Home education, school, Travellers and educational inclusion

Abstract

The difficulties Traveller pupils experience in school are well documented. Yet those in home educating go unreported. Monk suggests this is because some groups are overlooked; that gypsies and Travellers are often not perceived as home educators. This article highlights how the move to home education is seldom a free choice for Traveller families. Although existing literature suggests this is a consequence of Traveller culture and mobility patterns, this article argues that problems in school drive uptake. Issues of race and ethnicity continue to drive educational inequality and there is an urgent need to redress this is in educational policy and practice.