation of the Traveller Graduate Network, most research participants were women, which is important given the distinct challenges faced by Traveller women in education (Sheils 2013). Participation in the research was voluntary and programme participants self-selected to be involved. The high numbers of research engagement indicate an eagerness within the Traveller community to contribute their experiences to the wider debate and practice around educational access.

For the evaluation of the Leadership in the Community (Cummins et al. 2020), two phases of focus groups with twelve Traveller women were conducted at the Traveller Visibility Group (TVG) premises in Cork City in February and March 2020. A further semi-structured interview was conducted with one of the participants whose experience of growing up during practices of segregation resulting from the Commission on Itineracies report during the late 1960s, offered a unique perspective. An additional eight interviews with education and community stakeholders also took place. These interviews lasted between forty-five to sixty minutes in duration and were conducted either in UCC, TVG or online. All data collection was done by the lead researcher of the SOAR Project at that time, Dr Annie Cummins.

For the evaluation (Brennan et al. 2022) of the Traveller Graduate Network (TGN), data was collected in two phases between December 2020 and June 2021. Two focus groups of approximately sixty minutes’ duration each were conducted. One focus group was held with founding members of the TGN. The second focus group was held with Access Practitioners from the South Cluster institutes of higher education, namely Munster Technological University Cork and Kerry campuses and SETU Waterford and Carlow Campuses. A further seven interviews of forty-five to sixty minutes duration with Traveller students studying for degrees were conducted. Focus groups and interviews were conducted and recorded using the Microsoft Teams online platform according to COVID-19 guidelines by the current lead researcher for The SOAR Project, Dr Rebekah Brennan and research assistant, Aoife Horgan.

For the evaluation of the Certificate in Mentoring in Education (Brennan et al. 2024) at MTU Kerry Campus, data was collected in two phases between October 2021 and November 2022. Three face-to-face focus group interviews of sixty to ninety minutes in duration were conducted with thirteen participants from the Certificate in Mentoring in Education. Five qualitative semi-structured online interviews of forty-five to sixty minutes in duration were conducted with four professionals involved with the Certificate in Mentoring in Education. Interviews were recorded using the Microsoft Teams platform, apart from one interview which was conducted face-to-face on campus and audio recorded. All focus groups and interviews from this evaluation workstream were conducted by Dr Rebekah Brennan, with research assistant Aoife Horgan present for two of the three focus groups.

Audio and visual recordings arising from all three evaluations were transcribed verbatim by a UCC-sourced transcriber who had signed a confidentiality agreement. The data was thematically coded using NVIVO 12, a qualitative data management software programme. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and organise the findings of the research. Drafts were reviewed by senior members of the SOAR Project research team Professor Máire Leane, Dr Fiachra Súilleabháin and Sheila McGovern, project co-ordinator (Table 1).

Table 1. Evaluation methods and participants.

Name of Programme	Evaluation Method	No. of Research Participants
Leadership in the Community Certificate (UCC)	Two focus groups (programme participants). One semi structured interview (programme participant). Eight semi structured interviews (professionals).	22
Mentoring in Education Certificate (MTU Kerry Campus)	Three focus groups (programme participants) Five semi structured interviews.	18
Traveller Graduate Network (TGN) (MTU Cork)	Two focus groups (professionals – TGN founding members and Traveller Access Practitioners) Seven semi structured interviews (Traveller students)	16

Results

Inhibiting factors to access and participation.

The findings from this research identified a number of factors that cause significant concern for Travellers accessing higher education as adult learners. These factors include experiences of racism and discrimination, gender norms and expectations, and lack of academic capital (Braun and Clarke 2006).

Experiences of discrimination

Villani and Barry (Villani and Barry 2021) use the word ‘traumatic’ to describe Traveller children’s experiences in primary and post-primary school. A very powerful barrier for Travellers in accessing higher education is the longstanding poor relationship between educational structures and the Traveller community. In this research, it was found that the way the participants and their children were treated within the school system inhibited trust and a sense of belonging in education settings. The fallout from these experiences clearly creates an emotional barrier for Travellers who access higher education and re-enter a classroom environment. Across the three evaluations, the stories of Travellers’ experiences in school are harrowing, as these illustrative quotes demonstrate:

… we were physically made go into the bathroom and having strangers … nuns washing you … . I used to cringe inside the bath with two other 12-year-olds (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group).

… every day was hell going into secondary school … You were stigmatised … Like there could be 50 people within the school that you knew –– but they turned their head from you (Quote from Mentoring in Education focus group).

