Minister moves on primary school absenteeism

CHILDREN’S Minister Frances Fitzgerald has asked for a report on the legal status of tens of thousands of children who are outside the law on tackling school absenteeism until they turn six.

The Irish Examiner revealed last week that more than 98% of children are aged four or five up to the start of the second term of junior infants.

Department of Education figures suggest about half the 67,000 pupils who started primary education last week will still not be covered by the Education (Welfare) Act until sometime in 2013.

This means the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) is powerless to intervene formally with parents of these children if they are missing school regularly.

Its educational welfare officers (EWOs) can only take sanctions against families of pupils aged six to 16 as these are the ages at which the law makes it obligatory to be in education.

A spokesman for Ms Fitzgerald said there are a few areas that need examining in the context of overall provision of NEWB services.

He said: “The chief executive has been asked to prepare a document for early submission and further consideration by the minister on the law and the issue of ages.”

The briefing paper is likely to explore the implications of extending powers of EWOs to cover children under the age of six who are registered in primary schools.

It is understood that NEWB is broadly in favour of addressing the issue and a senior EWO who retired after 30 years’ working on school attendance last week said it would help them if they had legal authority to work with younger children.

The board is expected to outline the potential benefits of being able to provide more early interventions. It may also look at legal changes that could provide the home school community liaison programme and the school completion programme with a function to work with younger pupils at preventing absenteeism.

But the report may also examine the likely implications on any such extended powers on NEWB’s resources. Its staffing has fallen from 109 in 2009 because of a public service recruitment ban.

The board has been unable to respond as legally required to all cases of children who miss more than 20 days in a school year, but new procedures are being used to prioritise cases and improve efficiency.

The funding and operation of NEWB passed to the Department of Children from the Department of Education earlier this year.