| Description | Charles Parker interviews Mr MacCall Boyd, headmaster of Oakdale Junior School in Poole, Dorset, about his experiences with children from the travelling community who attend the school.
Track 1: Mr MacCall Boyd talks about the school and the area it is situated in, and the interesting effects of having traveller children attending the school. He discusses the difficulties that the local authority has had in getting travellers to send their children to school and the prejudices and preconceptions that people have about travellers 2.27 mins
Track 2: he talks about the outstanding characteristics of the traveller children who attend his school, and says that they are generally quite shy in school and seem to be in need of protection from children from the settled community. He explains that the other children have reacted well towards the traveller children and have integrated with them, and that the traveller children who attend the school are generally cleaner than those from the settled community. He talks about his contacts with the traveller families who send their children to school, and his feeling that they are pleased that their children are getting the opportunity to get an education. He admits that there is some reluctance within the traveller community to send children to school, apparently because of their concerns about the traffic on the main roads 3.17 mins
Track 3: he discusses the specific educational needs of traveller children who are mostly illiterate when they arrive, and the methods used to teach them reading and writing. He talks about their superior numerical and practical skills and their wise spending habits and their lack of understanding of the need to read or write 2.17 mins
Track 4: he talks about the educational progress that some of the traveller children have made since attending the school, their capacity and aptitude for learning, and the slower progress of the older children in reading, who find it more difficult, partly because they are less intersted in academic work because they are involved in traditional traveller trades 2.15 mins
Track 5: he talks about the problems involved in teaching traveller children who travel a lot, and the fact that many families stay in one encampment in Poole for the majority of the year. He talks about the lack of effort by the local authorities to make provision for the education of traveller children, and the difficulty in integrating the traveller community and the settled community 1.37 mins
Track 6: he considers the possibilities for future schemes for the education of traveller children. He thinks there should be special groups within schools so that the older traveller children who are illiterate can receive dedicated tuition, but he is against any proposals for segregated schools for travellers. He talks about the prejudice shown to travellers by settled society, and considers the isolationist attitudes of some travellers 2.35 mins
Track 7: he talks about the ease with which traveller children make friends with children from the settled community, the gradual disappearance of suspicions of local children towards the traveller children when anything goes missing at the school, and the survival of the prejudices of their parents. He thinks that some of the traveller children quite enjoy the sensation of other children being apprehensive about them, and he gives his view that most of the traveller children are very keen to please teachers and other adults. He talks about disputes between traveller children, which are largely exaggerated 3.27 mins
Total: 17.57 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF549C0060680 |