Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 23 May 2000

Vol. 519 No. 5

Written Answers. - School Discipline.

Jim O'Keeffe

Ceist:

322 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Education and Science the arrangements in place to cater for the education of children at second level who have been expelled or otherwise have to leave their school; and the options for education open to such students. [14117/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods):

As the Deputy will probably be aware, 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.

At present, if a parent of a pupil contacts my Department indicating that his-her child has been excluded from a school he or she is advised in the first instance to make contact with the managerial authority of the school to appeal the decision. If the matter cannot be resolved locally my Department will make contact with the school, at the written request of the parent. My Department can only attempt to resolve the matter through a process of negotiation, as it does not have the power to compel the managerial authority of a school to vary its decision. In some circumstances it may be possible to negotiate the readmission of the pupil to his-her original school or to obtain the co-operation of that school in securing an alternative school place.

Where the approach that I have outlined is not possible, my Department will continue to seek to make educational provision available to the pupil. The way in which my Department will do this will depend on the circumstances applying in an individual case. Where the student and his or her parents are anxious that he-she returns to school, my Department offers assistance in locating a school placement and will make direct contact with schools seeking such placement. If it appears that the pupil may need additional support in order to cope in school my Department will offer the necessary additional resources to a school willing to consider enrolling the pupil. The national educational psychological service – NEPS – is available to provide advice and recommendations in such cases. When it appears likely that a young person may be out of school for a time while awaiting enrolment in another school my Department will offer a grant to the parents of the pupil towards the cost of providing some tuition for the pupil at home as an interim measure. In other cases alternative programmes, such as the Youthreach programme, can provide a young person who has been excluded from school with a suitable educational placement.