Mr. Noel Kelly:

On behalf of Tusla, I thank the committee for this opportunity to address it on the matter of reduced timetables. Tusla's educational welfare service, EWS, which I represent, supports every child and young person’s right to education and the right of every child to attend for the full school day unless exempted for exceptional reasons. The key legislation related to school attendance, as referenced by Deputy Thomas Byrne a few minutes ago, is outlined in the Education (Welfare) Act 2000. In order to assist schools to comply with their obligations under this legislation, the National Educational Welfare Board, which preceded the Tusla educational welfare service, along with Tusla, have provided two resource booklets to schools, namely, Developing a Code of Behaviour: Guidelines for Schools, which was issued in 2008, and; Developing the Statement of Strategy for School Attendance, which was issued to all schools in 2015. Hard copies of these have been issued to all schools and soft copies are available online.

Under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, schools are obliged to submit reports on school attendance to the educational welfare service in the following four key circumstances: if a student has been suspended for six or more consecutive days; if a student has reached 20 days' cumulative absence during the course of a school year; if a principal is concerned about a student’s attendance, a decision which a principal can make at any stage or if the board of management of a school intends to expel a student.

Guidance has been provided to schools on reduced timetables and suspensions. This refers to the question Deputy Thomas Byrne just asked and I will quote from both of these guidelines which say the following:

Exclusion of a student for part of the school day, as a sanction, or asking parents to keep a child from school, as a sanction, is a suspension. Any exclusion imposed by the school is a suspension, and should follow the Guidelines relating to suspension.

That has been clear in both of those guidelines since 2008.

Under section 29 of the Education Act 1998, parents have the right to appeal any suspension and Tusla's educational welfare service is available to advise and support parents should they wish to make such an appeal. Tusla educational welfare service is aware that reduced timetables are being used in some schools but our awareness, like other witnesses, is informed by anecdotal information, information from representative groups and information from parents who contact us seeking support with their child. There is a lack of hard data available to gauge the extent of the use of reduced timetables, as in many cases, as said previously, it appears to be unrecorded and unreported.

We recognise that as some other witnesses have said, schools face many complex needs on a daily basis and Tusla educational welfare service is aware that in certain exceptional circumstances, the use of a reduced timetable may be beneficial for a student. However, any such arrangements should be short-term in nature, have regular scheduled reviews, be in the best interest of the student, have an accompanying education plan, have an accompanying plan for full integration and be agreed by the school, the parents, the guardians and the student.

Tusla educational welfare service is working with our partners in education and our parent Department to address the issue of reduced timetables. We have prepared a proposed response, which we can share with members later. I thank the Chairman and members for the opportunity to make this brief opening statement.