Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
22. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration if schools will still be required to submit biannual student absence reports to Tusla for student absenteeism over the 20-day limit; and if he will consider an exemption due to the public health emergency that includes illness and or suspected contact with a person with Covid-19 which would require a period of self-isolation. [22336/20]
View answerI thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. My apologies as I thought that a cleaning session was under way and I was unsure as to whether I should come into the Chamber or not. These are the joys of Covid-19.
My first question relates to the Tusla rule relating to the 20-day limit. Will the Minister consider even a temporary exemption due to the public health emergency that includes illness and-or suspected contact with a person with Covid-19, which would require a period of self-isolation?
As schools have been reopening, Tusla's education and support service, TESS, has been engaging with families to provide advice, support and encouragement for students as they return to school recognising that this is a significantly different environment for many children and young people. Under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, schools are obliged to maintain a record of the attendance of students and are required to refer cases to TESS when a student misses more than 20 days at school, as the Deputy referred to in her question.
To ensure no student is missed, TESS is asking all schools to submit a once off Covid-19 return to be completed by the end of September. This return will identify any students who have not returned to school, despite the intervention of school personnel and TESS staff. TESS has advised my Department that schools will continue to be required to submit biannual student absence reports during the 2020-21 academic year. Schools will record all absences as normal, with the only exception being in the cases of students who are medically certified as being at very high risk of Covid-19, and hence cannot attend school.
As per the guidance produced by the Department of Education and Skills, students deemed very high risk will be supported by their schools to continue their education at home and if the student is engaging with learning at home, he or she will be marked present. Where students are absent for legitimate Covid-19-related reasons, TESS will work with schools, students, and their parents to support them as required as schools return. TESS has issued a letter and a video to all principals explaining how this process will operate.
In all other circumstances where a student's absence is explained, for example, with illness or quarantining due to Covid-19, the school will be informed by the parent or guardian and the school will note such absences as explained when completing the biannual report to Tusla.
Both Tusla and TESS are very mindful of the need for a supportive approach to all children and families as schools reopen and will adopt a fair and balanced approach to its assessment of absence, ensuring close collaboration with all schools.
I thank the Minister and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I welcome this answer because I have been contacted by many parents about their concerns on this issue. Everybody wants to do the right thing and this is a nervous and anxious time. It is also a good time to see the schools reopening and for parents to see children return, which I welcome as a parent. There are concerns about trying to do the right thing by keeping children at home and not to introduce even more bugs, even if it is something mild that one would normally send children to school with. People were afraid that they might be penalised. There is the fear that one might get a letter. It is a scary prospect that Tusla might be contacted regarding one’s children. Can the Minister confirm that if children are out of school due to Covid-19, quarantine, or as a precaution, there is a section for that to be explained and that this will not be an issue for parents?
I am happy to confirm that. We double-checked that with Tusla and TESS today in advance of addressing the Deputy’s question. Where an absence is explained due to a Covid-related reason, that will not count towards the 20 days. The Deputy is correct that parents are nervous as this is such a different environment but when one looks at how the education and welfare service worked over the years, its approach is to try to bring parents on board and to get students into class, if at all possible. The Deputy will be aware that the number of school attendance notices issued every year is small compared to the overall number of engagements undertaken by TESS and that the number of prosecutions that are brought forward is even smaller still. This is indicative of the harmonious approach that TESS operates.
I will make a brief response because, in fairness, the question has been answered. I understand why that rule is there and I generally support it because many children have the potential to fall through the cracks and this rule is in place to identify that. Given that we are in such strange and unusual times it is good to see that a common sense approach, something I often refer to in this Chamber, will be applied in this instance and I thank the Minister for that.
This is a common sense approach. We are carrying out the September audit of who is attending because research undertaken by my Department over the past number of months has shown that there is a real potential for impact of the three and half months spent out-of-school on children generally but, particularly, on children with special educational needs and from disadvantaged backgrounds. That is why it is so important, as we have this transition back to school, that TESS keeps a particular eye out for children who are perhaps most vulnerable. Rather than waiting for the biannual report audits to come in, we are doing the September audit to flag up if there are certain groups of children who perhaps might be falling through the cracks and to allow the home-school liaison officers or school completion programmes to kick in there to bring them back into the school.
