Michael Creed
Question:247 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Education and Science the progress being made by his Department in meeting the national anti-poverty strategy aims of reducing the incidence of early school leaving. [14213/01]
Written Answers - Early School Leaving.
My Department is committed to meeting the national anti-poverty strategy aims of reducing the incidence of early school leaving. Major preventative strategies and programmes have been introduced, comprising both special targeted initiatives and legislative measures, to combat the problem of non-school attendance and early school leaving and to promote and facilitate the retention of young people in education to completion of upper second level.
The school completion programme incorporates a comprehensive package of measures to encourage and support schools in retaining pupils to completion of senior cycle. These include: the 8-15 year old early school leaver initiative introduced in 1998; the stay in school retention initiative at second level which was launched in June 1999 – projects and schools involved in the initiatives are required to operate on a multi-agency basis establishing, where appropriate, cross community links; the expansion of the home-school community liaison scheme to all schools designated as disadvantaged; the expansion of the national educational psychological service set up in 1999 on a phased basis with a view to providing a comprehensive service for all first and second level schools.
There are a number of other programmes in place which support the direct initiatives aimed at reducing early school leaving. These include the early start pilot project, the support teacher pilot project and the breaking the cycle project in primary schools. I also announced in January of this year, the new programme, "Giving Children an Even Break", to tackle educational disadvantage at primary level, which provides a range of early intervention and preventative measures to support participation in school by young people.
In addition, the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, will replace and reform current school attendance legislation. The Act provides for the introduction of a comprehensive school attendance service and the establishment of a national educational welfare board. The focus of the national authority will be the provision of assistance and support, through locally based educational welfare officers, to schools and families rather than on penalties for non-attendance at school. The Act also includes specific measures for the early identification and support of children at risk of dropping out of school.
Each of the interventions outlined is, or will be, monitored by my Department's inspectorate to ensure that they are addressing the needs of the educationally disadvantaged pupils being targeted and, where modifications in programme content or mode of delivery are required, the necessary changes are made to incorporate these.