Gypsies and Travellers - Wrexham County Borough Council

12. Are there any particular difficulties faced by Gypsies andTravellers?Education• A lack of positive experiences in school by the parents of Travellingchildren has in some instances led to a lack of understanding, and fear ofthe Educational system.• Despite improvements in recent years many Gypsy and Travellerlearners and their parents, have low levels of basic skills. This can causesome problems for Traveller children in terms of written communicationbetween school and home, and the completion of homework.• Family occasions such as funerals, weddings and christenings areextremely important to the Traveller community, and are often givenpriority over attending school.• Culturally Gypsy and Traveller boys are expected to follow their fathers’trade and will go to work with him. Girls are expected to learnhomemaking and childcare from their mothers. As a result manyTraveller parents and pupils find the curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4irrelevant to their lifestyle and future. Evidence has shown thatsuccessful education during these Key Stages involves an alternativetimetable incorporating varied experiences such as college courses andwork experience.• Due to strong religious beliefs Sex Education is seen to be inappropriatefor many Traveller children. The Traveller family’s protectiveness andhigh moral values over their children are one of the main reasons citedfor not sending them to school.• Traveller children regularly face prejudice. It is important that schoolsaddress this issue to ensure that Gypsy and Traveller pupils are able tomake the most of the educational opportunities.HealthGypsies and Irish Travellers have the poorest life chances of any ethnic grouptoday:; Gypsy and Irish Traveller mothers are 20 times more likely than mothersin the rest of the population to have experienced the death of a child.[Commission for Racial Equality report ‘Common Ground’ 2006]It is believed that the health status of Gypsies and Travellers is significantlyworse than the settled population (Linthwaite 1993) and this group has beendescribed as one of the most unhealthy populations in Britain (Bunce 1996).The life expectancy of Gypsies and Travellers has been reported to be ten totwelve years shorter than the settled population (Barry 1987).Research was carried out by the Welsh Assembly Government Inequalities inHealth Funded project (2002 -2008) Coronary Heart Disease and Gypsies andTravellers; Redressing the balance found;• The Coronary and Mental Health status of Gypsies and Travellers inWrexham was compared to the general populations of Wales,England and the UK and found;• A higher prevalence of smoking in the Gypsy and Travellercommunity.8