Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697803733518.pdf (Ireland)
I am the Traveller Liaison teacher for the Mountjoy campus including main Mountjoy, the Progression Unit and the Dochas women’s prison.

I took over this role in September 2020, and I have three half-day slots to meet with Travellers in each unit.

Working with the TPI has been a very positive experience for us in the CDETB, and we have benefitted from the diversity and inclusion training that they provided.
This helped us to reflect on our own practice, attitudes and unconscious bias, and to evaluate the services we provide for Travellers.

We are aware that school completion rates are lower among the Travelling community than in the general population, both in the community and in prison.

To try and address this, and with the support of Travellers who work with the TPI, we have developed resources that are more Traveller-centred.
However, Travellers often opt for the safe space of arts and crafts classes, and thus literacy can remain an issue.

The IPS have granted us permission to open up the recreational areas off the protection landings to offer additional literacy and numeracy support to prisoners (including many Travellers) who have reduced access to education due to their protection status.

In my role I meet with Traveller men and women, both on the landings and in the education centres.
This has proved an extremely helpful way for us to identify Travellers who are not engaging with education.

While the role was initially aimed towards encouraging Travellers to come to the education centre, it has evolved into an extended role of linking Travellers in with the relevant services both on and off-campus, including addiction counselling, IASIO, chaplaincy, Exchange House, the TPI and the National Traveller Women’s Forum.
All of the referrals to the various services are recorded, and this gives a clear picture of the key needs of Travellers in prison; requests and referrals are largely related to accommodation issues, mental health and anxiety, literacy, family issues, loneliness, having nothing to do while in prison, and pre and post-release advice and support.
For us in the CDETB, key areas for development include continued focus on literacy and educational engagement, and exploring links with our Further Education and Training sector (CDETB) to provide post-release support and positive pathways back to the community for Travellers.

END June Edwards