Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

I am grateful for the opportunity to set out some of my priorities as Minister for Education and Youth and to share time with my colleagues. My objective is to deliver a world-class education system that breaks down barriers and ensures every child is supported to achieve their full potential. An education system that wraps around all children and young people in every community is essential if we are to achieve that. I want the outcome of my time as Minister to be greater equity and excellence in education for all children and young people in Ireland. We cannot have one without the other.

Today I will focus on specific ambitions that break down barriers and support children and young people. As I said, I want to ensure we have a world-class education system that is inclusive, equitable and empowering for all. Every learner deserves the opportunity to thrive. Our focus is on high standards, inclusive practices and strong supports to ensure no one is left behind. Breaking down those barriers, whether social, economic or educational, is essential to helping all learners succeed. Education should open doors, build confidence and prepare every learner for life, not just for exams. I want to prioritise actions to tackle educational disadvantage. This means ensuring the necessary resources are in place to support and retain children and young people in school and to ensure they complete their leaving certificate and can be supported to achieve their full potential.

The Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, programme, which aims to address concentrated educational disadvantage, has seen the gap in retention rates between DEIS and non-DEIS schools halved, from 16.8% to 8.4%, since the programme began. Shortly after becoming Minister, I announced I would develop and publish a new DEIS plan in 2025 to try to close that gap further. A key part of the plan will be to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle disadvantage while supporting and expanding the positive work being done.

I will also develop a new DEIS Plus scheme to put greater focus on those schools with the highest levels of educational disadvantage where we know there are children with huge levels of trauma who need additional support. I have established a design advisory group with principals, home school community liaison and school completion programme co-ordinators who work with children from areas of high intergenerational disadvantage every day. This student-centred design approach will identify the resources needed to ensure the DEIS Plus scheme meets the needs of children and young people at acute risk of educational disadvantage. I have met principals in particular, and it is clear that what we need in some primary schools might be different from that in post-primary, but it is about the lived experience and about speaking to those at the heart of this who understand what children need.

The transfer of youth into the Department of education is a really positive step. It gives us a chance, particularly when we are talking about supporting children who are at risk of educational disadvantage, to better align what we call the formal education system with the informal, such as youth groups and organisations that are doing fantastic work, so that they are working with our schools to support children during schools hours, in the evenings, at weekends, during summer time and at other times of break.

This Government has recognised that the cost of preparing children for school can also be a barrier to the participation of children and young people in education. I am delighted to say that from the start of the 2025-26 school year, for the first time ever, all children and young people enrolled in primary, special and post-primary schools under the free education scheme will be provided with schoolbooks and core classroom resources. I acknowledge my colleague and the former Minister, Deputy Foley, in this regard.

School transport is a much-valued scheme to families. It ensures children living in rural and remote areas but also in built-up areas and those disadvantaged by distance are provided with a safe and reliable service to their nearest school of eligibility. More than 173,000 pupils benefit from the scheme each day, making it a core component of equitable school access nationwide. The programme for Government commits to expanding the scheme, and this is something on which I will be working closely with Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, in the years ahead.

We know from data that Traveller and Roma children have poorer educational outcomes than those of the general population. Additional funding was secured to increase the number of community link workers and as part of the Traveller and Roma strategy, we will work in several schools and focus on fostering greater engagement with Traveller and Roma families to improve communication, promote positive relationships and support the learning of Traveller and Roma children. Again, we have a focus group and working group that comes together to look at the strategy, how it is working or not working and what else we need to do. This brings together my Department, the Departments of children and social protection and many others as well.

In my first Dáil contribution as Minister for education, I highlighted the significant increase in absenteeism in our schools, particularly post Covid. The recent Tusla attendance report shows that in the 2022-23 school year, more than 110,000 primary and 65,000 post-primary students missed 20 or more days of school. This data is hugely alarming. Regular attendance in school is essential, not just for academic achievement but also for well-being, social development and life-long outcomes. This week, I announced a comprehensive suite of targeted but universal actions to improve school attendance.

Among these is a revision of the Education (Welfare) Act to strengthen statutory supports for children but in particular, to bring children under six attending primary school within its scope to ensure earlier intervention. I am hearing back very clearly from principals and teachers in the school completion programme that children in junior infants are missing significant numbers of days at school. This pattern often continues with them, so we must ensure these interventions take place for children in school who are four or five years old. There must also be continued investment in the educational welfare service, including an expansion of educational welfare officer, EWO, capacity and acknowledging the fantastic work they do in working with other teams.

