Children at special schools miss twice as many days

CHILDREN attending special schools are missing twice as much time at school as other pupils – but staff feel greater medical support and links to home could help address the imbalance.

An analysis of attendance at the country’s 4,000 primary and second-level schools shows that 11% – or one-in-nine – of all school days in 100 special schools was lost through absences in the 2007/2008 school year. The absence rate compares to just 5.7% of days lost at 2,435 mainstream primary schools whose attendances were also analysed for the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB).

While a higher absenteeism rate may be expected because of the high numbers of pupils in special schools who have complex medical needs, the Irish Association of Teachers in Special Education (IATSE) feels other issues may also be at play.