four - Education, inclusion and government policy

Summary

Introduction

In this chapter we first outline a model of inclusive practice and the issues and tensions that affect the education of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils. We then review the policies of the previous Labour government towards the education of these communities, and the current policies of the Coalition Government. Our conclusion draws some hope and some trepidation from this review.

Inclusion

Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. (Shaull, 1970, p 16)

The capacity of education to oppress or to empower, articulated by Shaull (above) in his foreword to Freire's (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed, persists in the dialogue between Gypsies, Roma and Travellers and those who support their educational inclusion. Freire (1970, p 95) himself states: ‘One cannot expect positive results from an educational or political action program which fails to respect the particular view of the world held by the people. Such a program constitutes cultural invasion, good intentions notwithstanding.’

‘Inclusion’ tends to be the term that educationalists in the UK prefer to use because it implies adjustments to policies and practice to take account of community needs and aspirations. Alternative terms ‘integration’ and ‘assimilation’ suggest greater degrees of cultural modification and suppression. If the square-peg-in-a-round-hole analogy were to be used, assimilation suggests that the child is reshaped, whereas inclusion implies an adjustment to the system. In reality, schools, particularly secondary schools, are large institutions that change with difficulty; and although the least culturally repressive term is preferred, the practice described may require significant adjustment by the child. Furthermore, it is the case not just that secondary schools are large and difficult to change because of their institutional structure, but also that in the case of responding to the needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, there is frequently a misunderstanding surrounding the legitimacy of the very cultural status of these communities. The compassionate aim of some schools is one that perceives their mission to rescue these children from a threatening, debased and under-class existence.