Gypsy/Travellers and culturally-sustaining pedagogies
Gypsy/Travellers are a minority ethnic group. In Scotland, where the majority population is white Scottish, Gypsy/Travellers are one of the smallest ethnic grouping. Parents have reported that they feel that their culture is not represented in the school curriculum (Boyle et al., 2018). Additionally, research shows that the main reason for communities not engaging with education, is the fear that their culture and unique heritage will not be preserved (Finn, M 2024). Values, beliefs and expectations for young people can be very different from those of the dominant groupings (Padfield, P. and Cameron, G., 2009). STEP’s work reinforces that when families want to engage in education, they want to do so in their own term (Finn, M., 2024). Regardless of perceived or actual mobility, nomadic community members consider nomadism as part of their identity (Shubin, S., 2011) and will therefore seek an education that enables them to preserve their cultural and ethnic identities, traditions and ways of being.
Over the past decades pedagogical frameworks have evolved to resist ‘deficit-based approaches’, which view racial inequality as stemming from the proposed inadequacies of communities or individuals. One development —culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) —centres and sustains indigenous and minority
communities (Alim, Paris and Wong 2020). In culturally sustaining pedagogies educators recognise the fallacy of measuring learners in our diverse communities exclusively against White middle-class norms of knowing and ways of being that can dominate notions of educational achievement (Alim & Paris, 2017, p. 1). The approach is based on the assumption that when knowledge and skills are situated within learners’ lived experiences and frames of reference, the content is more interest driven and personally meaningful. In this way children and young people from the Gypsy/Traveller community will be more likely to achieve and succeed. The approach is also shown to be positively correlated with educational outcomes including engagement, attendance and performance on traditional academic indicators (Alim & Paris, 2017). New developments in Scottish education are set to support CSP approaches. Curriculum for Excellence, the work of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle and the recent proposals for more flexible content and recognition of achievement (Hayward, 2023) will offer a secure basis and strategy for sustaing Gypsy/Travellers communities through education.
The term culturally sustaining requires that our pedagogies be more than responsive of or relevant to the cultural experiences and practices of young people—it requires that they support young people in sustaining the cultural and linguistic competence of their communities while simultaneously offering access to dominant cultural competence. (D.Paris, 2012)
Finn, M. 2024 The educational experiences of children and adults from the Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland, community consultation research, STEP Edinburgh pdf
Padfield, P. and Cameron, G. (2009) Inclusive Education for Children and Young People with Interrupted Learning in Scotland, Ch 2 in P.A. Danaher (ed) Traveller, Nomadic and Migrant Education, pp. 29-46, Routledge.
Shubin, S. (2011). Travelling as Being: Understanding Mobility Amongst Scottish Gypsy Travellers. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 43(8), 1930–1947.
Paris, D. (2012). Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: A Needed Change in Stance, Terminology, and Practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93–97. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X12441244