Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Yes. The school cannot kick it into touch. The Bill provides that the appeals committee can draw inferences from the school failing to comply with the requirement to give information, limiting the capacity of the school to defer decisions on enrolments.

Deputy O'Sullivan asked about expelling a student. The educational welfare officer must be notified before a student is expelled and a student cannot be expelled before 20 days have passed. Some Deputies asked whether such expelled students were thrown out on to the street. Anybody below a certain age must be accommodated in another school. I accept that one size does not fit all and some have particular difficulties. We are currently carrying out an audit of other out-of-school provisions that include Youthreach and the youth encounter project and provide very valuable work, with a view to seeing how they can be strengthened. A recommendation was made for a junior Youthreach, which I would support, but I am adamant it should not be for children aged 12. A child cannot be rejected from a mainstream second level school before he or she sets foot in it, which is what would happen because certain children at primary school would be told to go into Youthreach. That makes them a failure before they start.

Given that one in five primary school teachers now deals with children with learning difficulties of one type or another, I hope that problems of basic literacy and numeracy could be addressed and supported in primary schools. The school completion programme deals with transition from primary to secondary school as a key element of its work. The expansion of home school community liaison is another feature which can help children to make the transition. The evidence shows that problems largely arise in second year, rather than first, so I do not want 12 year old children to be rejected from the mainstream. I see junior Youthreach as an added support for problems relating to discipline.

Deputy O'Sullivan raised a subject which is supported by the task force, namely the idea of holistic supports in schools. These may take the form of parents' rooms, for which all the disadvantaged schools have been invited to apply under the dormant accounts scheme. Such initiatives support the work of the home school community liaison officers, of which there are currently 370, with interviews taking place for the recruitment of a further 80, making a total of 450. Their work will be concentrated on disadvantaged schools but we made it quite clear that schools that currently have a service will continue to hold it, in line with their level of disadvantage and the size of the school population. The number is over and above the mainstream classroom teachers and can make a huge difference.

I accept the point that class size can be an issue. At second level, which is what we are discussing, there is a teacher for every 13 students.

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