Anne Marie Stokes is a woman on a mission. She is the second person, and first woman, to fill the role of Traveller Education Officer for University of Galway, and is driven by a desire to bring about change through one of the world's most powerful tools, education.
An endlessly insightful and intelligent woman, Stokes' appreciation of the power of education was inherited through a long line of courageous women who made sure to impart the importance of pursuing an education to the best they could, on the next generation. For Stokes, this inheritance coupled with multiple academic achievements, means that she is not just looking to inspire the next generation in her own family, but multiple generations of Travellers across the country.
"When I am driving in the gates of the university and I look up at the quadrangle, I sometimes laugh to myself and think, 'How would my granny, or even my mother, would feel saying 'my daughter works in the University of Galway'. It is something that they would not have dreamed would happen. I think that is what shows me the real change that is happening in Ireland, people say to me, 'things are not changing', or 'they are not changing quick enough', but that shows real change.
"It is real change when a member of the Travelling community, and a woman from the community, is working for the University of Galway - that is real change in Ireland.
"Having roles like the Traveller Education Officer in the University in Galway are breaking ground and highlighting that Travellers have a voice and a right to have an education."
Equality in education
If you ask the general population, 'what is the most powerful tool in the world?', many will come back with responses about money, or power, or ownership of profitable capital, and while each are weapons that the world's most powerful wield, the answer is education.
For many generations of Travellers in Ireland this powerful tool has been denied to them, or blocked by now heavily criticised 'apathetic' and failed programmes that disillusion children and their families causing distrust or a feeling of exclusion in their right to an education.
Since the 1970's, Ireland has seen numerous education policies enacted to 'aid' the 'assimilation and integration' of the Traveller community through schooling and nearly all have been heavily criticised today. 'The 1970 Report on Educational Facilities for the Children of Itinerants', published just seven years after the highly criticised 'Commission on Itinerancy', the report stated that the 'educational needs of itinerant children are similar to those of backward children, generally aggravated by social disabilities and a vagrant way of life', and sums up the State's approach to spaces and avenues of learning open to Travellers for decades after it was written.
The past five decades have seen the introduction and the eventual decline of structures like Traveller-only schools and classrooms, a tool which segregated Traveller students from the 'mainstream' institutions, resulting in poor results and student retention.
In the absence of national statistics or research data, the 2006 published 'Survey of Traveller Education Provision' outlined that the frequently assigned 'low-level tasks' given to Traveller children in schools provided intellectual challenge or encouragement to engage, which then resulted in a lack of desire for children to participate in whole-class activities. In essence, while there may have been institutions and schools opened to 'aid' in the education of Traveller children, from anecdotal evidence going back for generations, that their experience in such schools and classrooms as children has had the opposite effect to the intended outcome.
Reports like the 'Survey of Traveller Education Provision' highlight how important it is for any person, at any stage in their life, to have someone who believes in them. Who sees their potential and help them to achieve dreams and aspirations that they may never have discovered on their own. Thanks to roles like the Traveller Education Officer in the University of Galway, and educators and facilitators like Stokes, there are students from the Traveller community in the university now seeing their potential flourish under encouragement.
"If a student sees a teacher recognise their potential and encouraging them at the right time in their life, it can completely change that student's future and belief in themselves."
'Education is the great engine of personal development'
Stokes was elected to the position of Traveller Education Officer in March this year, and has been managing the 'Mincéirs Misl'd in Education - Empowering Irish Travellers project', which seeks to build a higher sense of belonging and empowerment for students from the Travelling community. The work of both Stokes and her predecessor in the role, Owen Ward, has been integral in building a 'safe space' for those seeking a third level education, aided by funding from the university the past two years have seen the introduction of events like Traveller Ethnicity Week, which highlights Traveller history and culture.
"It shows students that they are welcome and to the wider Traveller community that this is a safe space, a place that they can reach their maximum potential while there," says Stokes, punctuating her sentence by explaining the variety of access routes available into courses in the university, "There are so many ways into different courses and it is important that people know that they can come back into education at any point."
When Stokes discusses the options open for people wanting to return to education, she does so with the passion and insight of someone who has been in that position and now armed with resources and information, she wants to aid others to achieve the same. Her path to personal change began in 2004, when she joined Galway Traveller Movement (GTM ), and it was in 2006 during a talk led by her now colleague from the university, Head of the Access Centre, Imelda Byrne, that Stokes began to rediscover her potential and the seed was planted.
"That presentation started making me think about university and I know I would have never approached the idea myself, but that outreach presentation with my own community planted that seed in me, and made me think about returning to education."
That metaphorical seed flourished in Stokes, leading her to pursue and achieve an honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, Politics and Philosophy, before going on to do a Masters in Gender, Globalisation and Human Rights. Now six months into her role and with both degrees behind her, Stokes has aspirations to one day do a PHD, hoping to fill the wide gap of up-to-date research into Traveller education statistics, which can then be utilised to facilitate further change.
Supporting future academics by leading by example
For many oppressed minority ethnic groups across the world, the first example of measurable change is seeing someone from their community achieve a position of power or respect. The presence of a Traveller Education Officer in the University of Galway sends a message to Travellers across the country that their aspirations or ambitions are valid and achievable.
"Having people from the community in positions like the Traveller Education Officer, or my predecessors, Owen Ward's current role as a key role manager with a team in the the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion office for the university, it is saying to Travellers 'this is something I can achieve'.
"These are things that will break down barriers and negativity, and for people from the community to see role models from the same background go on to empower others and to bring in change, and it says to people from the outside the community that Travellers are willing to work hard when given an opportunity.
"When you are a minority in society and are experiencing discrimination or prejudice, you think 'Why is this happening to me?', and through education and communication you learn that this happens all over the world and the only way it will change is through empowerment."
Stokes is a big believer in the power of dialogue and the ability for people to question their biases in an open discussion, saying that through her work leading cultural awareness and anti-racism workshops, she hears a lot of stereotypes and anecdotes regarding Travellers being shared by those who have never communicated with someone from the community.
"I think it is changing now through education and opening dialogue and giving people a space to question their own biases through asking questions in a space where they feel comfortable and safe to do so.
"In workshops I have given in the past, when I ask about what experiences people have had with Travellers, there will often be someone who says, 'I heard something negative' but when you ask them, they have never even spoken to a Traveller. It is like urban myths being passed on where people have heard them but don't know where they came from. This can be very hard for Travellers and kind of scary, having to go into a space and discern how you will be perceived because you are a Traveller is tough.
"Having said that though I see real change, and shows that there is an appetite for change and I am very exited to be a part of it."
The work of Stokes, Ward and future Traveller Education Officers in the University are dependent on funding, and Stokes says, "it is vital that sustainable funding is ring fenced, helping many more members of the Travelling community reach their full potential."
University of Sanctuary
Stokes is passionate that while her current role primarily aids the Traveller community, that she also helps to empower her fellow women. Through the Unviersity of Galway's status as a 'University of Sanctuary', students come from all walks of life and the passion to aid them in achieving their dreams is something Stokes supports wholeheartedly.
"Sometimes you are not just striving and persevering for your own sake, you are striving for all women. There are women that have come through life with different struggles, let it be poverty, or lone parents, or women suffering with depression, or living with mental health, we are all different but they are all things that we relate to. You are not just fighting for your own community, you are fighting for all women.
"To say to them 'look you can do it, keep going. You can do it, don't give up."
