Micheál Martin
Ceist:9 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Education the steps, if any, she intends to take in relation to the growing problem of indiscipline in our schools. [8014/95]
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - School Discipline.
Liz O'Donnell
Ceist:62 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Education the plans, if any, she has to set up a code of discipline for pupils in schools; her views on whether it is advisable to have a local code as distinct to a national code. [7932/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 62 together.
Managerial authorities of each school are responsible for ensuring that a fair and efficient code of behaviour, encompassing rules, sanctions and procedures, is drawn up and applied in the school. Circumstances will vary from school to school and it is only those intimately involved with a particular school who can draw up the detail of a code of discipline appropriate for that school. Accordingly, the most effective method of countering indiscipline is for each individual school to draw up its own code of behaviour. In drawing up the code, school authorities should have regard to guidelines issued by my Department.
In 1990 and 1991, my Department issued "Guidelines Towards a Positive Policy for School Behaviour and Discipline" together with "A Suggested Code of Behaviour and Discipline" to all schools.
These guidelines provide a valuable framework for schools in putting in place their codes of discipline as well as the home school links programme which is a very important initiative which can play a key role in combating indiscipline. This year Deputies will be pleased to hear that I will allocate a further 60 teachers in this vital area.
Because I am aware that schools differ in the extent to which they encounter discipline problems, using the funds available to my Department for research I intend to set up a research study on school discipline. The study will survey practice and strategies in schools and identify best practices for dissemination among all schools. The outcome of this survey will be submitted to the interested partners for their response and updated guidelines will issue following this consultation process.
Does the Minister accept that teachers are under increasing stress as a result of indiscipline in our schools and that there is an increasing number of suspensions and expulsions of under 15 year old students because of behavioural and discipline problems? These students have nowhere to go. We cannot await research results on this fundamental issue. Does the Minister propose to introduce legislation in this area?
If the Deputy can suggest an instant solution to this problem, I am more than willing to listen. It is inappropriate for him to dismiss the suggestion that an investigation should be carried out to ascertain why some schools within a three to four miles radius experience great discipline problems in the school community while others do not. It is worth examining practice in schools and reviewing the existing guidelines. The problem arises within the school community and can be tackled through the involvement of teachers, managers and parents. The Deputy can point to some schools in his city which have experienced greater discipline problems than others. It is worthwhile carrying out the research and surveying what is happening not only in schools but the best practice in other places and bringing forward updated guidelines. While the expulsion of a pupil is the last discipline resort taken by a school, it can only be done after every effort is made to rehabilitate the pupil. It also involves legal consequences for schools. If a pupil under the age of 15 is expelled an alternative school placement must be secured for that pupil. I assure the Deputy that the Department's inspectorate devotes many hours to helping schools and parents in cases where a school wishes to expel a pupil who has a legal entitlement to stay in the school system until he or she is 15 years of age.
The Minister is a long way from reality. As a member of a board of management of a second level school which recently had to expel a 13 year old, I put it to the Minister that the pupil's parents had no access to the Department's complaints procedure. The Department's psychological service is woefully inadequate and was not available to the school in terms of referral. Will the Minister accept that we are dealing with a crisis in our schools involving many young people and it is no longer exclusive to any one school? The Minister should also accept that discipline problems arise in all schools. I speak from experience. It is unfair of the Minister to attempt to act wise regarding school discipline in certain schools and communities.
I have a responsibility for children in the education system. It is not a realistic response to the problem to describe it as a crisis, say that people are unwilling to listen and the problem exists in all schools. I acknowledge pupils have behavioural problems, but coming from the teaching profession I must say that some schools which use a combination of the efforts of parents and teachers and clear discipline guidelines do not always experience the same level of disruption from pupils as others. That area is worthy of investigation. The Department's psychology service was non-existent until my arrival and I am pleased that in the next school year 20 school psychologists will be available in the service. We must not wait until pupils are 15 or 16 years of age to expel them, rather we should identify behavioural problems displayed by pupils at an early date. As the Deputy said, pupils must display extreme behavioural problems before the last of the sanctions in the guidelines for expulsion is exercised. It would be productive and more useful if we proceeded by helping school communities experiencing these problems to look at good practice and put in place guidelines which can be fleshed out having regard to the community needs of individual schools. It is negative to dismiss this proposal and say the problem is beyond redemption.
That is what the Minister is doing.
I have said that we will examine the problem in the light of research resources available in the Department.
The Minister is burying the problem in research.
We will make the results of that research available to the partners in education. Department guidelines for this area were published in 1991 and 1992. Following consultation with the partners in education we will prepare new guidelines if that is what is required. School discipline is the responsibility of the managerial authorities and the board. It is worth investigating where there is specific good practice in schools. Every school does not expel pupils daily.
(Interruptions.)
That is not constructive.
I am exasperated by the Minister's withdrawal from reality.
Most children, including the Deputy's and mine, go to school. Most pupils and schools serve their communities well. Early identification of the disruptive problems caused by a small number of students would be much more satisfactory than identification of them at expulsion age. The 20 psychologists that will be available next year, the existing guidelines and the increasing role of parents and the home school links programme, which allows schools link with pupils who are experiencing difficulties in school, are positive measures to deal with the problem and evidence that we are responding to the needs of students who disrupt not only their education but that of others.