Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The school completion programme is a core element of the educational welfare service provided by Tusla. I believe it is a crucial service for parents, children and schools. The service is highly regarded as a key response in securing improved educational outcomes for children and young people at risk of early school leaving. In this regard, the programme enables local communities to develop tailored strategies to maximise participation levels of those at risk of early school leaving. Tusla's education welfare service has a responsibility to ensure that every child attends school regularly or otherwise receives a certain minimum education. It supports regular school attendance, tackles problems of absenteeism and provides a general educational welfare service. The service receives referrals from school authorities, parents and others relating to concerns for the educational welfare of individual children.

As the Deputy knows, a review of the operation of the school completion programme by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, states that there has been an improvement in attendance levels and in the proportion of young people staying in school until leaving certificate. It also concludes that the school completion programme, along with DEIS, has played an important role. Tusla has taken a number of actions to strengthen the operation of the programme, such as improving annual retention plans and having discussions with relevant stakeholders on the review findings and on how to strengthen the core functions of the programme.

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I have met with the director of educational welfare services in Tusla to discuss the ongoing reform of the school completion programme.

The Department of Education and Skills recently published the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, plan for 2017. I believe the goals outlined in the plan will improve educational opportunity for those who come to education at a disadvantage and will strengthen the capacity of our education and training system to support children and young people in communities with high concentrations of disadvantage. The educational welfare service of Tusla, officials from my Department and the Department of Education and Skills will be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the inclusion in the school completion programme of schools that have been included in the DEIS programme for the first time in 2017. The group will also examine schools that are currently in the school completion programme but do not currently have DEIS status. Following these meetings, proposals will be developed and given to me for consideration. In the interim, my officials will continue to work with Tusla to implement the recommendations of the ESRI report on the school completion programme.

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