Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 10 May 2000

Vol. 518 No. 6

Written Answers. - Educational Records.

Proinsias De Rossa

Ceist:

529 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will have investigations made into the case of persons (details supplied) in Dublin 11 in view of the fact that these persons forwarded a letter of consent as requested on 1 November 1999 to see their children's school records and have received another letter from his Department asking for a letter of consent; if he will assist this family; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12410/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

This case is the subject of ongoing correspondence between my Department and the parents.

The approach of my Department is that it is the responsibility of each individual secondary school to ensure that appropriate school based measures are put in place through which pupils, parents and the school can deal with difficulties which might arise. Where parents are concerned about their children's educational needs, they are advised to bring their concerns to the attention of the school principal in the first instance. If the matter cannot be resolved at that level, the assistance of the board of management should be requested. Where the matter remains unresolved, and a pupil continues to experience difficulty in school, my Department may approach the school authorities, seeking their observations on the matter, at the request of the parents.

The young persons concerned in this case previously attended secondary schools, which are privately owned and managed institutions. My Department does not have the power to compel a school to take any specific action or to compel a secondary school to release records held on individual pupils other than those specified in The Rules and Programmes for Secondary Schools, 1999/00. These specified records consist of the pupil details provided by parents when enrolling their children, along with details of the subjects and programmes undertaken by the pupil while in the school. As this is the case my Department can only attempt to resolve a problem, or to obtain school records of a pupil other than those specified in The Rules and Programmes for Secondary Schools, 1999/00, through a process of negotiation and persuasion.

Following the original correspondence from the parents, my Department communicated with the parents and requested specific permission to seek the observations of the respective school management authorities on the parents' correspondence. Following recent receipt of this permission, my Department is now in the process of referring the parents' correspondence to the school authorities and will attempt to resolve the difficulties arising between the parents and the schools.

The parents of these young people have been advised that the national educational psychological service, NEPS, can be accessed through the school that their children currently attend. The advice of NEPS is usually sought where a pupil is experiencing difficulty in school and where the school and parents agree to seek the advice and recommendations of an educational psychologist on how to best meet the pupil's educational needs.