Vol. 513 No. 6
61 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to a recent study which indicated that an average of 3,000 school pupils are on suspension on any one day; if this is an accurate figure; and the steps, if any, he is taking to tackle this serious problem. [3324/00]
I am very much aware of the issue of suspension from school which is related to that of early school leaving. This is a complex and difficult area and in order to make progress we must tackle the problem on a number of fronts.
My Department has in place a range of guidelines on school discipline which stress the need to regard both suspension and expulsion as sanctions of last resort. More recently the Education Act made provision for new appeal procedures in order to address grievances in this area and my Department is working on the implementation of these at present.
My Department gives assistance in securing school placements for pupils out of school. This generally arises where a pupil has been suspended as a result of disruptive behaviour and where alternative arrangements need to be made. My Department liaises with school authorities with a view to having the pupils back in full-time education as soon as possible.
As matters stand there are no formalised reporting arrangements covering suspensions and this makes it difficult to estimate the full extent of the problem with any precision. This deficiency will be addressed in the Education (Welfare) Bill, 1999, which is currently before the House. This Bill provides for a comprehensive range of measures to address the problem of non-school attendance. Among the key objectives is the establishment of a single national authority with responsibility to co-ordinate action in relation to school attendance on a countrywide basis. The focus of the national authority will be the provision of assistance and support, through locally based educational welfare officers, to schools and families rather than on penalties for non-attendance at school. The Bill also includes specific measures for the early identification and support of children at risk of dropping out of the school system.
However legislative solutions are not in themselves enough and it is vitally important that we also have in place strategies to encourage and support schools in retaining pupils to completion of senior cycle. That is the reason the Government's recent "stay in school" initiative was introduced.
Additional Information
It is designed to focus resources on schools where the problem of drop out is most acute. At the core of this new strategy is the empowerment of schools to participate in framing plans for addressing this problem.
This issue is not a simple one and in order to have a real chance of success the solution must be wide-ranging and include strategies for identification, balancing of rights, statutory safeguards and school empowerment. That is why the stay in school initiative was introduced.
Will the Minister comment on the figure of 3,000 suspensions on any one day referred to in a recent study undertaken by the VEC? While the information systems within his Department are inadequate, he must know if that figure is accurate.
The reference in the report to an estimate of 3,000 persons under suspension from school in any given school day derives from a VEC conference in Cork last year and it was reported widely in the media.
Is the figure accurate?
In the absence of a reporting mechanism it is not possible to accurately estimate the full extent of this problem, but it is undoubtedly on a very significant scale. When enacted, the Education (Welfare) Bill will address the recording of these absences and the notification to a single national authority, and it will provide the information that is needed.
Does the Minister agree his Department has a statutory responsibility under the School Attendance Act to report on such occurrences and if there is a deficiency in statistics it is because of a failure in his Department? Is he aware of another study undertaken in Dún Laoghaire which indicated that 19% of children in an area that would be regarded as disadvantaged within that borough had experienced some period of suspension? Against that background, does he agree the provision of £2.5 million to the education welfare service will be only a drop in the ocean towards addressing needs?
The purpose of the Bill before the House is to tighten up on this problem, to give the Department an entitlement to more information and to provide an appeals system and a central process. In this context, the Department is not entitled to compel a school to admit or readmit a pupil or to lift a suspension, and in that regard the appeals system will be very important.
