Vol. 559 No. 6
54 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Science the progress which has been made to counteract early school leaving in areas with high levels of drug misuse; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24541/02]
Early school leaving is the most significant cause of keeping people caught in cycles of disadvantage and is a key indicator for subsequent difficulties including long-term unemployment, homelessness, substance abuse and criminal activity. Tackling the problem of school leaving is a key priority of this Government and requires movement on a number of fronts, including legislative and curricular reforms and preventative interventions. The Education Welfare Act and the establishment of the National Educational Welfare Board are important planks in the campaign to keep students at school. The Educational Welfare Service, although seen as a new service, is in many respects the modernisation and development of the long existing school attendance service, operated up to now by a small number of local authorities and by the Garda. The focus is on a welfare approach, with a clearly set out recording and reporting system, rather than the old style prosecutorial system.
My Department's strategies to tackle the problem of early school leaving have included widening the educational experience available to students. The aim is to achieve a greater level of inclusiveness in curricular provision and meet the needs of the diversity of pupils in our second level schools, by expanding funding for programmes such as the junior certificate schools program, JCSP, the leaving certificate vocational programme, LCVP, vocational preparation training, LPT and the leaving certificate applied, LCA. My Department has also implemented schemes directly targeting those in danger of dropping out of the education system, namely the school completion programme, which builds on two earlier schemes, the early school leaver initiative and the stay in school retention initiative. The school completion programme recognises that a wide variety of home, community and school-based factors can contribute to low school attainment and early school leaving. Consequently, strategies designed to address the needs of young people at risk of early school leaving must include a range of actions that impinge on these aspects of young people's lives. These strategies must therefore be holistic and child-centred. The programme is based on the development of local strategies to ensure maximum participation levels in the education process. It entails targeting individual young people of school going age, both in and out of school, and arranging supports to address inequalities in education access, participation and outcomes.
