Ceist:
54 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of children who have been expelled from primary and secondary schools in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11310/01]
Written Answers - School Discipline.
The Education Act, 1998 provides that each school board of management must publish the policy of the school concerning admission to and participation in the school, including the policy of the school relating to the expulsion of students.
Each board of management is responsible for formulating, in consultation with parents, a fair and efficient code of behaviour. This code should ensure that the individuality of each child is accommodated while acknowledging the right of each child to education in a relatively disruption free environment. This code should include provision for dealing with serious breaches of discipline and continuously disruptive pupils.
My Department has issued guidelines to boards of management to assist them in discharging their obligations in the area of school discipline. These guidelines were drawn up following consultation with representatives of management, teachers and parents and are sufficiently flexible to allow each school authority to adapt them to suit the particular needs of the school. These guidelines lay considerable stress on the use of expulsion only as a last resort.
Under the rules for national schools no pupil can be struck off the rolls for breaches of discipline without the prior consent of the patron and unless alternative arrangements are made for the enrolment of the pupil at another suitable school.
As expulsion from school is a matter for each school authority, my Department has no information on the numbers of pupils who may have been expelled over the past five years.
The Education Act has also made provision for new appeal procedures in order to address grievances at school level, including expulsion. These procedures will bring a greater transparency to decisions by schools in relation to expulsion and also promote fair procedures at school level. In particular, the right to appeal to a national appeals committee in relation to a decision by a school to expel will bring a better balance to the rights and obligations of all concerned.
I have also brought forward a comprehensive range of legislative measures in the Education (Welfare) Act to address generally issues related to school attendance and discipline in schools. The legislation provides for the establishment of a national educational welfare board with responsibility for monitoring school attendance on a countrywide basis. The board will employ educational welfare officers who will be deployed locally to assist all recognised primary and second level schools. The Act requires schools to report to their educational welfare officer before expelling any student. In such instances the role of the educational welfare officer will be to bring together the relevant parties to try and identify a mutually agreeable solution to provide for the education of the student concerned.