Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 February 2021
547. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education if her Department has put in a place a strategy to reduce the risk of early school leavers during the Covid-19 pandemic; the number of early school leavers since March 2020; if the publishing of the report on the retention rates of pupils in second level schools in 2014 will be expedited; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10575/21]
View answerMy Department has provided a suite of guidance materials, agreed with the education partners, to enable schools to facilitate the continuity of learning for all students in a Covid-19 context. These are available at
https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Information/continuity-of-schooling/continuity-of-schooling.html.
My Department has also provided specific updated guidance to advise on how schools and teachers can support continuity in the learning of vulnerable students and those at risk of educational disadvantage during school closures due to Covid-19. The guidance sets out approaches that schools can take to support the continued participation of students and my Department has asked schools to ensure that there is a specific focus on ensuring that these students are supported.
My Department has ongoing engagement with Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) and education stakeholders to encourage and support engagement with those learners in need of support. Where schools remain closed, the three support strands of TESS (Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs), School Completion Programme (SCP) Coordinators and Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) officers) continue to provide supports to those children and young people who are most at risk of early school leaving.
My Department identified as an objective for September 2020 that all students should return to education as normal to the fullest extent possible, while recognising that in some cases, this would be more difficult for particular students. The guidance document Reconnecting with Education - Guidance for post-primary schools for students at risk of early school leaving was developed and published by my Department, to support schools in encouraging students to return to school to complete their education. The guidance also outlines how students could be supported in reconnecting and continuing with their education with the assistance of Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) where required, or on a pathway to further education, training or apprenticeship with the assistance of guidance counsellors and local Education and Training Boards.
The official number of early school is published annually in the retention report. The number of early school leavers for the 2019-20 school year will be published in the 2014 cohort retention report due this year and will include school leavers since March 2020. It is hoped to publish this report in Q3 2021.
