DPR News
Women from the Traveller Community Graduate from 'life-changing' UCC course
A group of women from the Traveller Community graduated at the UCC Spring Conferring Ceremony having completed a ‘life-changing’ course designed to empower leadership in their community.
Developed in response to community need, the Level 6 and Level 7 Leadership in the Community programme was co-created by the Southern Traveller Health Network (STHN); Adult and Continuing Education (ACE), supported by Access UCC and funded by the SOAR Project. It serves as a model of innovative practice in creating an inclusive learning environment that enables Traveller participation in higher education.
Anne Burke of the Southern Traveller Health Network said the course will be life changing for those who took part.
“We need people within the community to show leadership, and this empowers them to do that. This course will change lives. The rate of second level education among Travellers is atrocious, so to have these women avail of third level education is life-changing - not just for them but for their families and their wider communities,” she said.
Anne paid tribute to the women graduating today for juggling their daily lives with the part time course, all in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic.
“Here we have women who never benefited from education but who had the ability to go on and achieve this. It shows that people, with the right support, can achieve things.
“ACE in UCC were phenomenal to us. They let us design the course and classes, they listened to our voice and acknowledged that we are the experts on our own community. Without them, and the funding from the SOAR Project, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Pavee Beoir Leaders Traveller Women in Higher Education an evaluation conducted by the SOAR Project captured the experiences of the Traveller women.
Findings from the research identified several factors that inhibit Travellers from accessing higher education including: experiencing negative practices such as segregation in the education system previously, fear of racism and discrimination, lower literacy and digital skills associated with early school leaving, homelessness and poverty and the lack of recognition of Traveller culture in the education system.
The collaborative efforts of the STHN, ACE, Access UCC and the SOAR Project facilitated the development of a safe and supportive learning environment. All staff participated in Traveller Cultural Awareness Training in advance of the programme, culturally appropriate assessment methods were adopted, participants engaged in pre-development preparatory programmes through the STHN and their local Traveller projects provided additional study support throughout the programme. Course fees were funded by the SOAR Project and participants were supported to avail of the part-time Student Assistance Fund to offset additional participation costs.
SOAR Project Co-Ordinator Sheila McGovern said: “This evaluation report highlights the importance of working in partnership with the Traveller Community in programme design and delivery to enable greater participation.”
The SOAR Project is an inter-institutional collaboration on Access it brings together IT Carlow, MTU Cork & Kerry, WIT, and project lead UCC together with community partners to devise and deliver strategies to increase access to higher education for those currently under-represented. Funded under the Programme for Access to Higher Education PATH (Strand 3) the project is operationalised through five different work streams one of which is Travellers In Education.
The evaluation report Pavee Beoir Leaders Traveller Women in Higher Education is available at https://www.soarforaccess.ie/evaluation-report-pavee-beoir-leaders-traveller-women-in-higher-education/
For more on this story contact:
Sheila McGovern, SOAR Project Co-Ordinator s.mcgovern@ucc.ie, www.soarforaccess.ie