Reasons for Travellers’ heightened sense of exclusion are likely ‘multifaceted and complex’; prejudice and racism play a part (Biggart, O’Hare, and Connolly 2013). Research by Bhopal (Bhopal 2004; Bhopal 2011) and Rose and Shevlin (Rose and Shevlin 2004) found that Travellers’ experiences of racism, bullying and exclusion by peers contributed to their sense of difference from the settled community. The following example was shared during a focus group and demonstrates the damaging impact of name-calling:

… none of us had a very good experience of the education system. Like we would have experienced a lot of racism like. I remember my first experience where maybe being in like 1st class, I had a settled girl tell me she couldn’t play with me, she wasn’t to play with dirty [racial slur]. And, from then on, I just knew that I was different, and I knew that I was looked at as inferior. (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

Hate-filled terms are what Ahmed (Ahmed 2014) refers to as ‘sticky words’, which ‘assign the other with meaning in an economy of difference’ (Ahmed 2014). Expressions of hate through verbal violence can have real or immediate effects and as the woman quoted above notes, ‘I knew that I was looked at as inferior’.

It is of note that when women in the UCC Leadership in the Community course were asked why they left school early, they cited experiences of not fitting in or the accumulated effects of teachers’ low expectations, rather than a disinterest in schooling or learning. Numerous examples were shared in this research that illustrated the inadequacies of the education system that motivated early school rejection:

At one stage I was taken out of maths to go into a special class with Travellers and we were given percussion instruments that didn’t make noise. Now I still can’t see how that would help anyone out. Percussion instruments, so you shook um and they didn’t make noise, so you shook um and you made silent music. (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

[In resource class] we were all given out pieces of paper and this is your menu, now order off the menu, so we thought we were being brought for lunch or something. But she told us when we were finished all about our manners and basically, it was an [etiquette] lesson like, put our elbows on the table and forks and knives. We didn’t go to school to be taught table manners, that’s something you take from home. (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

Many of the women shared stories of how they were segregated from the rest of the class due to teachers’ low expectations of their ability and capability. ‘I was told in school that I would never go anywhere, that I’d never make nothing of my life’ recalled one participant. It was apparent from the discussion that the women felt like they did not belong within the school community or were ‘like a fish out of water’ as one woman claimed. Feeling out of place or not belonging within the education system contributed to the women leaving the system during the early stages of secondary school. One woman stated, ‘I went back after my confirmation and I went into 1st year and I stayed in 1st year for about 3 weeks. It’s not that I didn’t like [school], it’s just that [I] didn’t fit in’ (Quote from focus group). According to Biggart et al. (Biggart, O’Hare, and Connolly 2013), Traveller children have a significantly lower sense of belonging to the school community than other ethnic groups and feel most excluded. Moreover, most teachers have predominantly consisted of ‘white females of upper middle class’ (O’Brien 2018) originating from the settled community. This significantly contributes to the sense of exclusion experienced by Traveller children in school, as they lack representation in the teaching profession. Another study (O’Brien 2009) which utilized perspectives from Critical Race Theory, gathered the opinions of a group of educators in Ireland regarding the presence of institutional racism within the Irish post-primary education system. The investigation also explored the degree to which anti-racism principles are integrated into teacher education programs. The results indicate a necessity for thorough involvement with anti-racism concerns in the training of aspiring teachers and highlight the challenges associated with achieving this. Unsurprisingly, the mental health status of many Travellers is fragile, with high rates of low self-worth documented in the literature (Villani and Barry 2021). One participant explains poignantly how feelings of self-doubt impacted his life course:

Like you hear of Travellers now in college and stuff like that. Back then, you never heard that. It was like you have two ways to go: you can either work for nothing or you can turn to crime. The only opportunity I had was crime and that is the road that I went. I think the other one was doubts – like am I worth being here? (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

Research has found that experiences of racism cut across all areas of Traveller children’s lives (Kilkelly et al. 2004). Therefore, fears around safety shape Travellers’ engagement with the education system (Bhopal 2004). As Travellers progress further in the education system, the fear of leaving the safety net of the community becomes a concern. As one woman stated, ‘if I was in [name of HEI] and was just in a group with settled people, I wouldn’t call to their homes or ring them’ (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group).

