A new £4.6m initiative aimed at helping young people from Gypsy Traveller communities into employment has been given the go-ahead Education Minister Leighton Andrews announced this week.
Pembrokeshire County Council’s Learning and Future Employment project will receive £2.5m from the Convergence European Social Fund (ESF) through the Welsh Assembly Government.
The Pembrokeshire-led project will target 11-19 year olds from Gypsy Traveller communities across six other areas – Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen – to help them gain skills and enter the workforce.
It is expected that around 450 young people will take part in the project, which will be delivered through the specialist Gypsy Traveller Education Service of each of the local authorities involved. They will receive support tailored to individual circumstances and aspirations while recognising their cultural values.
Training will be provided in a variety of settings to accommodate individual needs and it is anticipated that around 300 young people will gain qualifications.
Additional funding for the project will come from the Assembly Government’s Education of Gypsy and Traveller Children grant scheme as well as some of the local authorities involved.
Mr Andrews said: “The Gypsy Traveller Learning and Future Employment project will increase educational opportunities for this group of learners, encourage participation and help them achieve their potential. We are committed to ensuring that all communities in Wales are able to access education and succeed in gaining the skills needed to enter the workforce.”
Pembrokeshire County Council’s Leader, Councillor John Davies said that the Council was leading the project as its education provision for Gypsy Traveller children was considered best practice both in Wales and beyond.
He said: “Studies over the last five years show that Gypsy Travellers underachieve in education and as a result suffer disadvantages in gaining employment.
“This project hopes to provide tailored support so as to encourage their participation in education and thereby assist them into jobs.”
Leader of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Councillor Alun Thomas said: “This announcement is the latest in a series of local authority projects to secure European funds. This demonstrates how effectively councils in south west Wales are working together to improve the area with the assistance of the European Structural Funds and the support of the Welsh Assembly Government.”
Case study
Kayleigh Hearn, pictured, is a Gypsy who has benefited from an earlier European project delivered by Pembrokeshire County Council through the EQUAL programme.
The 23-year-old from Pembrokeshire has become one of the first Gypsy Travellers to go to college and get a hair dressing qualification.
She’s now one of the longest serving hairdressers at Trevor’s salon in Pembroke with a good reputation and a long list of regulars.
“I’m very proud of my heritage but I also always wanted to get a job and make my way in the world,” she said.
“I was very lucky to have been brought up in Pembrokeshire where opportunities were made available to me.
“I love my job … it’s my life. I feel like I’ve been a trailblazer and I hope that others will follow on.”
Kayleigh was raised, and still lives, at the Castle Quarry Gypsy site near Monkton, Pembroke.
She attended Monkton Infants and Monkton Junior schools but when it was time for her to go to secondary school, her family, like many other Gypsy families, were reluctant.
“I think they were frightened at us coming into contact with outside society,” said Kayleigh. “They were worried about us getting into drugs or getting pregnant. They wanted to protect us.”
As a result Kayleigh attended a special class set up at Monkton Junior school for older Gypsy children.
However when the time came to leave, Kayleigh knew that she wanted to do more.
“I wanted to get a job and meet other people,” she said. “I wanted to go to college.”
So with the assistance of the European EQUAL project and with the help of teachers at Monkton School, Kayleigh attended hairdressing classes at Pembrokeshire College
She was the first Gypsy student to get an NVQ in the trade and has now reached Level 3.
“The project really helped me in a big way,” she said. “When I was young I wanted a lot more in life but it was difficult. My parents didn’t have an education and they couldn’t help me. The Project enabled us Gypsy children get to where we wanted to go. It gave us a chance to get into the world.
“Now I think things are changing. I have a younger sister who’s a hairdresser, another who is training in beauty therapy and a brother who is a scaffolder.
“It means that we are joining with young people outside the Gypsy culture and they too are more aware of us and realise that we are not as we are often painted to be.”
