Over 100 pupils at home with 'school phobia' during first term

One principal said that oftentimes the only available support for these children is a spot on a 'waiting list, rather than active therapy.' Picture: Ben Birchall/PA

More than 100 students were unable to attend school in the first half of the new term due to ‘school phobia’, depression, or anxiety.

Ahead of the mid-term break, figures provided to the Irish Examiner show 114 children had received home tuition so far this term, due to a diagnosis of ‘school phobia’ and/or associated depression and anxiety.

The Department of Education grants home tuition in “exceptional cases” for students suffering from mental health conditions that cause major disruption to their attendance at school.

Figures from the department show that 371 children accessed home tuition on mental health grounds for a period of time last year.

‘School phobia’, or school refusal and school avoidance, refers to a student’s refusal to attend school or difficulty remaining in classes for an entire day.

School principal Enda McGorman said schools are “definitely” seeing more school avoidance after lockdowns.

Post Covid change 

Mr McGorman is the principal of a primary school in Dublin 15, and a member of the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN).

Ironically, the lockdown stage gave children who were anxious about school respite, because everybody was at home.

“In a sense, for a short time at least, for children with anxieties around school attendance, that pressure seemed to be off.

“There was some anecdotal evidence that they were able to engage in online learning [well] but the return to school has not helped, and I think people will agree that anxiety levels have increased significantly over that period,” he said. 

Each school views each case of school refusal on its own merits, he added.

“If it's something that can be dealt with school support, maybe talking to the principal, talking to the class teacher, and giving the parent some advice," Mr McGorman explained.

“Sometimes once a parent gets the child past the threshold of the front door, sometimes that can be enough once the school can meet the child.

“I certainly would have seen cases where the school says ‘just leave it with us let’s see how we manage for the day', where you take it day by day and just reassure the child.

It could be in school issues, there could be anxiety, it could be workload, it could be friendships. That’s the first level of engagement.

Lack of external support

However, when further support is needed, access to the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is “absolutely limited” and access to other external services is “geographical”.

“If it’s extreme anxiety, the GP will be the first port of call because we can’t make referrals to CAMHS.

“If there’s a referral to the GP, the GP may decide it merits a CAMHS intervention, to which there will be a waiting list, there’s no doubt about it.

In terms of school refusal per se and lower-level anxiety relative in relation to suicidal ideation, the supports are literally waiting lists rather than active therapy, is what our experience is.

The Department of Education said the purpose of the Home Tuition grant is to provide funding for the provision of a compensatory educational service for children who, for a number of specific reasons, are unable to attend school.

Home tuition is not an alternative to a school placement, it added. “By its nature, it is intended to be a short-term intervention."