Ms Maria Tobin:

I was a home school community liaison scheme co-ordinator in Limerick for six years. The scheme is particularly close to my heart and I am delighted to present to the committee on it today.

The goals which underpin all work of the home school community liaison scheme are to maximise the active participation of children in the learning process, in particular, those who might be at risk of failure; and to promote active co-operation between home, school and relevant community agencies in promoting the educational interests of children. Prior to the home school community liaison scheme, schools may not have been linking in as much as they do now with community networks. The scheme aims to raise parents' awareness of their own capacity to enhance their children's progress and to assist them in developing relevant skills.

It aims to enhance children's uptake from education, their retention in the system and their continuation to post-compulsory education, as well as to enhance children's attitudes to life-long learning and to disseminate the positive outcomes from the scheme throughout the school system.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has responsibility for the operational management of the home school community liaison, HSCL, scheme through an integrated services strategy. One national integrated services manager employed by Tusla and four senior managers, who are teachers seconded by the Department of Education and Skills to Tusla, have overall responsibility for the implementation and development of both DEIS policy and planning strategies with HSCL and for Tusla’s strategic goals regarding educational welfare. The 416 full-time HSCL co-ordinators are all teachers in the designated schools and are assigned for a five-year term to HSCL duties. As teachers, they have a unique understanding of pedagogy and of strategies that help parents to support the education of their children. At school level, there is a clear focus on targeting in a planned and cohesive manner, improved planning and evidence-based interventions and measurement of outcomes. To this end, all HSCL co-ordinators are undergoing a comprehensive programme of continuous professional development, CPD, in order that they are better equipped to deliver a streamlined, coherent and consistent service. As members of their school staffs, co-ordinators are to the forefront of promoting a school-wide approach to addressing issues of educational disadvantage, as well as of cultural change.

Home school community liaison co-ordinators run several initiatives to improve literacy and numeracy in line with national strategies. They facilitate the active involvement of parents at curricular and policy level in schools and they train parents to become a resource to one other, to their school and above all, to their own children. Furthermore, as part of their integrated work with the other two strands of the educational welfare service, namely, the school completion programme and statutory educational welfare service, Home school community liaison co-ordinators ensure that all possible supports and initiatives will have been attempted prior to formal referrals being made to the statutory arm of the service. At local level, co-ordinators operate a cluster model of support where co-ordinators in a close geographical area come together to formulate action plans, share best practice, provide mutual support and develop effective interventions in their own schools.