Misrecognition, control and the Roma experience in Bradford schools
The Runnymede Trust’s new report Excluded examines the educational experiences of Roma pupils in Bradford, highlighting how historical marginalisation and ongoing discrimination intersect with contemporary schooling. With Roma pupils facing the highest exclusion rates in England, it makes an urgent call for educational reform.
Originating in South Asia, Roma communities have endured centuries of persecution, slavery and genocide and continue to face stereotyping, social exclusion and economic disadvantage across Europe. Post-2004 migration to Bradford brought families into communities marked by insecure housing, precarious work and heightened vulnerability.
In schools, Roma pupils frequently encounter suspensions, informal segregation and cultural misunderstanding, with ‘zero‑tolerance’ behaviour policies and insufficient pastoral support exacerbating disengagement. Families report challenges in advocating for their children, while schools rely heavily on the goodwill of a few committed individuals to maintain inclusion. Broader structural pressures, including the marketisation of education, funding constraints and post‑pandemic increases in pupil needs, compound these issues and leave relational care fragile and inconsistent.
‘Gypsy/Roma pupils face the highest rates of suspension and exclusion among all ethnic groups in England: 3.5 times the national average, rising sharply post‑pandemic’
The Traveller Movement has termed this phenomenon ‘institutionally coercive exclusions’, a term highlighting the systemic exclusion of Roma communities and of Romani (Gypsy) and Irish Traveller communities from formal education. This understanding of exclusion goes beyond official exclusion data and looks at the forces that lead Roma children and their families to feel education is ‘not for them’.
The experiences of Roma pupils resonate with patterns observed for other racialised minorities including Black Caribbean pupils, who face disproportionate exclusion rooted in longstanding stereotypes and low teacher expectations. In both communities, systemic pressures – from accountability metrics such as league tables to under‑resourced pastoral support – intersect with poverty, special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) status and social care involvement to produce entrenched disadvantages.
While the contexts differ, the outcome is similar: children are managed rather than understood, with exclusion and informal segregation acting as mechanisms to protect school performance rather than support learning.
‘At Key Stage 4, only 8.4 per cent of Gypsy/Roma pupils achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths compared with 45.9 per cent of all pupils’
These parallels underscore the broader need for systemic reform. Culturally competent teaching, relational approaches to behaviour, and co‑produced support plans have been shown to mitigate exclusion across racialised groups. By learning from these shared dynamics, policy and practice can better address both universal and community‑specific barriers, ensuring that education functions as a site of support, recognition and opportunity for Roma pupils and other marginalised children alike.
Excluded argues that meaningful inclusion requires schools to integrate Roma culture, adopt relational and restorative approaches to behaviour, and co‑produce support plans with families. At a system level, it calls for reinvestment in local inclusion hubs, equitable funding, culturally competent support services and alternative vocational pathways.
By centring belonging, recognition and practical skills alongside academic attainment, education can become a space where Roma pupils are not only visible but empowered to thrive.
Excluded: Misrecognition, control and the Roma experience in Bradford schools is out now.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Runnymede Trust.
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