A Study Of The Involvement Of Traveller Parents In Traveller Preschools In Ireland

This is a 2014 PHD thesis developed by Anne Boyle as part of St Patrick’s College Dublin City University. The PHD is based around the involvement of traveller parents in traveller preschools in Ireland (travellers are an ethnic minority in Ireland and the UK). The PHD details existing literature related to discrimination against travellers, traveller culture and education and involvement of parents in their children’s education in traveller communities. The PHD also examines the attitudes of travellers towards formal education and the attitudes of teachers towards the traveller community.
Data gathering for the study included interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. Sampling was appropriately varied. The PHD then details a number of involvement practices in Traveller preschools, identifying a range of activities which can be undertaken by parents in order to encourage children’s involvement in education.
The PHD concludes by making a number of recommendations for policy and practitioners. It is recommended that issues of recognition and representation be considered and that services should involve parents as much as possible, noting Epstein’s (2011) six-step framework for parental involvement shows a range of areas for parents to become involved.