Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I thank the committee for the invitation today. As was stated earlier, the Ombudsman for Children's office, OCO, is an independent human rights institution established under the Ombudsman for Children Act 2002 to promote and monitor the rights of children in Ireland. We examine and investigate complaints made by or on behalf of children about the administrative actions of public bodies. We are independent and impartial, and act neither as an advocate for the child nor as an adversary of the public body. We respect and promote local complaints procedures, and we aim to achieve systemic change that addresses the root causes of complaints.

I am statutorily obliged to consider the best interests of the child and to give due to consideration to the wishes of the child, in accordance with age and understanding. I also have a statutory remit to promote and monitor the rights and welfare of children. This involves a number of actions, one of which is to advise on legislation as I am doing today. It is the opinion of my office that the general scheme of the Education (Parent and Student Charter) Bill sets out a sound legislative framework to improve engagement between schools, students and parents. It will also increase consistency across schools' complaints handling practices. The implementation of a charter across all schools will see a cultural shift in how they operate. It will see a move away from reacting to and dealing with grievances after they occur. Instead, schools will have to engage proactively with students and parents to establish their views and positively invite feedback, and will have to be open to concerns and negative comments. The early identification of concerns will allow problems to be considered and dealt with by the school, and will minimise or avoid reliance on formal compliant procedures. The guidelines on the charter will also include procedures to deal with any grievances that occur once the charter is in place.

This very much complies with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNCRC, and will be a significant move towards fulfilling commitments made by all the Departments under the national policy framework for children and young people, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures. In February 2016, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that Ireland should ensure the Education Act 1998 is amended to guarantee the right of the child to be heard in individual cases. By bringing forward this Bill, the Minister is beginning the implementation of that recommendation. The Education (Parent and Student Charter) Bill provides an opportunity for the general principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to be incorporated in legislation, both through specific provisions and at a more general level. The full implementation of Article 12 in this educational context is of particular importance because it enshrines children’s right to freely express their views in all matters involving or affecting them.

The Bill also seeks to strengthen the role of my office when dealing with complaints about schools. In 2015, some 45% of the complaints we received were about education and of those, three quarters related to individual schools. In our experience, local resolution involving children, parents and boards of management leads to fast and effective conclusions. However, there are cases where more difficult complaints arise and it is important that there is a robust system in place. This Bill would require boards of management to consider any suggestions, guidance or recommendations issued by my office and would provide the Minister for Education and Skills with a power of direction in respect of the encouragements or recommendations of my office. It should be noted that this is likely to be used sparingly.

While this legislation will strengthen the work my office can do with schools, the statutory role and independence of the OCO will in no way be compromised. I wish to emphasise the importance of consulting with children and young people at policy level when developing the legislation that will provide for the establishment of the charter. If we move forward with a change-around in terminology to call it a student and parent charter, this would put the emphasis on children. Children should also have their views taken into account when developing individual school charters.

In respect of the Education (Amendment) Bill 2015, I last appeared before this committee on 21 October 2015, the same day that Deputy Jim Daly first presented his Private Members' Bill to the Dáil. As outlined in our submission today, I believe that the Education (Parent and Student Charter) Bill addresses the issue of principals and boards who do not respond to the encouragements and recommendations of my office. Establishing an ombudsman for education with legally binding powers would add another legal layer without addressing the systemic problem. It would result in confusion and new legal costs for schools and families, many of whom may not be able to afford such costs. This would change the whole dynamic of complaint handling and would undoubtedly lead to longer delays. I feel strongly that it would demotivate parents and carers from bringing complaints.

It is also important to note that from a practical point of view, in respect of many of the complaints received by my office, while the main issue may be education related, there may be aspects involving disability, health, children in care, housing or other issues. At present my office has the ability to address such complaints in their entirety. This allows us to work across various Departments and organisations to achieve local resolution, or to effectively investigate a complaint.

Since I last appeared before this committee, Part V of the Education Act has been implemented. This allows for professional conduct issues to be properly addressed via the Teaching Council. This was a change called for by the OCO since we were set up. I expect that this will have a significant impact on complaints handling in schools and will afford parents a much more direct route to complain about professional misconduct.

Since the establishment of the OCO, we have investigated many education complaints and our recommendations have contributed to positive systemic change in a number of areas. In individual schools, too, we have successfully worked with principals and boards during preliminary inquiries. We work to improve communications with parents and children, to highlight and alleviate gaps in policies and to enhance engagement with students. We look forward to the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill which will introduce designation, called for by this office after we published an investigation into a case where one student was refused access to 28 schools. In 2016, we published a report on complaints received regarding the State Examination Commission’s reasonable accommodations for certificate examinations, RACE, scheme, which provides exam supports for children with specific learning needs. This scheme has since been reviewed. Our Education In Focus report, published in 2016, outlines other work carried out by the office in the area of education. I very much believe that the parent and student charter would place Ireland in a strong position internationally in respect of our obligations under the UNCRC and it would attest strongly to the Government’s promise to deliver on the commitments made under Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures. It is the opinion of my office that the parent and student charter would best serve children and young people by developing a culture of participation and engagement. It also provides a robust complaints procedure in those cases where a local resolution cannot be achieved. I look forward to working with the committee in advancing this legislation in the best interests of children. I thank the members for their time.