13-05-2025
Experiences of Traveller children in school more negative as they progress through system
Traveller children become less likely to have a positive attitude towards school and are substantially more likely to be placed in the lowest ability groups for both reading and maths.
In the early years of primary school, Traveller children generally showed similar, or even higher, levels of positive attitudes towards school, the curriculum, and wellbeing when compared to their peers.
However, a 'concerning pattern of decline emerges' as they progress to the senior end of primary school, as they become much less likely than their classmates to report doing well. They are also more likely to believe they are "no good" when it comes to classwork.
Irish Traveller children also report experiencing bullying, both being bullied and bullying others, at higher rates than any other ethnic group.
However, despite these challenges, Traveller children are also less likely to report feeling worried or anxious, and have slightly more positive views on friendships in some cases.
The findings are included in the latest round of data published by the 'Children's School Lives' study, a landmark report following 4,000 students through almost 200 primary schools around the country.
Funded by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), the latest report from the project examines the impact of migration and ethnicity on children's school lives. While children in Irish primary schools generally feel happy, cared for, and safe, that equality of experience is not yet universal.
More than 21% of children in the study had an immigrant background; 6% were first-generation immigrants, meaning they were born outside of Ireland to parents also born outside of Ireland, while 15% were second-generation, meaning they were born in Ireland to parents born outside of Ireland.
The number of Irish Traveller children who took part in the study is comparable to representation of Irish Travellers in the general population, the report notes.
Feelings of belonging in school were significantly associated with migrant and ethnic profile, the report found. Children with an immigrant background, especially those who were first-generation, were less likely than their non-immigrant peers to report that they made friends easily, feel that they belonged in school or were liked by other children at school.
In the earlier years of primary school, Traveller children generally showed similar or even higher levels of positive attitudes towards school, engagement with the curriculum, and wellbeing compared to their white Irish peers. However, as they progressed more negative experiences "predominate".
The report recommends a policy focus on the transition of Traveller children into the senior end of primary school and on "the systems of support that are required to build on the positive momentum evident in the earlier years".
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