Western education: Suitable for everyone? Education for travelling, marginalized, and indigenous communities in the West

Abstract

This article questions the western model of education as suitable for everyone. Having taught for many years, the purpose of education was always clear to me: children and adults needed literacy and education in order to operate in a modern society. My research, carried out in England between 2004 and 2011 on Gypsies’ and Travellers’ experiences of and attitudes toward literacy and education, revealed very low levels of educational attainment and a cultural disconnection from and distrust of mainstream education. Exploration of the situation in other minority communities in western countries—the Roma and Sami in Europe, Native Americans and Alaskan Natives in the United States and Canada, and Aboriginals in Australia—showed depressing similarities, including blaming these communities for their failure in education. The Sami have argued successfully for a more culturally relevant education, but elsewhere there is very little change. The education that western governments provide appears to be primarily designed for assimilation, not agency. Providing meaningful education to marginalized, travelling, and indigenous peoples will require a positive paradigmatic shift.