Tusla Education Support Service has received 1512 referrals up to the end of November 2020 for the academic year 2020/2021. This is an increase of 35% on the same period in the previous academic year.
Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) has a statutory responsibility to intervene when a parent/guardian is failing or neglecting to causing his or her child to attend school. TESS views all school attendance referrals from a child welfare perspective with the intention of finding solutions that will enable and support students to attend, participate and be retained in education. Since Covid-19 first impacted schools in March, 2020 TESS has adopted a child welfare and supportive approach in relation to all children and families where the school attendance of students has been directly impacted by Covid-19.
I can assure the deputy and all parents that TESS will continue to look at all school attendance cases with a compassionate and child welfare centred approach for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. My desire is to ensure that all students have access to education and TESS is available to work with any student or family in need of support.