In an interview on RTÉ’s Nationwide at the beginning of April, Owen Ward said that he was always called a “scholar” by his late father. With a curiosity for the world around him and his head always buried in a book, Ward’s passion for education was clear from a young age – but pursuing it was no easy task.
Today, Ward is not only a teacher in Our Lady’s College Galway but was also recently elected to Údarás na hOllscoile in NUI Galway (NUIG) – making him the first Traveller in Ireland to be elected to the governing body of a university.
“When I was growing up I always wanted to go to university”, Ward tells me. He recalls a particular conversation he had with a family friend before he left secondary school at the age of 16: “She was chatting away saying that her niece had just gotten into university. So I said ‘oh God, I’ve always wanted to go to university’ – I’d never told anyone that before.”
“She turned around and said to me ‘actually, no Owen, you won’t be going to university, that won’t happen for you’.”
This conversation “stuck” with Ward, he says. The lack of support from his family and his school meant that there were “way too many barriers to overcome”. “What I needed, that support, wasn’t there for me – and it’s not that my parents didn’t value education, they valued a different type of education.”
Ward is the fifth child in a family of eight children. All of Ward’s older siblings left school in first year, while he stayed until his third year. With his father self-employed, there was an expectation that he and his siblings would follow a similar path. But for Ward, leaving education had a major impact on his mental health as a young man – leaving school early, he says, was “kind of like a death”.
What I needed, that support, wasn’t there for me – and it’s not that my parents didn’t value education, they valued a different type of education
While he left education for a period, Ward’s hunger for learning never left him and he returned to education through an access programme in NUIG. He graduated with a degree in 2014.
Ward’s commitment to education did not end there. After graduating, he returned to NUIG to complete a Professional Masters of Education programme in 2018. While a postgraduate student, Ward set up a new society for Traveller students on campus called Mincéirs Whiden along with fellow Traveller student Jason Sherlock.
According to Ward, many Travellers in higher education don’t “feel very comfortable” identifying with the community in the university setting. Ward and Sherlock therefore set out to “create this space where everybody could come together and, I suppose, allies from other communities could come together, and learn about our culture and heritage”.
“And it’s successful”, he says.
The relationship between the Travelling Community and third-level has, throughout the history of the state, been weak. According to the 2016 Census, just one per cent of the Travelling Community progresses to third-level education. A 2017 study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ERSI), shows that 91 per cent of Irish Travellers aged 25-34 left school before doing the Leaving Cert, compared to 30 per cent of non-Travellers in the same age range.
More widely, Irish Travellers experience racism and discrimination regularly. On its website, the Irish Travellers’ Movement says that “at the core of anti-Traveller racism is the assumption that nomadism is not a valid way of life”. Until 1960 when the Commission on Itinerancy was established, the Irish State had barely acknowledged the Traveller Community.
The Commission published its report in 1963 but it only served to perpetuate the devaluation of Traveller culture by aiming to “assimilate” Travellers into the settled community. It was not until 2017 that the Irish Government recognised the Travelling Community as an ethnic minority.
At the core of anti-Traveller racism is the assumption that nomadism is not a valid way of life
One of Ward’s key achievements working with the NUIG access office is the expansion of the University of Sanctuary programme. Unlike other universities in the programme, who offer scholarships to asylum seekers and refugees, Ward worked with the NUIG to expand the programme to Travellers. For him, when he went back into the community, he had something tangible to offer and was able to point to what the university was offering. “I think that laid the foundation then for where trust can be built”, he says.
And trust, he insists, is crucial to bringing the Travelling Community along with him in his efforts to break down barriers blocking it access to
#education.
“I went into people’s homes and into organisations to have those frank and honest conversations with the community – What’s going on? Why are we not embracing higher education? And some very interesting discussions took place and there was strong engagement from the community.”
Off the back of these efforts, ten Irish Traveller students applied to the university’s access programme for 2019/2020. ““That’s just, wow”, he says excitedly. For Ward, it isn’t just about mentoring the students that are in higher education already, but also about inspiring upcoming generations. “A lot of parents have been in contact with me to mentor their kids who are sitting the Leaving Cert and the Junior Cert at the minute – so we have another bunch coming in. It’s all about mentoring and building that relationship that’s built on trust”, he explains.
We’re putting more barriers up for people who want to progress to higher education – I’m all about removing barriers and widening participation
Ward recently made history when he was elected to Údarás na hOllscoile, the main governing authority of NUIG. As a talented scholar and considering the amount of work he has done to promote the place of Travellers within Irish higher education, Ward’s journey to achieving this role seems evolutionary. Yet, for the wider Travelling Community the appointment is nothing short of revolutionary.
“We’re putting more barriers up for people who want to progress to higher education – I’m all about removing barriers and widening participation”, he says of his opposition to the NUIG’s 4 per cent rent hikes (which were reversed in May). For Ward, higher education needs to open up – and it needs to respect its students.
“Two of the values within the strategic plan are openness and respect”, Ward tells me, contemplating his new role in NUIG and the college’s new strategic plan. “I want to ensure when I go to meetings that those values are linked to the student voice.”
It seems fitting that openness and respect are the two values that Ward hones in on. Speaking to him, it’s obvious just how open he is, and the respect that he commands within the various communities he is a part of – his college community, the teaching community or the Travelling Community – is undeniable.
