Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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54. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has conducted any study of the rate of drop out from second level education; if so, if she can provide the statistics on the number of students who left school early in each of the past ten years and to date in 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23210/23]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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Has the Minister's Department conducted any study of the rate of drop-out from secondary school education? If so, can she provide the statistics on the number of students that have left school early in each of the past ten years and to date in 2023?

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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During my time as Minister for Education I have shown a strong commitment to addressing educational disadvantage. The Department’s statement of strategy sets out the vision and mission of the Department for an educational system where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach his or her fullest potential. It sets equity of opportunity in education as a goal and equality and inclusivity as fundamental principles. Successful delivery of this goal means that our school system will be open and welcoming for all students and that learners at risk of educational disadvantage in particular will be supported to achieve their fullest potential.

As recently as January of this year, the Department published the latest in a series of reports on retention to leaving certificate level. The latest report measures the percentage of pupils who entered the first year of post-primary school in 2015 and who sat the leaving certificate examination in 2020 or 2021. Some of these were provided with calculated grades in 2020 due to Covid, as the Deputy will appreciate.

The latest report is the 14th publication in a series of reports which cover a total of 24 years, beginning with the 1991 post-primary entry cohort of students. These reports build a continuous time series recording retention rate trends in post-primary schools over the last two to three decades. All the reports containing the information requested by the Deputy are available on the Department’s website. The latest report shows that 92.1% of the students who entered first year in 2015 received either a calculated grade in 2020 or sat the leaving certificate examination in 2020 or 2021. The report shows that 97.5% sat the junior certificate examination in 2018 or 2019. This latest retention rate of 92.1% to leaving certificate represents an increase of 0.6% on the retention rate for the 2014 post-primary entry cohort.

A key action of my Department is continuing to address the retention gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools through the DEIS programme. The current reports provide further evidence of progress in this area. The retention rate for schools participating in the DEIS programme increased to 86.1%, a 1.3% increase on the DEIS retention rate in the 2014 entry cohort report. The gap in retention rates between DEIS and non-DEIS schools is currently 7.6%. That is an improvement on the 2014 cohort, where the gap stood at 8.6%.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. It is good to see that the retention rate is improving and reaching that level. I would cite what the Minister herself said about DEIS schools and the fact that the retention rate there is not as good. I welcome that she is looking at that.

7 o’clock

It is important to make sure that as many people as possible have the highest possible level of educational attainment because that would be reflected in their job opportunities in future. According to the European Commission country report in 2022, Ireland has a higher than average early school leaving rate for people with disabilities at 27.8% versus the EU average of 23.6%. That is an area of concern that we and the Department could focus on for the future. It is important that we give every child, including children with a disability, the best chance to gain full employment in the future. The Minister might comment on that.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the positive comment the Deputy made across a variety of different levels. It is an important to note the school completion rate of in excess of 96% compared with an EU average of 84%, which speaks to the considerable achievement in this country on retention rates within schools. That is largely due to the considerable investment that has gone in. He referred to DEIS supports for our schools, with investment of more than €180 million last March, which was the single largest expansion of DEIS supports for our schools. We have specifically looked at initiatives like the provision of home school liaison officers, the school completion programmes, enhanced staffing through DEIS and all of that. The summer provision programme specifically looks at supporting children at risk of educational disadvantage and children with additional needs. Regarding children with additional needs, we are running a number of pilots to support students who want to transition from a post-primary school into further education opportunities. They are specifically for those with additional needs and considerable work is ongoing in that respect.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. It is important to acknowledge that education is a fundamental pathway to employment. Maybe other schools have applied for DEIS status. Maybe that could be looked at. Some schools have many Ukrainian or foreign students who have come into the country in the past year. The dynamic has changed and there are challenges. It is important that every child who comes into our education system gets the best possible support. I had the experience at third level, where I lectured, of seeing students come in with disabilities who have thrived in that scenario. They have got special supports, additional supports and all that goes with that. We have the structure and everything right, but we have to try to become best in class. I know the Minister and the Minister of State will work on that to make sure that we end up being best in class and that everybody is at a level where they can achieve more.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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We have more than 1,200 schools now in DEIS. One in four of all our students now benefit from DEIS supports. That is significant and we see its benefit. Keeping young people in school at a rate of 96%, compared with the EU, is quite an achievement. The Minister of State and I are very conscious about children and young people with additional needs. For that reason, we have a number of concentrated pilots. The Deputy is quite correct that when the right supports are put in place, children and young people have an opportunity to thrive. We see that in our own system. The Minister of State has articulated the variety of different special classes, special schools and additional supports that we are putting in place. We are also now putting in supports to transition from mainstream or special schools into further and higher education.

I want to be clear that considerable supports have been put into schools to support Ukrainian students or new students arriving. There are additional English as an additional language, EAL, hours and additional teachers coming into the system. It has been well resourced by the Department.