Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 6 Dec 2001

Vol. 546 No. 1

Written Answers. - Schools Discipline.

Róisín Shortall

Question:

191 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding the expulsion of pupils from school; the person who has the legal right to expel; the legal basis for that right; the grounds permissible in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31280/01]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

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. 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.

Under the rules for national schools, no pupil can be struck off the rolls for breaches of discipline without the prior consent of the patron and unless alternative arrangements are made for the enrolment of the pupil at another suitable school. 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 re-instatement of the pupil in the school, or alternatively, his-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.

I have 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 will require schools to report suspensions that last at least six days to their local educational welfare officer. The automatic involvement of the educational welfare officer in these situations will provide a key means for the early identification and support of children at risk of dropping out of school. Under section 15(2)(f2>d) of the Education Act, 1998, a board of management of a school, with the agreement of the patron, shall publish and provide the policy of the school concerning expulsion of students, subject to the proviso that this decision may be appealed to the secretary general of my Department under section 29(1)(f2>a) of the Act.