Dick Spring
Ceist:97 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Education and Science the strategy in place to deal with the growing problem of indiscipline in schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12373/01]
Vol. 535 No. 2
97 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Education and Science the strategy in place to deal with the growing problem of indiscipline in schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12373/01]
119 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Education and Science if he is satisfied that there is uniformity in the way schools approach the issue of discipline generally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11641/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 97 and 119 together.
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 suspensions and expulsions only as a last resort.
The report on discipline, commissioned by my Department and completed by Dr. Maeve Martin, deals comprehensively with the issue of discipline in schools and sets out models of best practice in this area. A copy of the report was sent to all schools and is, I am sure, a valuable resource for school authorities in this area.
In addition, my Department gives assistance in securing placement in individual cases. Typically, this can arise where a pupil has been excluded as a result of disruptive behaviour and where alternative arrangements need to be made. In these circumstances my Department endeavours, through a process of consultation with the schools involving the inspectorate, to assist in the re-instatement of the pupil in the school or, alternatively, his-her placement in another school. In more difficult situations the national educational psychological service is available to assess pupils in order to determine the nature and extent of any special needs, with a view to having them addressed in the most appropriate manner.