'This course will change lives' - Group of Traveller women graduate from UCC
Leadership Health On As Course Are Covering And Mac Graduating Topics Education, Michael In Sweeney/provision Munity, Photo: The 6 Level Women From Acmodation, A The Such
Twenty-one women from the Travelling community graduated from a “life-changing” course in UCC today, also contributing their experiences to a study to identify factors that inhibit Travellers from accessing higher education.
The women are graduating from a Level 6 course on Leadership in the Community, covering topics such as education, accommodation, and health. The course was co-created by the Southern Traveller Health Network (STHN), Adult Continuing Education (ACE), supported by Access UCC, and funded by the SOAR Project.
Anne Burke of the Southern Traveller Health Network, co-ordinator and lecturer on the course, said it was life-changing for the women who took part.
“It's just amazing to see the women here, their families, the excitement. What we're hoping to do is create a trend where Travellers feel safe to come to UCC. I can't wait for the day when it’s just normal for Travellers to come to college, and it won't be an unusual thing to see Travellers graduating,” she said.
“This course will change lives. The rate of second-level education among Travellers is atrocious, so to have these women avail of third-level education is life-changing - not just for them but for their families and their wider communities,” she added.
The SOAR Project is an inter-institutional collaboration between UCC, MTU, WIT and IT Carlow to increase access to higher education for underrepresented groups.
As well as the women themselves benefitting from the course, their participation informed research by SOAR into the barriers to higher education for those in the Travelling community.
Findings from the research identified key obstacles for Travellers wanting to access higher education, such as negative experiences of segregation in the education system previously, fear of racism and discrimination, lower literacy and digital skills associated with early school leaving, homelessness and poverty and the lack of recognition of Traveller culture in the education system.
SOAR Project Co-Ordinator, Sheila McGovern, said that the evaluation report produced from the course “highlights the importance of working in partnership with the Traveller Community in programme design and delivery to enable greater participation.”
Designed by Travellers, for Travellers, the course was specifically created as a safe and supportive learning environment for the women who took part.
All staff participated in Traveller Cultural Awareness Training in advance of the programme, culturally appropriate assessment methods were adopted, participants engaged in pre-development preparatory programmes through the STHN and their local Traveller projects in Cork, Mallow and Kerry provided additional study support throughout the programme.
Course fees were funded by the SOAR Project and participants were supported to avail of the part-time Student Assistance Fund to offset additional participation costs. Ms Burke said the women were also a huge support to themselves.
“In the group, the women wouldn't have gotten through without the support of each other. They trusted each other, they feel safe with each other, and if one had a problem, the other helped out. Everybody got each other through,” she said.
She added that although it was a great day for the women involved, there is still “a lot of work to be done” in achieving equality of education for Travellers.
“It's brilliant to be here today. It's a great achievement, and it's a very positive day. But I can't help but reflect and look at what's happening at primary and post-primary level.
"It was through the support of the STHN, Access UCC, ACE, SOAR, but without that support they wouldn't be here. I really would love to see Travellers start to come in numbers to higher education,” she said.