There also has to be continued investment in the school completion programme and we have to make sure we have better planning between this and the range of other supports available through the non-formal education sector in youth. Recently, I met students who told me that the only reason they are still in school and doing their leaving certificate is the work of the school completion officers and the support they have received. It is important that they are supported.

We will roll out Anseo, a new evidence-based framework piloted in four schools, to 60 additional schools to help schools analyse and respond to attendance data. This will help schools to access and identify their own information and to see if there are changes that could be made. I was given an example the other day of a school that is not in the pilot programme but that took on board the approach being taken there. The school instructed all the teachers to call children by their first names three times in the first hour. This acknowledgement, letting the children know they knew they were present, resulted in school attendance going up. It is about looking at the simple things that can be done in schools, looking at the demographic and the children in the school and everything around them and seeing what can be done. I am excited to see how this can be rolled out in order that more schools can take part. We want to work across government and, more broadly, bring it back to basics. In September, there will be a multimedia campaign to promote school attendance. This will make it clear to parents, in particular, but to everybody involved why it is important to attend school.

As Deputies may know, the vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported in mainstream schools. In fact, about 97% of our students attend in mainstream schools. I thank all the school principals and teachers, special education teachers and SNAs, who work so hard every day to support all of our students. Nevertheless, there continues to be a strong and growing need to provide further special classes and special school places for children with more complex needs.

In mainstream schools by September 2025, there will be more than 3,700 special classes supporting more than 21,000 children. This is a doubling of the classes in the last five years and we intend, at post-primary level in particular, that large schools will grow to four special classes each. In 2025, we focused on those primary schools with eight classrooms or more with no special class and we have secured agreement from many of those to open classes this year - in fact, 399 of the 400 to date. I acknowledge and thank those schools that have worked with us and are now going through the enrolment process. We hope that this can be concluded as quickly as possible. Above all, the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and I are working to ensure that everything we are doing now can be brought forward in order that we can identify at the earliest stage possible in the preceding year who the children are, what their needs are, how that need should be met, how we can engage with the schools and ensure that the enrolment process opens at the same time as that for everybody else. This will ensure that when students are applying, if they are applying at the same time as their siblings or if there is a junior or post-primary application going in, early in the year in January, when everybody else learns where they are going to school, children with additional needs will find that out as well. Working with the NCSE we are making good progress on this.

We also need to ensure that children who need access to therapies get them. I have brought a memo to Cabinet setting out how we are going to provide speech and language therapists and occupational therapists, initially in our special schools before expanding that to special education classrooms and, ultimately, our wider school community. Of course, we are starting with the special schools. I hope we are in a position to start this later this academic year.

We also need to continue to support teachers, considering that we are facing a more complex and challenging environment. It is essential that all future graduates have a mandatory special education placement as part of their initial teacher education. I have asked the Teaching Council to begin work on taking the necessary steps on that immediately, with a view to the change coming into effect from September 2026. I will also ensure that the design of high-quality modules in special education to support teachers on their professional learning journey is also prioritised. While we need to look to the future, almost 79,000 teachers have registered with the Teaching Council. We need to make sure that every teacher and person working with our students is supported and can receive that level of training.

Ensuring we have a curriculum that fully supports children and young people to achieve their potential and that equips our students to thrive and succeed must be our north star. The curriculum at all levels is designed to reflect and support all learners regardless of background, ability, or gender. The primary curriculum framework places a strong focus on inclusion and diversity. It aims to ensure every child feels they belong and are respected and safe so they can engage fully in learning and thrive. lt recognises each child’s unique background, identity and strengths and is designed to support what is best for every individual child. Under this framework, foreign languages will be introduced at primary level on a phased basis from September 2025.

Following on from the successful changes introduced to the junior cycle, at post-primary level there has been considerable progress across the senior cycle redevelopment programme. Some examples, lest there be a perception that the changes are only happening in September, include the numbers enrolled in the leaving certificate vocational programme link modules across fifth and sixth year in the current school year having increased from 30,000 to 50,000. The numbers of students participating in transition year has passed 60,000 for the first time, which is 14,000 more than was the case five to six years ago. This expansion is a testament to efforts by schools to make more places available. It is important that we try to ensure every child has access to transition year, in particular those who have special or additional needs or those who are at risk of educational disadvantage.

