Derby and Derbyshire Traveller Education Advisory and Support Team (TEAST)

‘Gypsy Travellers are the group most at risk in the education system. Although most make a reasonably promising start in the primary school, by the time they reach secondary level their generally low attainment is a matter of concern.’
(OFSTED Raising the attainment of minority ethnic pupils. 1999)

The Derby and Derbyshire Traveller Education Advisory and Support Team (TEAST) is based within the Development and Inclusion Service. It consists of a Team Leader, two full-time and one part-time Advisory Teachers and two Teaching Assistants working with Gypsy and Traveller Pupils. The team also includes a Teacher and four bi-lingual Teaching Assistants responsible for Roma pupils.

We work to encourage and assist schools to fulfil their responsibilities for the education of all Traveller pupils.

• Contacts
• Who we work with
• Our main aims
• Useful Links

We work with:

• Gypsies and other Travellers
• Roma
• New Travellers
• Circus and fairground families
• Families who live on the waterways
  
  Travellers may be living on an official site, unauthorised camps, in housing or on boats.
  Travellers have a cultural identity based on a nomadic tradition but nowadays they may or may not travel.

Our main aims are to:

• Ensure access to education for Gypsy and Traveller pupils
• Promote continued and regular attendance
• Enhance educational achievement

Useful Education Links:

• Aiming High: Raising the Achievement of Gypsy Traveller Pupils
• National Association of Teachers of Travellers
• DCSF Standards - Ethnic Minorities
• Equality Human Rights
• Every Child Matters
• Commission for Racial Equality - important facts

General Interest Links:

• Gypsy-Traveller website
• Time Travellers
• Leeds GRT
• BBC Kent : Romany Roots
• Nigel Dickinson - Roma gallery