Pre school services for Children from the Traveller community

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Pre school services for Children from the
Traveller community

• Catherine Hynes 5/11/08

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Introduction

• Some history
• Some statistics
• Segregated pre-schools for Traveller children
• Traveller Education Strategy
• Traveller children enrolled in community
  pre-schools
• Next Steps

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Some History

• Traveller pre-schools emerged in mid 1980s from
  community initiatives among Traveller parents and
  others determined to raise the educational
  standards among the Traveller Community
• Managed by a range of NGOs and community groups
• Received support from Government Departments,
  statutory and voluntary bodies
• The Department of Education and Science funds 98
  of the costs of a Teacher
• Annual equipment and capitation grant
• School transport

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Legislative History

• Legislative change since the mid 1990s
• Education Act (1998) formalised the rights of all
  children to education, including the right of
  access to all schools and conferred rights on
  parents to be involved in the management of
  schools
• Education (Welfare) Act 2000 designed to provide
  a new system to ensure that pupils attended
  school regularly, in particular those at risk of
  early school leaving
• Equal Status Act (2000)
• Employment Equality Act (1999)
• Both Acts outlawed discrimination against
  Travellers, including discrimination in
  education, employment, etc.

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Population Statistics

• 2006 census
• Traveller population is 22,435
• 14.76 are aged 4 or younger
• General population of 4.24million
• 7.12 are aged 4 or younger

• Age of children
• Under 1 Year 743
• 1 year 665
• 2 years 650
• 3 years 623
• 4 years 631
• ----------
• 3,312

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No of children enrolled in Traveller pre-schools

• Data based on a census carried out in 2005 by
  Regional Office service
• 326 Traveller children aged 3-4
• 105 Traveller children aged 4-5
• Data not current. Since then Traveller
  pre-schools have closed in Cork, Dublin, Galway.

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Existing segregated Pre-School provision
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Segregated pre-schools and population distribution
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Traveller Education Strategy 2006

• Work started in 2003 - Built on earlier reports
  including the 1995 Task Force on the Travelling
  Community Task force report explicitly
  recommended the end of segregated provision
• Working group membership included
• Membership from the Education Disadvantage
  Committee
• The Advisory committee on Traveller Education.
• A Five Year Strategy was proposed to look at the
  whole area of Traveller Education including
  pre-school and early years through to Third Level
  
• Main objective is to ensure equality of access,
  participation and outcomes for Travellers in the
  Education system

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Pre-School Education - Recommendations

• Create a mechanism for administering the
  provision of pre-school and early childhood
  education
• Change the grounds on which pre-school education
  to Travellers is provided to an inclusive
  integrated service
• Increase the availability and take-up by
  Traveller children of pre-school education
• Improve the quality of education available in
  pre-schools
• Increase the emphasis on equality in the planning
  and provision of early-childhood education
  services and eliminate the potential for
  discrimination and racism
• Increase the number of Travellers who are
  employed in early childhood services
• No new segregated Traveller pre-schools should be
  established

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Expected Outcomes

• Within a 5 year time-frame, 50 of segregated
  pre-schools should be integrated
• Within a 10 year time-frame, all should be
  integrated where possible
• Traveller children should have access to an
  inclusive high quality publicly funded early
  childhood education
• Quality standards in place including Síolta and
  Early Learning Curriculum

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Closure of Traveller pre-schools

• Traveller pre-schools close for a number of
  reasons
• Decision of the Board of Management, e.g.,
  Tallaght and Clondalkin
• Declining enrolments
• Recommendation of the Departments inspectorate
• There isnt a plan in place for systematic
  closure of remaining Traveller pre-schools

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Alternatives to Closure

• Some Traveller pre-school have closed, been
  re-furbished and re-opened as an integrated
  community pre-school
• These pre-schools are funded under the National
  Childcare Investment Programme
• Tiered system of fees in place based on parental
  income
• These services operate for 48 weeks of the year
  and provide sessional and other services

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No of Traveller children enrolled in NCIP funded
pre-schools

• 2007 data taken from Pobals Annual Beneficiary
  Questionnaire (ABQ) overall response rate of
  82 (1,408 questionnaires returned)
• Data collected on children from Ethnic Minorities
  and Traveller children
• 26 of community based respondents reported that
  at least one Traveller child was enrolled
• Overall, 1,237 Traveller children were reported
  as being in attendance in EOCP/NCIP funded
  pre-schools

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Supports through Dormant Accounts

• Funding available to support the enrolment and
  retention of pre-school Traveller children in
  community or private pre-schools.
• Two strands
• Maximum of 10,000 available to support enrolment
  and retention
• Funding available in 2008,2009 and 2010
• Once off funding of 7,500 is to support the
  pre-school in integrating Traveller children
• 41 applications received 32 recommended for
  funding - total of under 400,000

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Supports through Dormant Accounts Types of
applications

• Types of applications
• Hands on practical workshops in learning through
  play involving the parents and children. Parents
  of Traveller children will be able to participate
  and integrate with other parents in such areas as
  the High/Scope Caring Start programme.
• Play therapy workshops
• Parenting programme
• Childrens programme to include elements of
  speech/language development, personal
  development/self esteem work, co-ordination and
  concentration development

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Segregated Traveller pre-schools

• Next steps
• Continue to support existing Traveller
  pre-schools and improve quality of provision in
  existing schools
• Encourage the enrolment of Traveller children in
  community pre-schools through the Dormant
  Accounts Fund
• Is a systematic plan for closure of existing
  Traveller pre-schools over a 5-10 year period
  necessary ??
• Identify examples of good practice where
  Traveller pre-schools have closed and re-opened
  as integrated provision identify what worked
  and why
• Advance the other recommendations within the
  Traveller Education Strategy for pre-schools

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?