In 2024, for the first time, the State Examinations Commission provided an integrated set of results to leaving certificate applied students who also took leaving certificate established mathematics or a modern foreign language. This school year has also seen the first modules from the new senior cycle level 1 and level 2 learning programmes introduced in schools. This is to support children with additional needs. Importantly, the State Examinations Commission will certify these programmes in 2026, meaning that when students taking them are expected to graduate, they will do so with their peers in leaving certificate programmes.

These measures illustrate how the senior cycle redevelopment programme is playing a positive role in students reaching their full potential. My Department, working with teachers, staff and students, will build on this annually over the next five years as we implement the various tranches and strands of the programme. In a world being transformed by Al and the digital revolution and where jobs and roles are changing, we need to equip children with the skills they need to succeed and thrive in a changing world. That is exactly what the leaving certificate reform is intended to do.

We cannot do this without our wonderful teachers. Approximately 78,000 qualified teachers are now employed in Ireland, with more than 35,000 in post-primary schools. This is the largest number of teachers ever in the history of the State. The number of allocated teaching posts and the number of registered teachers have increased year on year, as has the number of student teachers graduating, and more and more people are applying through the CAO. It is really positive to see that this is continuing to increase.

On my appointment, I committed to taking further action to address teacher supply issues because we know that in certain parts of the country and also for certain subjects, there are still significant challenges, notwithstanding the fact that we have more teachers than ever before. I recently announced that I would put in place an agreement to ensure that teachers will receive a permanent contract much sooner than is the case under the current arrangements. Following the Droichead process, new teachers who have taught for one year and successfully interviewed for a vacant post the following year will immediately be offered a permanent contract at the start of that year. This will come into effect from next year. While I say "new teachers", it will apply to anyone who has completed that one year. I hope that being able to gain a permanent contract a year earlier will help teachers in applying for mortgages and placing their careers on a more stable footing much sooner than before. I have heard strong support for this from teachers.

I was also happy to introduce a proposal from the Teaching Council to enable eligible teachers who have qualified outside of Ireland to apply for registration and complete their induction requirement here. This is a commonsense solution and an important step in encouraging more teachers to work and start their careers here in Ireland. I am looking at further measures to improve teacher supply and will announce them in the coming months.

We have a number of different strategies, including the literacy, numeracy and digital literacy strategy. The objective of the STEM education policy statement is to ensure all learners, regardless of gender or background, have access to high-quality STEM learning. There is a particular focus on encouraging female participation in STEM. The Department is developing a suitable approach of policy and practice for students who are exceptionally able or gifted. It is important that we support all students. This is just a snapshot of strategies that demonstrate how inclusive education is at the core of the Department's mission.

We cannot talk about education without talking about students' well being, their health and making sure they are supported in school. The programme for Government outlines a commitment to ensure that children are safer and healthier and that our schools are safe places. We will continue to implement the Cineáltas action plan on bullying and the first action plan to support that. Schools have a role to play in supporting their students to develop key skills and knowledge to enable them to make informed choices in different aspects of their lives. This is why the reformed social, personal and health education, SPHE, curriculum is so important. It has been introduced at junior cycle, will be introduced permanently at senior cycle and will be revised for primary schools as well. It is important that our students are engaged with, spoken to and listened to about the issues that are affecting their lives, that it is done in an age-appropriate way and that this is embedded in the curriculum.

In the programme for Government, we have given a clear commitment to hold a convention on education bringing together all the education stakeholders. This was done 30 years ago and many of the actions that came from that laid the foundations for the agencies and structures in the school system, and they have stood the test of time. As Minister for education, I want to make sure that by bringing together all of our partners, I can set out a vision for our education system in the years ahead.

I am very aware that in order for schools to function, it is not just about teachers and the buildings. We also need to make sure they have the resources.

While we have increased the capitation funding in recent years, we want to go further and do more to make sure the day-to-day running of schools is not such a chore for school principals. We will continue to invest in ICT and make sure we provide the annual grants, as per the commitment, for minor works, summer works and works focused on climate targets, while also assisting with the day-to-day running of schools. I welcome the opportunity to speak to everybody here today and look forward to hearing their comments.

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