Travellers who are determined to remain in or return to education can sometimes face expressions of fear and doubt within their family nucleus. Some 55% of Travellers have ended their formal education by the age of fifteen (Houses of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills 2019). This norm can impact expectations in families for their children’s educational pathways:

My dad told me that, I remember when I was in second year, he said, ‘look boy you just have to make it to third year and then after that do what you want. (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

I wouldn’t say negative but my grandfather would be very traditional so he would be like ‘as soon as you have done your Leaving Cert come over to me and we will work’. (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

While comments from family and friends were sometimes less than supportive, two participants also reported that personnel within school settings also lacked confidence in the potential and capabilities of Traveller children to progress:

I actually went to a guidance counsellor in [PLC COURSE] and I just spoke about what I wanted to do … she was like ‘well, personally, I think you are wasting your time even applying because I don’t think you will be accepted’ and I was like … ‘I am confused … I get the highest grades in my class – surely I will be accepted?’ and she was like ‘there are only 30 places, and they are not going to take you on’. I was like ‘right’ and ‘that is weird’. How are you going to say that someone isn’t going to get something when you don’t even know what their marks are … (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

The career guidance was absolutely useless in my school. He just told me ‘Join the army’ – that was about all I got from him. (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

As previously described, the lived experience of discrimination within the educational system in Ireland was a challenge for all learners across three research projects to overcome when re-entering a classroom:

… when we first came, everyone was very, very nervous. We didn’t know what to expect, we didn’t know what was ahead of us. (Quote from Mentoring in Education focus group)

I had to go out to the whole community to advertise it. I had to go door to door, I had to have leaflets, I made phone calls – I did everything that you possibly could – … because people had such bad experience in education. (Quote from Mentoring in Education interview - professional)

Although Travellers’ ethnic status was formally recognised in 2017, many Travellers are ‘unwilling to declare their ethnic identity to schools for fear of being excluded or discriminated against’ (Bhopal and Myers 2009). As Ahmed (Ahmed 2014) points out, ‘The hated body becomes hated, not just for the one who hates, but for the one who is hated’. There is no accurate data on the numbers of Travellers who have gone through the education system without revealing their ethnic status, but the following story suggests that Travellers are aware of the ‘other’ status from a very young age and some attempt to conceal their identity for fear of being labelled or stigmatised.

But still, children are ashamed. I think my little boy is very very kind of paranoid. Recently, he had a holy communion mass and was like, ‘I don’t think you need to go’, and I was kinda wondering what was the story. So, I quizzed him about it and I didn’t go directly, I kinda beat around the bush with him and I got the impression that some of the children in his class didn’t know he was a Traveller and he was afraid in case we were seen and they realised he was a Traveller. (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

Stigma, according to Goffman (Goffman 1963), is a discrediting attribute that marks the person as dangerous, incomplete or ‘tainted’. The misrecognition of Traveller culture is all too apparent, and the affects and effects of hate circulate in and around the body (Ahmed 2014). Ahmed (Ahmed 2014) describes the lived experience of shame as an ‘intense and painful sensation that is bound up with how the self feels about itself’. Previous experience of social exclusion, maldistribution of resources and disempowerment in the education system due to cultural misrecognition, combined with factors associated with early school leaving, contribute to the experience of shame. According to Ahmed (Ahmed 2014), the experience of shame is attributed to one’s own actions rather than structural inequalities. Thus, shame is hidden and internalised in the individual, who fears being exposed.

Participants felt that the longstanding discrimination inflicted upon the Traveller community in Irish secondary schools was still an issue of concern and that Traveller children and parents continued to need support. One example given was the misuse of reduced timetables for vulnerable cohorts of children, where a child attends school for less time than their peers:

I have a 14-year-old daughter and she will be doing her Junior Certificate next year. In recent years, I have seen some of my family members and my daughter being mistreated by the education system especially with reduced timetables for Traveller children in secondary schools. Recently, I had to go into the school as my daughter was put on a reduced timetable without my knowledge. (Quote from Leadership in the Community)

Recent research (Brennan and Browne 2019) on reduced timetables found that the Irish State ‘failed to exercise its authority to prevent an abuse of power by many schools’. In 2019, Traveller organisation Pavee Point made a Submission to the Joint Committee on Education and Skills on the use of reduced timetables. This submission highlighted the lack of data on the extent of the use of reduced timetables and recommended that this be addressed due to the negative impact of the practice on Traveller children’s engagement with schools.

