New research highlights Irish Traveller experiences of racialised inequalities in education

• Urgent action is needed to address persistent barriers facing Traveller students in Irish schools, a new report finds.
• Discrimination, exclusion and inequalities remain embedded within the education system in Ireland.
• The report makes recommendations for policy-makers, schools and the wider education system to tackle barriers faced by Irish Travellers.

A major new report reveals the lived experiences of Irish Travellers facing racialised inequalities in education and calls for urgent action to tackle the systemic barriers that continue to limit participation, progression and success for Traveller students.

The report explores how discrimination, exclusion and structural inequality remain embedded within the Irish education system, despite policy and legislative change. It finds that Traveller pupils continue to face significant obstacles throughout their education journey, with early post-primary school identified as a particularly vulnerable and formative period.

The research was led by the School of Education at University College Cork (UCC) and the Cork Traveller Education Unit. It was launched by Senator Eileen Flynn as part of a Traveller Living History event, hosted by Access UCC. 

Educational inequality continues to exclude Traveller learners

The Irish Traveller community is a recognised ethnic minority with a rich and unique cultural heritage. Yet Travellers remain one of the most marginalised groups within Irish education, with disproportionately high dropout rates by the middle years of post-primary school.

The report highlights the stark scale of educational inequality facing Travellers. National statistics show that 68% of Traveller children attend early childhood education, compared with 95% of the wider population, while only 27% of young Travellers complete at least upper-secondary education, compared with 97% of the wider population. Participation in higher education remains critically low, with less than 1% of Travellers in third-level education and only 167 adult Travellers reported as holding a third-level qualification.

Factors driving disproportionately high dropout rates

Drawing on the experiences of Traveller young people, their families and Traveller education workers, the study highlights first-hand insight into how racism and discrimination are experienced in everyday school life, and how educational inequalities continue to be reproduced.

The research highlights a range of contributing factors, including long-standing barriers in school access and admissions. While legislation has evolved, the prominence of legacy rules and practices within some admissions policies continue to negatively affect Traveller students’ opportunities to attend certain post-primary schools.

Lead researcher Professor Nicola Ingram, Head of UCC School of Education, said: “This report provides insight into how Traveller young people are navigating the everyday realities of post-primary school life. For too many, school is experienced as a hostile place of hurt and pain, marked by negative interactions and exclusionary practices. Our research finds that ethnic segregation and restrictions on social connection can deepen feelings of isolation, loneliness and disengagement from education.”

Key findings in the report - Traveller Transitions: Racialised Inequalities in Education - include:

• Young people find the loss of tailored supports from primary to post primary school extremely difficult.
• Segregation is a feature of schooling for Traveller young people and a significant factor in thinking about school leaving.
• Anti-Traveller Racism is not always experienced as overt; it happens through everyday micro-aggressions.
• Relationships between Traveller young people and school staff are crucial for fostering an anti-racist approach to education but most Traveller young people in this study reported negative relationships with teachers.

Anne Burke, chairperson of the Cork Traveller Education Unit, said: “This report makes clear that the barriers facing Traveller students are part of deeper structural inequalities that require urgent attention. Education should be a place of opportunity, dignity and belonging for every child and young person. Listening to Traveller voices is essential if lasting change is to be achieved.”

The report makes recommendations for policy-makers, schools and the wider education system. These include partnership with Traveller organisations to embed anti-racist school governance, stronger supports for students moving from primary to post-primary school, monitoring to prevent ethnic segregation in school practices, and mandatory staff education on the experiences of Traveller young people and anti-Traveller racism.

View the report here.