Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2010
122 Deputy Arthur Morgan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if she will be announcing any new measures to combat early school leaving; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33615/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has adopted a broad-based approach to tackling early school leaving. Enhancing attendance, progression, retention and attainment are central elements of DEIS, the Action Plan for Educational Inclusion. The DEIS plan was launched in 2005 and currently includes some 879 Schools serving the most disadvantaged communities in the Country.
The School Completion Programme (SCP) is an important component of my Department's strategy to target children and young people who are at risk of early school leaving. The programme currently targets approximately 36,000 young people between the ages of 4 and 18 years and supports 468 primary and 223 post-primary schools in 124 Programme sites across 26 counties. The programme is designed to directly target those in danger of dropping out of the education system and favours an integrated cross-community and cross-sectoral approach based on the development of local strategies to ensure maximum participation levels in the education process.
The main aims of the School Completion Programme are:
To retain young people in the formal education system, or equivalent, to successful completion of the Senior Cycle;
To improve the quality of participation and educational attainment of targeted children and young people in the educational process;
To bring together all local stakeholders (home, school, youth and community/statutory and voluntary) to tackle early school leaving;
To offer positive supports in primary and post-primary schools towards the alleviation of educational disadvantage;
To influence in a positive way policies relating to the alleviation of early school leaving in the school system.
€31 million has been allocated to the School Completion Programme in 2010. Funding is provided to projects to devise and implement strategies for the whole-school, for individual students and those who are already outside of the formal system. Provision includes in-school, after-school, out-of-school and holiday time supports to enhance the young person's readiness to benefit from education.
Since September, 2009, the remit of the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) has been extended to bring together the School Completion Programme (SCP), the Home School Community Liaison Service (HSCL), the National Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the Visiting Teacher Service for Travellers (VTST) under one common management team. The underlying rationale for this new single strategic approach, acknowledging and utilising the combined strengths and capacities of the four services, is to deliver better outcomes for children, families and schools. Combining these four services to deliver a composite service at national, regional and local levels is a positive development and one that will in time realise significant benefits.
My Department has asked the NEWB to bring forward recommendations for a "single strategic approach" to delivery of all services to establish improvements in identifying children at risk of early school leaving or of developing poor attendance profiles. This will lead to earlier response rates. The new approach should also provide improvements in developing local and national responses to tackling attendance and early school leaving.
My Department makes alternative provision for young people in the 15-20 age group who have left school early without any qualifications or vocational training. The Youthreach programme, which is operated by the VECs, is an integrated programme of education, training and work experience introduced jointly with FÁS in 1989.
While the problem of early school leaving continues to be a major concern, improvements in the numbers of students leaving school early have been recorded in recent years. The latest Retention Report published by my Department last November shows yearly improvements in retention rates — rising from an estimated 81% to 85% for entrants to second level in 1996 and 2001 respectively. Retention rates of pupils in Second-Level School Cohort can be found on my Department's website — www.education.ie
I will continue to prioritise spending in favour of those from marginalised and disadvantaged communities and I will sustain the commitment to improve the delivery of services to schools and communities to enable them to enhance the educational experience for all of their pupils.