Tokenistic approaches to positive discrimination

Many see the benefits of positive discrimination (McMillan-Capehart, Grubb, and Herdman 2009) but some of its intended beneficiaries, perceive it as fulfilling quotas rather than giving more equitable recognition of candidates’ merits (McMillan-Capehart, Grubb, and Herdman 2009). The following quotes from participants in this research suggest that examples of positive discrimination were sometimes experienced as negative:

I was going to [NAME OF DEGREE PROGRAMME] – but they wanted me to go there because they reserve a place for a Traveller, and I was like ‘I don’t want to get in here because I am a Traveller, I want to get in here on my own merit’. To me, that was another part of ‘Oh, yeah, here is a poster boy – we will stick you up and … ’ and I was like ‘no, I don’t want that’ … (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

… the higher people in society say, ‘oh, I am going to invite [NAME] to this conference and have her there because she is a Traveller and she is going to be there for funding’ but – it is like being asked to a party but not being asked to dance … when it comes to tea or coffee, I would be left standing by myself – there would be no-one. (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

Gender norms and expectations

Most research participants across the three evaluations were women. Many stakeholders pointed out that gender roles within Traveller culture placed significant constraints on Traveller women’s educational progression. Within Traveller culture, there are significant gender-based inequalities and constraints placed on girls and women (Helleiner 2007). Marriage is considered an important marker of progression from childhood to adulthood and traditionally, a prerequisite for economic survival (Helleiner 2007). Early marriage may be a contributing factor in Traveller girls’ early school leaving but does not fully capture the gendered constraints of accessing higher education as adult learners. Traveller women undertake most domestic responsibilities and care work, which may impact their capability to access higher education:

The vast majority of women here who went … as a Traveller we couldn’t come home and sit down and relax. We had to be up, we had to cook our dinner, feed our children, we had to get them prepared for school, help them with any bit of homework that we could help them with at the time. The whole cycle started again at 6 and 7 o’clock the following morning. (Quote from Mentoring in Education focus group)

Traveller men are also subject to strict gender norms (Hodgins and Fox 2014) which may impact engagement in higher education. When asked if they thought the UCC Leadership in the Community course should be opened to Traveller men, most women felt that it would not appeal to the interests of Traveller men. According to research participants, regardless of personal interests, cultural norms dictate that gendered relations tend to be segregated (Helleiner 2007).

Literacy and digital skills

Low literacy, a factor in early school leaving (Morgan 1998), is common amongst the Traveller community (Department of Education and Science 2006) and can be a tremendous source of shame (Parikh et al. 1996), as illustrated by the following participant quote:

And even the elderly, they always kind of say, ‘You know I’m sorry I never learnt how to read and write’. And it’s very sad and very embarrassing also when they go to the Post Office and they’re asked to sign their name, now it’s a computer but like all they can do is an X. You know it’s very downgrading for them because they know that people behind them can sense that. (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

All professional stakeholders from the MTU Kerry Campus Mentoring in Education and the UCC Leadership in the Community courses recognised that low literacy and digital skills would affect the women’s academic experience and that there would be a high need for continuous academic support throughout the course. Therefore, additional study sessions were integrated within the delivery of both courses to support the women’s engagement and progression. Travellers are not a homogenous group and therefore, some of the women needed more support than others. Some of the women required literacy support with ‘putting words together for them to make sense … , using commas and full stops. To know when to use a capital letter’ (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group), others needed practical support to get their assignments typed and put on Canvas (an online learning platform). Even with access to computers or laptops, many of the women continued to rely on support staff to assist them with completing their assignments.

Lack of academic capital

Schools operate on policies and procedures centred on expectations around what it means to be a learner (Semper and Blasco 2018). Dewey (Dewey 1938) described academic capital as the ‘structuring of time, school traditions and beliefs, rules of conduct, assessment procedures, interaction, socialization routines, behaviour incentives and sanctions, teachers’ interpretation and delivery of the curriculum and learners’ characteristics and response to learning’. For first-generation learners, navigating the hidden curriculum can be particularly difficult as it in part depends on ‘knowing the ropes’ (Whitty, Hayton, and Tang 2015). In addition to the literacy and digital skills required for third-level education, the women attending the Certificate in Leadership in the Community at UCC struggled at the beginning of the course with issues related to academic capital.

Most of the Traveller learners had been at post-primary school for a limited time and many years ago and they had limited familiarity with academic practices around timekeeping and classroom etiquette.

