Michael Creed
Ceist:845 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Education and Science the proposals he has to deal with the problem of school discipline at post primary level. [26757/01]
Written Answers. - School Discipline.
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 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.
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 schools, involving my Department's inspectorate, to assist in the re-instatement of the pupil in the school, or alternatively, his or 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.
While these measures provide protection for students, I have, in addition, brought forward a comprehensive range of legislative measures in the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, to address general issues related to 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 suspensions that last at least six days to their local educational welfare officer. Schools will also be required 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. The automatic involvement of the officer in these situations will provide a key means for the early identification and support of children at risk of dropping out of school.