Ms Yvonne Keating:

On the data, to date the Department's inspectorate has been collecting data on a number of matters relating to anti-bullying in schools. It has been doing this through two main evaluation models. One is the whole-school evaluation model and the other is a bespoke, in-depth, stand-alone child protection and safeguarding inspection model.

I will deal first with the type of data and information we are collecting through the whole-school evaluation model. During the whole-school evaluation, the inspectorate reviews the school's anti-bullying policy. That policy may also be reviewed in the context of SPHE-focused inspections at primary and post-primary level. If, in the course of these inspections, an inspector finds that a school does not have an anti-bullying policy or is not implementing the policy appropriately, he or she will make recommendations for improvement. While it is the responsibility of the principal and board to implement those recommendations, the inspector keeps a watching brief and follows up as needed. There is another important source of data that the inspectorate gathers through these whole school evaluations, which is surveys of parents, students and teachers. These surveys contain a number of items related to anti-bullying in schools. The data from those surveys is analysed. It is also discussed and shared with the school to enable the school to use it to inform its own anti-bullying measures. It is also used to inform the inspection findings, to advise the school and it may be referenced in the evaluation report that is published. Data collected by the Department's inspectorate through these whole school evaluation surveys is collated and the key insights arising will be updated further and reported on in the chief inspector's report, which is due to be published in the third quarter this year.

The child protection and safeguarding inspections are another important source of data and information on anti-bullying measures in schools. During these inspections, group discussions are held with a random selection of students in primary and post-primary schools. As part of the discussions between the inspectors and primary school pupils, the themes of friendship and bullying are explored to ascertain the depth of understanding of pupils of the various forms of bullying, including exclusion, racist and homophobic bullying, bullying of children with special educational needs and cyberbullying. Similarly, in post-primary schools during these discussions inspectors inquire into the students' knowledge and understanding of issues relating to personal safety, building and maintaining relationships and various kinds of bullying. In the context of these child protection and safeguarding inspections, surveys of parents are carried out and focus groups with parents are also conducted. These focus on a number of anti-bullying items, including the climate in the school, how parents feel about the school and their awareness of the school's child protection procedures, including its anti-bullying policy.

Looking to the future, the inspectorate is working to strengthen its oversight of, and reporting on, the implementation of anti-bullying procedures in schools. In that regard, in the coming school year inspectors will, during incidental inspections in primary and post-primary schools, look at the following areas: the extent to which schools have anti-bullying policies in place; the timely reporting by principals to the board on anti-bullying matters as required under the 2013 procedures; the annual review by boards of management of anti-bullying; the communication of the school's anti-bullying policies to all members of the school community, including parents; and the recording of incidents of bullying behaviour in accordance with the 2013 procedures. The findings on anti-bullying measures in schools will be used to inform a composite report which will, in turn, feed into the way forward at departmental level in respect of anti-bullying.

On the issue of SPHE as raised by the Deputy, the committee should note that the curriculum is due to be reviewed at junior cycle. From 2023, schools will be advised to include the SPHE short course as part of their well-being programme. The brief for the review of the current junior cycle SPHE course has been drafted and will be considered by the board of the NCCA this summer. Following an updated specification at junior cycle, work will begin on updating the senior cycle SPHE curriculum.