Ms Anne Mc Elduff:

I would assure the members that while we are talking about some complaints, and that is obviously very serious, more than 95% of concerns and issues are resolved directly between teachers and parents. That is something we encourage and something teachers and principals are committed to doing. Every single day in the school, a very worthwhile discussion takes place about that. Our complaints procedure is standard in the sense of moving from informal to informal, encouraging informal dialogue first to resolve matters and then going more formally to the board.

It is the case also that, no matter who makes a decision, there are many decisions taken by boards that teachers are equally not happy with. Somebody has to make the decision and there is no right of appeal for the teacher either when the teacher is on the other side of it.

For some of the areas mentioned today, policies on issues such as discipline or bullying would have been drawn up in consultation with the parent body. I appreciate that there are difficulties in regard to bullying. Nobody wants to label children, whether victims or perpetrators. Sometimes there can be a mismatch between an expectation and what a school can do. Often, bullying issues arise outside schools but come into them. Teachers try to deal with these issues in a holistic manner.

In regard to children who miss school for a long period, there are provisions for statutory appeals and for the education welfare officer to become involved in those cases.