Schools 'bribing' pupils with pizza in bid to boost school attendance

Schools were recently issued with a once-off attendance grant by the Department of Education as part of a national campaign on school attendance overseen by the Tusla Education Support Service.

Schools are offering rewards, vouchers, or “bribery” such as pizza and hot chocolate as incentives to boost school attendance, while the measures targeting long-term absences miss the point, a charity has warned.

Offering rewards as means to drive attendance “at all costs” disproportionately affects neurodivergent or marginalised children who are struggling to attend school in the first place, according to Neurodiversity Ireland chief executive Nessa Hill.