… number one, time-keeping – none of us are used to it. Just to appear on time when the class started, to learn that when they are entering the room that, if you are coming in at half past ten because of an appointment, just sit down – you don’t have to interrupt all of us to tell us about your appointment and then we all lose concentration again. (Quote from Mentoring in Education focus group)

I can remember the first morning (the learners) were coming in – in dribs and drabs – and then it was coffee time and I let them off but sure I didn’t get them back, you know, so I had to go to the canteen to bring them back. (Quote from Mentoring in Education interview - professional)

At times, learners from diverse backgrounds experience conflicting messages from their home culture and the institution’s culture (Jin and Ball 2019; Reay, Crozier, and Clayton 2009). This was evidenced in the research by an account of the challenges that some participants experienced in reconciling cultural responsibilities to the family at the time of a funeral and academic expectations related to their programme of study. There are rituals surrounding death that are very important to the Traveller community. Traveller families are a close-knit group, extending across the country. It is common for Traveller families to travel long distances to attend and pay respect to members of their community for reasons of illness and death vigils, funerals, and anniversaries (Brack and Monaghan 2007):

So, as you know in the Traveller community so many of them are related to each other. If there is a serious illness, a bereavement, half the class – if not three-quarters of the class – would be directly affected by that – and then they may be absence as a result, do you know. Often it would be illness, caring responsibilities or funerals that would impact on attendance. (Quote from Mentoring in Education interview - professional)

The findings above indicate that key inhibitors to access and participation in higher education for Travellers include intergenerational trauma; issues of gender; literacy and digital skills and academic capital. These findings are consistent with previous research which also highlights structural inhibitors to educational access and success (Devine 2011; Devine and Kelly 2006; Jordan 2000 Knipe, Montgomery, and Reynolds 2005;).

Enablers of engagement and participation

Supporting Travellers’ access to higher education requires long-term commitment and a strong, trusting relationship between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and community partners as identified in the transformational goals of the SOAR Project. Financial support, recognition of Traveller culture and peer mentoring were identified as key factors for accessing and progressing in Higher Education.

Financial support

Financial support was vital to removing barriers that would have hindered the participants’ engagement in higher education. As part-time students, the participants were not entitled to SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) is Ireland’s national awarding authority for further and higher education grants) fee or maintenance grants, and therefore the financial cost of returning to education would have excluded most participants. The SOAR Project, funded student fees and some course materials and community Traveller Organisations subsidised maintenance grants. For many of the Traveller women on the courses, gaining family support, particularly from husbands, was essential:

The husbands would have been a bit cagey about why you are doing [the course].

(Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

Access to a maintenance grant gave the women leverage to pursue interests outside of their expected role.

Cultural relevance in curriculum and educational practices

Traveller culture is a source of great pride for the participants from the UCC Leadership in the Community and MTU Mentoring in Education courses, and they identified the cultural relevance of these courses as a key factor underpinning their successful completion them. Participants from the Mentoring in Education course underscored strongly the need for a course specific to Traveller peer-to-peer mentoring in education to continue. Reasons for this were centred on Traveller parents’ exclusion from conversations around key educational issues, a need for advocacy for Traveller children in the education system and a desire for meaningful change within the relationship between the education system and the Traveller community in Ireland:

I want stuff to change … I don’t want my grandchildren to go through what I went through, what the previous generation went through and what my own children went through. There needs to be encouragement – and a lot of encouragement – and self-confidence. There needs to be a lot done within schools. It is not all about just reading and writing. (Quote from Mentoring in Education focus group)

A strong emphasis was placed by participants in this research on the retention of Traveller culture and the adaptation of the education system to Traveller needs:

[My mother] says she didn’t go to school, but she met the scholars in her home. Just because she can’t read and write doesn’t mean that she is less intelligent than I am. I am looking at designing specific modules for the Traveller community that can be done by video, can it be accredited by video, can it be done through a piece of art, can it be done by a talk. Just because my mam can’t read and write doesn’t mean that she is not intelligent. She could be anything – she is the most intelligent person and inspirational person I know. That needs to be looked at too because you are not going to find ten out of ten Travelling women that can read and write. (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

The omission of Travellers’ history and culture from Irish curricula perpetuates cultural racism, reinforcing unequal power dynamics between members of the settled and Traveller communities (Kavanagh and Dupont 2021). The Irish education system has long exhibited institutional racism through the neglect and misrepresentation of cultural and curricular aspects Successive versions of Irish curricula and educational resources have upheld the voices and perspectives of the dominant settled community while marginalizing and obscuring Traveller knowledge, perspectives, and histories, as noted by McGaughey (McGaughey 2011). In Nieto’s (Nieto 2004) words, curricula ‘lets students know whether the knowledge they and their communities value has prestige within the educational establishment’ (p.102). Participants from the Traveller Graduate Network spoke warmly about the positive impact of finding that Traveller culture was included in courses that they studied. This created a more welcoming atmosphere, and encouraged participants to continue with their course:

