Professor Ian Hancock, who wrote his essay, ‘Danger! Educated Gypsy’, blew open the door to understanding what being a ‘Gypsy’ meant in today’s educational world. His paper was published the year I took my first step into high school, a decision that I didn’t take lightly and a step that many in my community will never take.
"Our negative experience of school is not isolated by geography, time, or the individual. These experiences are borne from the stigma and stereotypes that society continues to have against us."
School to a Scottish ‘Gypsy’
To understand why 50% of Gypsy/Travellers aged 16 or over have no qualifications (Scottish Government, 2018), we need to look at what a school represents to my community. School was once described to me by an older Romany man as; ‘a building to un-learn you what your people taught ye’. The man, with a bright red Dikhlo (Neckerchief) and beaming smile, continued to tell me how both his son and daughter had successful businesses of their own despite never attending formal schooling. As he showed me the pictures of his children, it was clear that they lived happy lives and I found myself unable to articulate why they would’ve been better off had they attended school.
I of course understood the opportunities and skills that school could offer, but I also understood the challenges. At primary school I had been bullied, I remember boys beating me with sticks in the playground because to them I was a ‘dirty tink’ – when I reported it, the teacher scolded me; ‘don’t be a grass – nobody likes a grass’. My brother-in-law laughed at this story when I told him, “You think that’s bad” he explained, “when I was at school the teacher would laughingly tell the other pupils to chase me and my sister out of the playground because we were ‘Gypsies who didn’t belong there’ – another time she locked me in a cupboard for the way I spoke.”
"Arguably what I learned at the fireside; those lessons in history, society and geography, were the lessons where I felt most valued."
Our negative experience of school is not isolated by geography, time, or the individual. These experiences are borne from the stigma and stereotypes that society continues to have against us. This trauma taints how school feels. It is a place where we feel we do not belong – a place designed and created to enhance the opportunities for children who don’t grow up in caravans, who don’t speak ‘Gypsy’ languages – children who stay in one place.
The system of ‘re-learning’
The attitudes which underpin these experiences have stagnated for decades. When I talk to my Grandad of the discrimination and hate he faced at my age – very little has changed.
So why has this happened? Alexis de Tocqueville explains that each new generation is a ‘new people’ who must again learn the knowledge, skills and temperament to uphold a civilised society. Formal education has always played a significant part in this ‘re-learning’, each new step into pre-school, re-instilling the standards, perceptions, and norms of the generation before. This of course includes a pre-determination of sedentarised living and excludes any normalisation of Gypsy/Traveller culture.
"An education is an experience, that experience is different for every individual. In other words… we all see different images in the flames of a fire depending on the angle we sit."
Luckily for me, education was both in the classroom and on the camp. Arguably what I learned at the fireside; those lessons in history, society and geography, were the lessons where I felt most valued.
My people gave me those lessons, a people who schools portrayed as ‘uneducated’ were my educators. They didn’t shy away from the ugly history; neither did they omit the beauty and elegance that Travellers embody in our society. Tradition-bearers such as Stanley Robertson and Belle Stewart knew of histories, landscapes and events that had never been written down, they conveyed their ancient meaning not in schoolbooks, but through their emotion in song and story.
How schools should ‘un-learn’
This experience of an education being physical, intellectual, and metaphysical – is where schools lag behind Travellers. Formal education believes that education can be given to everyone verbatim and that they will engage with it how expected – but we know this is not the case.
An education is an experience, that experience is different for every individual. In other words, our minds do not enter education tabula rasa – we all see different images in the flames of a fire depending on the angle we sit.
"But I would encourage us to go one step further, how can we embed some of the metaphysical learning experience of Traveller communities into our education system?"
Changing the system that reproduces the ingredients for a society with a bias against nomadism, should be at the forefront of all educator’s minds. Evidence from programmes like the Yellow flag campaign in Ireland, already show that by being visibly inclusive of Gypsy/Travellers in schools – we can increase Gypsy/Traveller attendance. Others, such as the Scottish Traveller Education Programme (STEP) have shown that by embracing digital technology, we can offer new opportunities for continuity of learning like never before.
But I would encourage us to go one step further, how can we embed some of the metaphysical learning experience of Traveller communities into our education system? Schools are in a position to ‘un-learn’ the temperament of the past, re-design for inclusion and in the words of Alberto Alemanno: “empower each of us, not as spectators but as world actors”.
It is through this process of un-learning the system, that educators of today can change the social attitudes of tomorrow. But why listen to me? After all I am now what Professor Hancock warned was the ‘most dangerous thing in society’ – an educated ‘Gypsy’.
By Davie Donaldson, Senior DEI Consultant, Conyach Advocacy & Engagement
Sources: The Scottish Government (2018) ‘Improving educational outcomes for children and young people from travelling cultures’ (Online). Available from: https://www.gov.scot/publications/improving-educational-outcomes-children-young-people-travelling-cultures/pages/2/ [Accessed: 27/06/2023]
