Waterford to go without three educational welfare officers until at least May

During the 2022/23 school year, more than 25% of primary school children and 20% of post-primary school students missed at least a month of school. File Picture: Danny Lawson/PA

An entire county, which includes some of the poorest areas in Munster, is without the dedicated staff needed to make sure children are attending school.

At a time when school attendance rates are in the spotlight, Waterford City and county has been left without its three educational welfare officers (EWO) to track cases of extended school absenteeism.

Educational welfare officers make up a crucial strand of the Tusla Education Support Services (Tess) — working on school attendance, participation, and retention.

During the 2022/23 school year, more than 25% of primary school children and 20% of post-primary school students missed at least a month of school.

In response to a recent parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Conor McGuinness, education minister Helen McEntee confirmed that the three positions in Waterford will remain vacant until May at the earliest.

“Teachers and professionals in the education sector are very concerned about increases in school non-attendance, particularly following covid,” said Mr McGuinness.

“Anecdotally, at least, the lack of education welfare officers working on the ground in Waterford is having a negative impact on the efforts of multi-disciplinary teams in schools to engage with children who are at risk of non-attendance.

It's having a real impact on the ground

Mr McGuinness called for the positions to be filled as soon as possible. 

"I hope they will be filled as soon as possible. Having them filled in May is better than not having them filled for another year.

"However, it means that another whole academic year will have gone by without those three positions for the city and county being filled. It's simply not good enough.” 

The Sinn Féin TD added that he will work with Government on the issue. 

National recruitment campaign

In response to the parliamentary question raised by Mr McGuinness, Ms McEntee said a national recruitment campaign for educational welfare officers is underway. She added that a new panel will be formed by early March.

“Tusla Education Support Services expects the positions to be filled from this panel in May," she said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said there are currently 150 educational welfare officers and more than 25 senior educational welfare officers — an increase from 90 and 12 respectively since the Tusla Education Support Services came under the auspices of the Department of Education in 2020.

A senior educational welfare officer and a duty educational welfare officer are currently providing service to Waterford City and county

"In the 2024/25 school year, Tusla Education Support Services will continue to build on the progress made and equip schools with the knowledge and skills to be able to interrogate their own attendance data, and plan for and support better attendance at school level.”