Mr. Ward has already addressed the issue of home tuition. Home tuition, as Mr. Ward explained, is where there is a short-term issue such as where, for example, a child has been expelled. The Department of Education and Science has a budget to assist where there is a short-term difficulty and we are trying to make an arrangement, for example, for another school or where there may be an appeal ongoing. At present 800 children avail of home tuition.
Home education, which is children being educated at home, comes under our remit under section 14 of the Act. We have the remit to assess the education under the Minister's guidelines, which were issued in November.
Deputy Curran is correct that there are many other factors that surround an attendance issue. These can include supports at home, the parental situation, the quality of education at school and the attractiveness of a school for children or for parents. Under the Act we have a remit, on which we are starting work, which involves helping schools develop school attendance strategies. This covers nine areas from, for example, schools recognising good attendance all the way through to schools looking at their curriculum, teaching practices, etc., to see how they can develop strategies for improving school attendance. We will be developing those guidelines. We are already working with a school development planning initiative under the Department of Education and Science. We have been co-operating with the Department in providing seminars around the country for teachers involved in school planning and we will be working on our guidelines in that area.
Deputy Curran also mentioned the issue of parents having access to the data and Mr. Ward addressed that point. It is correct to assume when the board communicates the data to parents, it will develop its own way of reporting. There is a story in every school. We will issue guidelines to schools in the next couple of weeks, part of which will address school attendance records and what is required. For us, school attendance records form the core information.
Deputy Crowe said children might be absent from school because they were being bullied or there were problems about the school uniform or parents felt the school was not making them welcome, for example, in respect of cost. Our national helpline has fielded over 3,000 calls, many of which concerned these issues because parents believe they cannot raise them directly with schools. The helpline is staffed by experienced welfare officers who explain to parents how they should address these issues. It may be a matter of how they should communicate with the school or even as basic as how they should contact the principal and make an appointment or simply giving advice on these issues. We try to address the problems through the helpline. There are many reasons children are not in school. We will address this issue in research in the next year.
I live in the constituency of Laoighis-Offaly which has no educational welfare officer. We are trying to establish permanent offices for such officers, some of whom work alone, which has implications for the board. It has taken the six to eight months to get offices up and running. We are in the process of setting up the last two or three. Before moving into their offices, effectively, officers worked from home. The offices are necessary because of the need for privacy, confidentiality and security of the children's files. We have several schemes operating on a pilot basis to make the offices available to the public in order that parents will not be confined to contacting us by telephone. As professional workers, it is important for us to have a professional workplace from where our officers will be in direct contact with head office through email etc.
Deputy O'Sullivan raised the problem being encountered in Limerick. This is a good example of how the National Educational Welfare Board, the Department of Education and Science and other services in Limerick came together to resolve a difficult issue. The board has arranged a meeting with the Department which will consider, with the individual groups such as home-school liaison teachers and visiting teachers for Travellers, how we can improve liaison and the lessons to be drawn from this nationally.
With parents, schools have the first responsibility to ensure children are in school. If we are not given extra resources, for example, through the home-school liaison scheme or school completion project, we will not change this. Our statutory responsibility is to ensure the work is done. A good example is the transfer of pupils from primary to secondary school. Limerick offers a perfect example. Before we arrived in January, there were children who had not transferred. Through co-ordination with us, they were brought to light, with the other issue which was separate but related.
Educational welfare officers come from a wide range of backgrounds: some are teachers while others are former nurses, social workers, youth workers and staff from Barnardo's. I am a former school principal. All come from child-related services and interacted with children and parents in their previous careers. This enriches the organisation of the National Educational Welfare Board which is not just a school based organisation; it does not view situations through the school prism. As a group, we have wide experience and can look at issues from different points of view. This helps us relate to other agencies with which we work, whether the health boards or other children's organisations. There are officers who have worked in such organisations. Therefore, we are not new to this work.
We do not have a direct relationship with the State Examinations Commission because communication with it about attendance difficulties is first and foremost a matter for the school principal. However, the board is willing to give assistance if needed but the principal makes the first contact.