… even doing this college course there is a lot about Travellers, which is actually nice. Even in our Sociology class and all that – they speak about Travellers a lot – which is grand. I never realised they were going to speak about (us) that much. (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

Lecturing staff at MTU Kerry Campus spoke about the experience of teaching the Certificate in Mentoring in Education as having a profound impact on their own worldview and on the breaking down of long-held cultural beliefs:

… for me personally I learned just so much about Travellers. I went in with preconceived notions – not that I was racist or anything, but I had a limited experience of Travellers in my life. I did have a few Travellers in my school in primary and they were settled travellers and were lovely people, but I had nothing else to go on, whereas now I have learned so much about the Traveller culture and the Traveller community, the importance of connection in that community. (Quote from Mentoring in Education interview – professional)

Helpful lecturers and Access Practitioners were also described as being motivators to continue in higher education. Participants from MTU Kerry Campus gave very positive feedback on the support given by Access Practitioners and teaching staff and acknowledged the person-centred approach characterised by adaptability and flexibility which was demonstrated by staff in accommodating learning needs.

I think the individuals - the personal relationships – are actually probably first and foremost the most important thing really. (Quote from Mentoring in Education interview – professional)

Partnership approaches to facilitate belonging and scaffold learning

Peer mentoring from experienced Traveller students and graduates, who act as role models and supports to other Travellers considering or engaging in higher education, is a key method employed by the Traveller Graduate Network (TGN) to scaffold Traveller success. This peer-to-peer modelling is a source of encouragement and support for Traveller students experiencing doubts about their suitability or capability for progression to higher education:

I remember [MEMBER OF TGN] came up to the school and brought us out to [NAME OF COLLEGE] and even at the end I wasn’t signing up for it until she convinced me to. Not even convinced me, she just said you don’t even have to do it if you get it, but it is just to chance it. I don’t think it would have worked other than that – if that makes sense? I don’t think personally, by just the guidance counsellor or the school, I would have gone on to do something else. I think it was just that extra push. (Quote from Traveller Graduate Network interview)

Professionals on the MTU Kerry Campus Mentoring in Education also highlighted the importance of promoting greater visibility of Traveller students on higher education campuses and greater engagement of Traveller students with campus activities. One professional expressed disappointment that participants in the MTU Kerry Campus Mentoring in Education course had limited engagement in campus activities:

… we are such a small college … I expected us to stand out. Well, I would have liked it for the women. To feel that people know we are students … there is so much negative energy around us that I think the positive side got overlooked. Now it is early days – I am hoping to change all that. (Quote from Mentoring in Education interview – professional)

Challenges in facilitating and scaffolding Traveller engagement on campus were experienced in the UCC Leadership in the Community courses. Initially, some of the participants in the Leadership in the Community course felt that UCC was a ‘foreign place’ and not for them, however for the most part, the women spoke positively of their experience of attending college on the UCC campus:

It was lovely to experience it, it felt good, it made me feel good. The feeling is good when you walk around it, that you can be there too. (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

Practical challenges around finding parking on the UCC campus and the additional travel time for women who had to pick up children after class informed a decision to move the course to the TVG premises in Cork City after a few weeks. This decision was made through discussion between all stakeholders who concluded that scaffolding learning through the provision of a venue more aligned with the practical needs of Traveller students, was more important than promoting the visibility of Travellers on the university campus.

Experiences of personal empowerment

Many research participants discussed how their participation in the initiatives evaluated had a transformative effect on their everyday lives. Participants in the Certificate in Mentoring in Education at MTU Kerry Campus highlighted the opportunity that participation in the course provided for valuable social engagement. The Traveller population reports rates of poor mental health which are up to two and a half times greater than those of the non-nomadic majority (McGorrian et al. 2013; Parry et al. 2004). This is linked to the inequalities experienced by Travellers across health and social domains including educational attainment (Brady and Keogh 2016):

Some of my friends suffer from depression so I never wanted to end up like that. I wanted to actually get out and do something. (Quote from Mentoring in Education focus group)

Critically reflecting and understanding the structural inequalities that had contributed to their marginalisation also had a transformative effect on the participants’ confidence and their ability to stand up against injustices:

