Mr. Noel Kelly:

The home school community liaison scheme is important to me because I happened to be one of the first 45 people in the scheme back in the 1990s. It propelled me on a different route in my career and I have not been back in a classroom since. One could say that is probably for the good of children.

The scheme was set up in 1990 under the auspices of the Department of Education and Skills. It is now a central component of Tusla's education welfare services and is used as a means of reaching out to and engaging families in the education of their children. It has continued to expand and remains central to the Delivering Equality of Opportunities in Schools, DEIS, programme and is a main policy intervention from the Department of Education and Skills to address educational disadvantage. Together with the school completion programme and the statutory educational welfare services, the home school community liaison scheme is working to deliver a fully integrated, streamlined and cost-effective service in schools serving designated areas of disadvantage.

The overall aim of the integrated services is to improve school attendance and participation, as well as the retention of children in education, thus improving their life chances. The strategic goals of Tusla, namely, keeping children safe, enabling families to make good decisions about their health and lifestyles, helping children engage with education and develop as active citizens, capable of economic independence, imply that partnership with communities, agencies and families is central to its work. This model of partnership working continues to be central to the home school community liaison scheme. This approach is about building positive and trusting relationships with communities and families, particularly reaching out to the most marginalised families and developing and maintaining high levels of skills and motivation.

Together with social work and educational welfare services, the home school community liaison scheme is uniquely placed to deliver a comprehensive range of services, along a continuum of care to marginalised children and families, utilising international best practice and evidence-based interventions. These are proportionate and effective in achieving improved outcomes.