To think amount of Roma and Traveller children withdrawn from school underage needs to be cracked down on?

[Jane379]

Two things have made me think about this.

One was the recent thread on Venezuela Fury, Tyson's daughter. Her situation appears slightly different as apparently she did receive tuition online but it made me look into the wider situation.

I know there has been improvement, and that many Roma & travellers families don't do this. But it shouldn't be allowed in the first place. Yes, some who do may homeschool their kids properly, but how many?

There needs to be more regulation of homeschooling.

Why do Roma & traveller kids often slip through the net? Is it sometimes linked to families moving around so children move from one LA to another?

There' nothing wrong with kids preferring to pursue technical options than academic, or living the travelling lifestyle. But school would give them a chance to choose.

Would be interesting to see their experiences

Tue Fury girl? Popping out babies?

And travellers are the sexist ones 😂

Unbelievable.

So seems a bit pointless to have it in place?

Was Nowak murdered for being white? I thought it was just a random act of brutal violence.

This is a very inflammatory thread, designed purely to rile up MNers who are possibly already feeling riled.

How have you jumped from discussing homeschooling to rape to Sikhs.
There is no correlation.

There is correlation between being expelled from school and prison called the school to prison pipeline but the crimes tend to be mainstream crimes like theft, burglaries, drug dealing etc, rather then sexual crimes.

There is no correlation between homeschooling and sexual crimes.
If there was MN would be breeding a bunch of future rapists.

There absolutely should be stricter rules around homeschooling because too many times children have been abused and not picked up on because they don’t attend school.
This doesn’t have anything to do with the travelling community though.

Who in the UK is asking for household voting?

So you have been school educated but that's a mystery to you?

I work in education. Homeschooling in England and Wales is about to become much more regulated - at least in law, though enforcement may not be straightforward in all situations. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (passed in April) introduces a tighter legal framework for homeschooling, including giving local authorities some powers of intervention in situations where there is an identified cause for concern. The Act also has provision to make it harder for children to 'disappear' and fall through the cracks - though some of this is still at the planning stage.

What this will look like in practice remain to be seen - the provision under the new Act hasn't yet been implemented and some will be phased in gradually. over several years. The aim though is to provide greater protection and visibility for children who are not in school and may not be receiving an adequate education (whatever community or cultural group they are from). Of course, this doesn't mean all children who are home educated and the Act makes that clear.

There is a bit more to traveller culture than that, believe it or not.

I agree.

I feel especially sorry for the girls who are taken out of school and prepared for a life housework and having kids and being told what to do by men with no opportunity to want something more for themselves.

I have no idea why in the UK in 2026 we are still allowing kids to be prevented from reaching their full potential like this.

Homeschooling in general needs to be better regulated/monitored too.

The welfare and education of kids always has to come before any kind of cultural sensitivity.

Nothing will even happen. Many traveller parents have no aspirations for their children, nor do they value education.

I personally couldn't care if they are educated or not but i do think the law should apply to every single one of them.

I wasn't saying bollocks to the fact there is discrimination against travellers in Ireland because there is. I was saying bollocks to the fact that it is seen as discrimination at all. Calling out bad behaviour does not make you racist no matter who the badly behaving fucker is.

There is anti discrimination and that's because the Irish know exactly what they are like and so do plenty of English, although they are still petrified to say Bollocks!
That said, a growing number are less inclined to have this shit shovelled down their throat and there are examples of this on this thread.

Their reaction is a sensible one and, apart from a few gullible gobshites, the majority won't be called racist for calling out the bad behaviour of people who share the same blood and heritage as themselves.

In England, it is a case of watching the sheep gather to protect the wolves and although, there are instances of that too in Ireland, it's still rare-Deo Gratis!

Now, you may wring your hands at this post but little do I and many others care!

Tell us, then

You do realise many MNers homeschool their kids.

Do you realise how many children who live on farms ‘drop out of school’.

A few years ago it was completely normal to drop out of school to join the family business.

Apprentices are becoming more and more common, because actually learning work skills are just as valuable (often more so) than sitting in a classroom learning about Henry Viii

We have people who have spent thousands of pounds on degrees and still can’t get a job.

I am actually not a huge fan of homeschooling as some parents do it for the wrong reasons and think it develops social skills etc but I understand how many people find it a waste of time if they’re planning on doing a more practical job.

There certainly is and I could name you some examples that would make your hair curl.

This is mostly racism dressed up as feminism. The gender pay gap persists despite girls outperforming boys throughout school. Rape and domestic violence happen across all cultures and classes. Having babies screws many women's careers.

If women can and want to have babies without bothering with the career - if they want to work for their families instead of for bosses and companies - I think that's a legitimate decision . Cultures that support this choice aren't wrong.

I had the opportunity to want something more. I didn't have the opportunity to get it, because I had babies. Among other reasons no doubt.

Why do you assume you know more about it than me?

Helping to do what on the site?

I can tell that you are either a traveller or some misty eyed soft head.

Do tell us your examples of the enhancing culture this particular group brings, how they benefit us all. Go on. Five examples will do, Don't burn your brain trying to think of more.

Reason in all things after all.

They absolute do have aspirations for their kids. You just don't agree that they're good aspirations.

Can I be a misty eyed soft headed traveller? Or do travellers have to have sunny eyes and hard heads?

A culture doesn't have to benefit "us all" to be valid. Family, Children, Cleanliness, Religion, Storytelling. All are important in traveller culture in different but equally good ways to how they're values in other cultures.

I don't know why I'm bothering though. Either you agree that cultural diversity is good and should be respected and protected (which can be true even when there are endemic problems within a community of that culture), or you don't. If you don't, there's no talking to you.

The boy's Guidance/Pastoral lead.

Traveller families can do what they like because they don’t respect authority and authority is scared of them.

We have a traveller girl in my child’s class and it’s accepted that her attendance is low.

It’s a huge disadvantage to the women travellers, even though they may not acknowledge it. As women they have no independence, freedom, choice or the chance to have a rewording career. Not everyone enjoys cleaning caravans and doing whatever their husbands want.

No one will crack down on it because no one wants to bring trouble to their door. More should be done, but the community need to back it.