Education and Student Status

English Language Skills

According to Scotland’s Census 2022, the majority of Gypsy/Travellers’ main language is English only (91.2%). This is similar to the findings for the rest of Scotland (94.5%). The rest of Gypsy/Travellers reported ‘Scots’, ‘Polish’, and ‘Other’ as their main language (8.7%).

Scotland’s Census also asks those aged 3 and above about English language skills, ‘How well can you understand, speak, read and write English?’. The Census data highlights that the majority of Gypsy/Traveller population can speak, read and write in English (77.7%).

When considering main language and English language skills, the majority of Gypsy/Travellers who reported English as their main language also reported being able to speak, read, and write in English (80.7%). As seen in Table 7, this is, however, lower than the rest of Scotland who reported English as their main language and also reported being able to speak, read, and write English (95.5%). Conversely, a larger proportion of Gypsy/Travellers whose main language is English, report other combination of skills in English speaking, reading, and writing when compared to the rest of Scotland (19.4% compared to 4.5%).

Table 7: English language skills, by main language as English comparing Gypsy/Travellers and the Rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers)

Note: The category ‘Other combination of skills in English speaking, reading and writing’ contains all responses for: ‘Understands but does not speak, read or write English’, ‘Speaks but does not read or write English’, ‘Speaks and reads but does not write English’, ‘Reads but does not speak or write English’, ‘Other combination of skills in English’. The table omits responses for ‘No English language skills’.

Source: Scotland’s Census

Among Gypsy/Travellers whose main language is not English, about half (52.7%) reported being able to speak, read, and write in English. This is lower than the rest of Scotland whose main language was not English, of whom 74.2% reported being able to speak, read, and write in English. An additional 45.8% of Gypsy/Travellers reported other combination of skills in English speaking, reading, and writing compared to 25.8% for the rest of Scotland (Table 8).

Table 8: English language skills, by main language that is not English comparing Gypsy/Travellers and the Rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers)

Note: For the category ‘Another main language’, all languages that were not English were summed. For Gypsy/Travellers this included responses for ‘Scots’, ‘Polish’, and ‘Other’. For the rest of Scotland this included ‘Gaelic’, ‘Scots’, ‘BSL’, ‘Other Sign Language’, ‘Polish’, and ‘Other’. The category ‘Other combination of skills in English speaking, reading and writing’ contains all responses for: ‘Understands but does not speak, read or write English’, ‘Speaks but does not read or write English’, ‘Speaks and reads but does not write English’, ‘Reads but does not speak or write English’, ‘Other combination of skills in English’. The table omits responses for ‘No English language skills’.

Source: Scotland’s Census

Highest Qualification

As shown in figure 6 below, a higher percentage of the Gypsy/Traveller population reported having no qualifications (43.8%) compared to the rest of Scotland (16.6%).

Gypsy/Travellers are less likely to report holding a degree level qualification or above as their highest qualification when comparing to the rest of Scotland (15.0% compared to 32.5%).

Figure 6: Percentage of Gypsy/Traveller and rest of Scotland (excluding Gypsy/Travellers) over the age of 16, by highest level of qualification

Note: The response ‘Not applicable (aged less than 16)’ has been removed from analysis.

Source: Scotland’s Census 2022

Student Status

Scotland’s Census shows that of Gypsy/Travellers aged 5 to 15, 98.3% (465 of 473 people) were registered as being ‘full-time students’ who are in full-time education either at school or in higher or further education. This was 99.4% for the rest of Scotland.

For those aged 16 and over, Scotland’s Census 2022 results showed that 7.3% of Gypsy/Travellers reported being a student. This is similar to the rest of Scotland (7.4%). More female Gypsy/Travellers than males aged 16 and over reported being a student in the Scotland 2022 Census (56.28% and 43.7% respectively). This is similar to the rest of Scotland which shows that 55% of students are male and 45% are female. These figures are based on economic activity for people aged 16 and over who are students either not working or working (part-time or full-time).