Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 October 2013
264. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which school drop-out rates in respect of primary, second and third level education continue to be monitored with a view to addressing social or economic causes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42462/13]
View answerAt second level there were 55,253 first time enrolments to the first year of the junior cycle programme in second level schools in 2005. Of this initial cohort, 95.89% sat the Junior Certificate Exams in 2008 or 2009 and 89.49% sat the Leaving Certificate Exams in 2010 or 2011. This is based on the sixth published report, by the Department of Education and Skills, on school retention in Ireland, which consists of a detailed analysis of the records held in the Department's Post-Primary Pupils Database for the cohort of entrants to the first year of the junior cycle in the years 2005 and 2006, who sat the Leaving Certificate Examinations in the years from 2010 to 2012. It is also important to note that while the analysis allows for movement of pupils between schools it does not enable the tracking of those who leave State-aided schools including publicly funded fee-paying schools and move to non-aided second-level education providers.
There is currently no national data available on retention of pupils at primary level.
Enhancing attendance, progression, retention and attainment are central elements of DEIS, the Action Plan for Educational Inclusion. DEIS is part of a continuum of interventions delivered by my Department to address educational disadvantage including early school leaving from preschool through second-level education. This includes Second-Chance education and training and access measures to increase participation in further and higher education for the minority of our young people who, for various reasons, leave education early without the knowledge and skills they need to support them in later life. A further element of this continuum is the ongoing development of provision for pupils with special educational needs.
It is particularly encouraging to see the retention rate in DEIS schools increase substantially, from 68.2% for the 2001 cohort to 80.1% for the 2005 cohort. The retention rates of pupils who entered the first year of the junior cycle in 2005 and 2006, which coincides with the introduction of DEIS, represents the first cohort of students to have DEIS resources available to them throughout their second level education.
The National Educational Welfare Board, under the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, has developed a new Integrated Model of Service Delivery called 'One Child, One Team, One Plan'. This plan will integrate the overall Educational Welfare Service with the key DEIS supports of the Home School Community Liaison Service and the School Completion Programme. The overall objective it to provide for earlier response rates and assist in achieving better outcomes for children at risk of early school leaving. I am informed that a comprehensive practice model testing phase is planned before it is mainstreamed as the practice for all schools in 2014.
At third level the Higher Education Authority, which is responsible for the collection of data on student progression, is currently working on an analysis of retention rates in the universities and institutes of technology. This has only recently become possible due to a full population of SRS (Student Record System) data becoming available for a period spanning five years. The HEA does not have information for the 2012/2013 or 2011/2012 academic years and is currently collating data for the 2010/11 academic year which it is hoped will be available by the middle of November.
There are a range of factors that impact on participation and progression in higher education including economic, social and cultural issues, prior academic attainment and teacher and parental expectations. The most recent report by the HEA on retention entitled, 'A study of Progression in Higher Education', was published in 2010 and is available on the HEA website.
Higher education institutions have a wide range of supports in place to improve retention of students in their institutions. The HEA study and other research has also highlighted that undergraduate first years are most at risk of non-progression. The new National Forum for the enhancement of Teaching and Learning that I established late last year is looking at the undergraduate student experience in first year and how that may be improved on a system wide basis. Their work should improve quality outcomes for students at that difficult transition period.
The work of the Transition reform group chaired by the Secretary General of my Department should also contribute to improvements in students' quality outcomes. A key commitment has been made by the higher education institutions to reduce the number of level 8 programmes offered through the CAO and broadening them. This should help school leavers better navigate the entry routes into higher education system when making the important choice about what programme to undertake. They will also be exposed to a broader first year experience. This change when implemented should help to reduce the number of school leavers making the wrong choice about what course of study to undertake and help to reduce non-progression and completion.
