Vol. 534 No. 1
208 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has appointed facilitators to act as a liaison between students who have been expelled from school and the school concerned; and if there is any other procedure in place to deal with such issues. [10079/01]
Section 15 of the Education Act, 1998, provides that each school board of management must publish the policy of the school concerning admission to and participation in the school, including the policy of the school relating to the expulsion and suspension of students. Each board of management is responsible for formulating, in consultation with parents, a fair and efficient code of behaviour. This code should ensure that the individuality of each child is accommodated, while acknowledging the right of each child to education in a relatively disruption free environment. This code should include provision for dealing with serious breaches of discipline and continuously disruptive pupils. My Department has issued guidelines to boards of management to assist them in discharging their obligations in the area of school discipline. These guidelines were drawn up following consultation with representatives of management, teachers and parents, and are sufficiently flexible to allow each school authority to adapt them to suit the particular needs of the school. These guidelines lay considerable stress on the use of suspensions and expulsions only as a last resort. In addition, my Department gives assistance in securing placement in individual cases. Typically, this can arise where a pupil has been excluded as a result of disruptive behaviour and where alternative arrangements need to be made. In these circumstances, my Department endeavours through a process of consultation with the schools and through the inspectorate to assist in the reinstatement of the pupil in the school, or alternatively, his or her placement in another school. In more difficult situations the National Educational Psychological Service is available to assess pupils in order to determine the nature and extent of any special needs with a view to having them addressed in the most appropriate manner. While these measures provide protections for students, I have, in addition, brought forward a comprehensive range of legislative measures in the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, to address generally issues related to school attendance and discipline in schools. The legislation provides for the establishment of a national educational welfare board with responsibility for monitoring school attendance on a countrywide basis. The board will employ educational welfare officers, who will be deployed locally to assist all recognised primary and second-level schools. The Act requires schools to report suspensions that last at least six days to their local educational welfare officer. Schools will also be required to report to their educational welfare officer before expelling any student. In such instances, the role of the officer will be to bring together the relevant parties to identify a mutually agreeable sol ution to provide for the education of the student concerned. The automatic involvement of the officer in these situations will provide a key means for the early identification and support of children at risk of dropping out of school.
In addition my Department is finalising the arrangements relating to an appeals mechanism under section 29 of the Education Act, 1998. The establishment of appeals committees under this section will ensure that pupils and their parents will have an opportunity to appeal expulsions, suspensions or exclusions to an independent body. As part of this process, there will be provision for the appointment of facilitators whose task will be to attempt to resolve the difficulties that have arisen prior to a formal hearing of the case by an appeals committee.
