Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 28 Jan 1998

Vol. 486 No. 1

Written Answers. - Early School Leavers.

Pat Rabbitte

Ceist:

867 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education and Science the current estimate of early school leaving at the end of primary school and before junior certificate; the steps, if any, he is taking at each stage to eliminate early school leaving; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1441/98]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin):

Available statistics suggest that in the region of 900 pupils per annum do not transfer from primary to second level education. The recently published ESRI annual school leavers survey, 1994-95 school leavers — indicated that 2,700 students left at second level without completing the junior certificate.

My Department has a range of strategies in place to help prevent early school leaving. These include the development of early start centres, the allocation of additional resources to schools in disadvantaged areas, the Breaking the Cycle initiative, the home school community liaison scheme, curricular reforms to allow students to make choices relevant to their abilities and aptitudes, support for junior and senior centres for travellers, the free book scheme and alleviation of examination fees for necessitious pupils.

As part of the mid-term review of Structural Funds 1994-99, new initiatives have been agreed for implementation in 1998 and 1999 under which £2.96 million will be provided over 1998 and 1999 for a new initiative focused on structured pilot projects in urban and rural disadvantaged areas which test models for the development of an integrated area based co-ordination of services to cater for young people aged eight to 15 at risk of early school leaving. A working group has been established to progress the initiative, with a view to implementation early in 1998.

Some £19.733 million will be provided for a minimum of 1,000 additional places for early school leavers in the Youthreach and traveller training programmes. Arrangements are under way to establish 750 Youthreach places and 250 traveller places in 1998 by FÁS and the vocational education committees.

Some £0.97 million will be provided for the strengthening of counselling, guidance and psychological services for participants on these programmes and £1.97 million will be provided for bridging and progression options for early school leavers through the FÁS training system, and 725 places within the FÁS system will be redeployed to progression options for Youthreach and traveller trainees in 1998.

This investment will increase the number of early school leavers undergoing training in FÁS and the vocational education committees under the Youthreach and the traveller training centres from 4,525 to 6,250 in 1998, with provision also for some 440 trainees on the FÁS bridging measures. The programmes are designed to provide integrated education, training and work experience, with a strong focus on the core skills of literacy, numeracy, communications and personal development, and exposure to a range of vocational options.

Finally, I propose to publish a School Attendance (Amendment) Bill before the end of the year.