Very little progress has been made on the integration of intercultural education into the system as a whole. This was the view of the committee monitoring the 1995 Traveller Task Force report when it reviewed developments last December.

More progress would have been made on this if "better co-ordination" existed within the Department of Education and Science, the report said. It also expressed concern about the Department's failure to establish the Traveller Education Service identified in the original task force. However, it welcomed positive moves, such as the establishment of an educational welfare service to monitor school attendance and support children at risk under the 1999 Education (Welfare) Bill. And it acknowledged the valuable role of the Visiting Teacher Service.

In its detailed analysis, it noted that no progress had been made on the development of a comprehensive school record system which recognised the nomadic lifestyle of Travellers. The monitoring committee drew up 11 recommendations on education and training overall, including:

prompt action by the Department of Education to ensure more co-ordinated and integrated management of services to Travellers;

adequate resource allocation to Traveller organisations;

commissioning of an independent evaluation of various services;

establishment of definitive data through a tracking system, which ensures that school plans and mainstreaming of equality is part of the whole school evaluation process.