Everybody has used their learning in their home life and struggles going on for them, so I think it was empowering in some kind of a way. (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

I suppose confidence would be a big thing of ours because, being a Traveller, people always doubted us so therefore you doubt yourself. Now you won’t doubt yourself because you know what you are saying is right and you will fight it. Like everyone on this course now, if they had to go and approach the principal or committee members, they know exactly what to do, they wouldn’t have to get upset, they wouldn’t have to raise their voice – they would know because they were after learning it. (Quotes from Mentoring in Education focus group)

Significantly, the ‘trickle-down effect’, a phenomenon where educational progress is role-played by one family member and adapted by others in the family nucleus, was evidenced when learners discussed how their families and children reacted to their taking part in the Certificate in Mentoring in Education at MTU Kerry Campus:

Last year my daughter was saying to me ‘Mummy, I am 16 and I am leaving school’ – because she is not an academic – she is more hands on – and she knew what she wanted to go and do … now that I am after coming back here and when she went back to school in September - she changed her mind! (Quote from Mentoring in Education focus group)

Similarly, many of the women who attended the UCC Leadership in the Community course believed their engagement in the course was having a positive effect on their children’s engagement in school and their future aspirations:

I think you bringing back what you have learnt, it helps you with your children then as well. You know if they see you going out in the morning, they’re saying if mommy can do it … why can’t I do it? (Quote from Leadership in the Community focus group)

Discussion

The ‘othering’ of Travellers is underpinned by anti-Traveller racism, which has served to condemn Travellers to the margins of society. Travellers represent just 1% of the population and are among the most marginalised and disadvantaged people in Irish society (CSO 2016). Travellers have significantly poorer health outcomes than the general population, which worsens over the life course (All Ireland Traveller Health Study Team 2010). Unemployment rates are nearly six times higher than the national average (All Ireland Traveller Health Study Team 2010) and despite the general improvements in education in Ireland since the 1960s, the majority of Travellers leave school before completing the Junior Certificate.

The three initiatives described in this article are part of the Soar Project, Travellers in Education workstream, which seeks to widen educational participation, increase educational access and promote social inclusion for members of the Traveller community. The article provides a summary of findings arising from evaluative research conducted on three initiatives between 2020 and 2022. Two of these initiatives are bespoke part-time courses for adult learners and the third is a network to support Travellers accessing full-time higher education on courses that are not specific to the Traveller community. In doing so, it contributes to knowledge of how the Irish higher education system can accommodate and support Irish Travellers to access, navigate and successfully engage with lifelong learning. The findings are communicated through the voices of Travellers and provide first-hand, authentic user insights into what was successful about these initiatives, and how they can be improved, sustained and mainstreamed going forward.

The historical rejection experienced by Travellers within the Irish education system creates barriers for adult Traveller learners seeking to access higher education. In most cases, participants had not experienced positive educational opportunities before they came to college. Intergenerational trauma (Villani and Barry 2021) caused by exposure to racism, exclusion and demonisation in society and in media discourse, had impacted their confidence and self-worth. Literacy issues, challenges with digital skills, limited academic capital, limitations imposed by gender expectations and a sense of not belonging in higher education settings, were factors inhibiting successful engagement with higher education.

The defining characteristic of the three initiatives discussed in this article is that they were all co-created through a partnership approach between representatives of the Traveller community and Access professionals within higher education institutions. Each initiative was responding to a Traveller-identified agenda and issues deemed relevant to the community. Consulting with the priority community (in this case, Travellers) to inform access initiatives has proven vital in terms of subsequent investment and engagement from learners. Ensuring that necessary academic and wraparound supports are in place is also crucial to learner engagement, retention and progression. So too is establishing a reflexive relationship between Traveller learners and Access and academic staff in higher education institutions. This facilitates a constant process of feedback and informs iterative improvements in learning supports to scaffold success. Supports and accommodations introduced during the Leadership in the Community and Mentoring in Education courses included, changing the venue for course delivery, providing additional support around digital skills, creating flexibility around assignment format, etc. In addition, the reflexive approach embedded in the workstreams ensured that issues of concern were addressed quickly with solutions being co-developed with Traveller learners.

