Dr. Lindsey Liston:

I will come in on attendance, the data and whether there is a difference in respect of vulnerable children. The data we in Ireland collect makes a distinction between DEIS and non-DEIS. We know that DEIS schools have higher rates of absence, so we can deduce that there is a level of vulnerability there compared with non-DEIS schools. When we look internationally at the data, we can see the groups of children who are most at risk of exclusion from education, whether through expulsion or suspension or other forms of informal exclusion within that system because the system will not bend with the child but instead wants the child to fit into the system. Those most affected are children with disabilities, children of colour and children from poorer backgrounds. All the international data tells us those are the three cohorts of children who are particularly at risk of non-attendance. Different things affect their attendance. It is not always behavioural on the part of the child. There are issues within schools when resources are not there. Schools sometimes do things informally. The intention is not to harm but it comes back to not having those wraparound services available in school whereby a child can be taken out for ten minutes when there is a serious behavioural episode and for that child to be regulated and come back in. Such children could spend 20 minutes with a music therapist or an art therapist, but those supports may not be there. The tendency is to say that the problem is in the minds, bodies and communities of these children and their families rather than to say that our systems are not flexible enough.

Much of the literature tells us that we are not checking with children how they are experiencing types of interventions in school. Much of their behaviour is kicking back against that. It is kicking back against what they see as discrimination. They ask, "Why am I getting this?" We are not giving children the respect of explaining to them why we are doing certain things and what it is we are doing. We must understand the behaviour. That is one thing. We must also understand what it tells us, which is probably most important. Money is great, and we absolutely need it, but one of the most positive forms of intervention is relationships. That is what it comes down to. Children need to feel that their presence is welcome. Parents need to feel that their presence is welcome. They need to feel like they are not being pushed away or shushed away and told we do not have the resources, that there are 400 children in a school and that the parents are just going to have to take their children home. Relationships are key. It is not always easy to do when we have to meet regulatory compliance and all of that, but that is essentially what the data is telling us. There is a difference. Certain children are more at risk. In Ireland, we know that children who attend DEIS schools have higher rates of absence than those who attend non-DEIS schools. I apologise for the long answer but the data tell an important story about how education works for some.