Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2023
320. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Education if she will provide a full-time home school community liaison officer for schools (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32657/23]
View answerCurrently, all DEIS Urban Primary and DEIS Post Primary schools are included in the Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL), which serves 693 schools. The scheme is delivered by 530 full-time HSCL Coordinators who are teachers in these schools and assigned to HSCL duties either in individual schools or clusters of schools, catering for approximately 207,000 pupils. The HSCL scheme seeks to promote partnership between parents, teachers and community family support services, with a view to supporting improved attendance, participation and retention.
A HSCL Coordinator is released from teaching duties, for a maximum of five years, in order to work intensively with and support parents and guardians. The overarching goal of the HSCL Coordinator is to improve educational outcomes for children through their work with the key adults in the child’s life. HSCL is a school-based intervention provided to address the needs of students and their families in disadvantaged areas through acknowledging and developing the role of the parent as prime educator.
The HSCL scheme, together with the School Completion Programme and the statutory Educational Welfare Service, make up the three strands of Tusla Education Support Service (TESS). The three TESS strands work together collaboratively with schools, families and other relevant services to achieve the best educational outcomes for children and young people. My Department works closely with TESS to ensure all schools are supported with the resources available.
Recognising the need to target resources to those schools who need them most, a phase of work is currently underway to explore the allocation of resources, including the HSCL coordinator support, to schools to tackle educational disadvantage. Part of this programme of work will involve consultation with all relevant stakeholders. It is not envisaged that the current HSCL coordinator allocation to schools will be altered in advance of the completion of that review.