The deliberate exclusion of Travellers’ history and culture from Irish curricula not only perpetuates cultural racism but also fortifies deeply entrenched power imbalances between the settled and Traveller communities (Kavanagh and Dupont 2021). The Irish education system, marked by persistent institutional racism, conspicuously ignores and distorts cultural and curricular elements. With each iteration of Irish curricula and educational materials, the dominant settled community’s voices and perspectives are elevated, concurrently suppressing and concealing the rich knowledge, perspectives, and histories of the Traveller community, as emphasized by McGaughey (McGaughey 2011). As already stated (Nieto 2004), curricula serve as a powerful tool that communicates to students whether the knowledge they and their communities cherish holds esteem within the educational establishment. The testimonies from the research participants underscore the transformative impact of discovering the inclusion of Traveller culture in their courses. This inclusive approach not only fostered a more inviting environment but also served as a compelling motivation for participants to persist in their educational pursuits.

Collaboratively creating educational courses with the Traveller community is of paramount importance, as it not only acknowledges the unique perspectives, experiences, and knowledge held by the community members but also ensures a more inclusive and culturally relevant learning environment. Co-creation fosters a sense of empowerment and agency, allowing Travellers to actively contribute to the design and content of the educational program. This process goes beyond merely acknowledging diversity; it actively embraces it, promoting a richer, more nuanced understanding of the subject matter. Furthermore, co-created courses are more likely to address and dismantle systemic barriers that may exist within traditional educational frameworks, ultimately fostering a more equitable and just educational system. By involving Travellers in the course development process, educators can ensure that the content reflects the lived realities of the community members, creating a learning experience that is not only authentic but also transformative for both educators and learners alike.

The initiatives detailed in this article represent a model of best practice in access work. Sustaining and mainstreaming such initiatives, however, requires systemic policy change and commitment from government and HEIs. Travellers have long been ‘othered’ and marginalised by legislation, policy, and institutional practices which have restricted their participation in the education system. Levels of economic disadvantage within the Traveller community make engagement in higher education a particular challenge (Boyle, Flynn, and Hanafin 2020). This challenge is compounded for Travellers who are female adult learners with family responsibilities. The lack of statutory financial support for part-time students continues to marginalise this cohort of learners. It hinders their capacity to engage in the full university experience, including engagement in extracurricular activities, socialising with fellow students and use of university facilities and resources that support wellbeing and networking opportunities that provide post-graduation support with employment, etc.

The research underpinning this article highlights the importance of co-creation processes with priority groups when designing courses and initiatives to support them Pathways for access to higher education must be ‘grounded in the consent of the people’ (Nussbaum 2011). The reflexive activation approach (Ó Tuama 2016) that underpinned the partnership approach for these three initiatives, ensured that Travellers were actively involved in co-designing the structure and delivery of the UCC Leadership in the Community course and the MTU Kerry Campus Mentoring in Education course. Similarly, the Traveller Graduate Network has strong partnerships with MTU Cork Campus, parents and teachers, schools and colleges, Traveller organisations and the Department of Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science (DFHERIS). The SOAR Project has enabled HEIs to build on existing access practices, consolidate community partnerships and develop new initiatives to further a collective ambition of widening participation for access priority groups. Surfacing, articulating and disseminating elements of best practice in Access work, informs and refines the knowledge and practice base of this rapidly expanding area of professional work within HEIs.

Acknowledgements

Firstly, the authors wish to acknowledge the SOAR Project funders: Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science – Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) Strand 3. The authors also wish to acknowledge all research participants for their time and interest, without whom this research would not have been possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science – Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) Strand 3; Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science – Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) Strand 3.

Notes on contributors

R. Brennan

Rebekah Brennan is Postdoctoral Researcher on the SOAR for Access Project, University College Cork.

A. Cummins

Annie Cummins is Lecturer in the Department of Sports, Leisure and Childhood Studies at Munster Technological University, Cork.

M. Leane

Máire Leane is Professor in Social Policy, Project Director and PI of id+ Project and Co-Chair of the Board of Women's Studies at UCC.

Fiachra Ó Súilleabháin

Fiachra Ó Suilleabháin is Assistant Professor and Vice-Head of School (Strategic Data and Communication) in the School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork.

S. McGovern

Sheila McGovern is the SOAR Project Coordinator at University College Cork.

A. M. Quilligan

Annemarie Quilligan is a Masters in Social Work student at Munster Technological University, Cork.

Notes

1 The Traveller Visibility Group (TVG) in Cork, houses 2 regional groups for Travellers including the Southern Traveller Health Network and the Traveller Culture Awareness Training Programme. It did have various funding streams but is now aligned to the Traveller Health Unit, HSE South with some Childcare funding.