Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

The National Educational Welfare Board, NEWB, is the statutory body with responsibility for school attendance. A key function of the board is to compile statistics on attendance. Schools are required to submit reports on levels of attendance at the end of the school year. This data is analysed and the findings published by the board. The findings will help identify trends and measure the effectiveness of interventions.

The most recent statistics on national levels of school attendance are contained in the report entitled Analysis of School Attendance Data in Primary and Post-Primary Schools: 2003-4 to 2005-06, published by the NEWB in December 2008. The report shows that 11% of primary school students and 17% of post-primary students were absent for 20 days or more. This equates to 100,000 children approximately with absences of more than 20 days each year. Data for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 school years are currently being prepared by the NEWB for analysis.

Reasons for absence can vary and while many can be explained by factors such as illness, the data show that non-attendance is more prevalent among older children and children who come from more disadvantaged areas.

Educational welfare officers employed by the NEWB work with about 10,000 children each year with reported attendance or school placement difficulties. Research generally shows that the underlying causes of non-attendance are complex and are strong indicators of overall child welfare. Combating the issues underlying poor attendance requires concerted effort and better integration of existing support services.

The NEWB is one aspect of the comprehensive framework that this Government has put in place to improve school attendance and encourage more young people to finish school. While the primary responsibility is on parents to ensure that their children attend school, schools also encourage regular attendance by children. The other key support services are the school completion programme, SCP, and the home school community liaison, HSCL, programme. School attendance is a central objective of the school completion programme with attendance tracking being one of its main preventative strategies. HSCL co-ordinators work with parents to promote school attendance and its importance for success in school. These services are available to all schools participating in Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, the action plan for educational inclusion. In line with Government policy the board prioritises its resources to support schools participating in DEIS.

To support and advise families the NEWB has issued leaflets to parents, runs public awareness campaigns to raise the profile of school attendance and operates an education helpline to provide information on attendance and related matters. Guidelines for developing school codes of behaviour, which were issued to all schools last year, will assist schools to put in place strategies to deal with poor behaviour and other possible causes of poor attendance.

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