Concerns over education rights of expelled students

THE education system does not make adequate provisions for children expelled from school for bad behaviour, the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) has warned.

The board is responsible for ensuring all children receive an appropriate education, including those who are suspended or expelled from school for misbehaviour.

The 1998 Education Act has given all students a right of appeal, which has made it more difficult for school boards to expel them.

Teacher unions and school managers have suggested the law needs to be changed to favour well-behaved students whose education is affected by disruptive classmates.

But in its submission to a government task force on the discipline issue, the NEWB said it did not favour any weakening of access to the appeals system.

“It allows parents and children to appeal a decision to expel a child from school, and it has been positive for both schools and students,” the NEWB said.

But the board said the issue of expulsion raises a fundamental anomaly within Irish education.

“As long as the right to expel a child remains in place, it must be matched by legal and educational provision for an expelled child to have access to education,” the submission outlined.

The board advised the task force, chaired by Dr Maeve Martin from NUI Maynooth’s education department, that traditional school disciplinary responses such as detention, standing outside classrooms, suspensions or expulsions presented a major challenge in terms of school attendance.

“Any strategy used by a teacher or a school to address problem behaviour must be guided by a welfare focus. In other words, the educational welfare of a child removed from the learning environment should be of equal concern as the child who is in the classroom,” it said.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin set up the task force in January amid growing concern about discipline in second level schools.

She has asked the group to recommend measures next month which can be implemented from next autumn.

While unions have urged changes to the law on the issue of appeals, many teachers favour a system where appropriate tuition could be given to disruptive students in a non-classroom setting at their school. They suggest this would help ensure that badly behaved students receive their entitlement to education.