Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I broadly welcome the Bill. I welcome the idea of a national behaviour support service. It is important that it would be properly resourced. I am interested in the idea of behaviour support classrooms and the Minister might explain what those support classrooms would entail. Will these classrooms have staff who are specialists in this area as such teachers would need to be specially trained?

The suspension or expulsion of a disruptive student poses a problem for the schools, pupils and parents concerned as the options are limited as to where such students can go. They either find another school and similar problems may arise or they go to Youthreach, but there is nothing in between. The behaviour support classrooms might be an interim solution but this might not be appropriate for certain students. In the case of a student with ADHD which contributes to his or her behaviour, would it be possible for such a student to spend a period in a special needs school and then return to the mainstream school? The behavioural problems might be addressed and managed in the special needs school.

Members of the Joint Committee on Education and Science visited a couple of special needs schools in south Dublin a few years ago. One school catered for students of late primary school and early second level age. The principal of the school expressed the view that the school might have a future role in taking students from other schools on a temporary basis in order to address their needs and then return them to their original schools. This proposal should be considered by the behavioural support service.

More work is being done in mainstream schools to provide for students with special needs. The infrastructure of special needs schools may need to be adapted to new needs. The Minister could use the existing infrastructure in special needs schools, where appropriate, to work with mainstream schools which are dealing with disruptive behaviour arising from special needs problems. I ask the Minister to inform me if she has any plans in this regard.

I have frequent dealings with my local educational welfare officer because I am aware of people who seem to have fallen between the gaps and their children do not have a school place. My community has multiple issues. For example, families coming from another country and looking for a place in a local school are being turned down even though the child may be nearly six years of age. These families are not aware of their rights. I refer them to the local educational welfare officer who visits them and gives them advice. I am also aware of cases where as a result of parents making a decision to move from the area and then returning, the children fall between the gaps and are not at school for a period of time. If families are dysfunctional or if the parents are not well and have psychological or health needs, the education of the children is not being attended to. I refer all such cases to the educational welfare officer or I will inform her of the situation. The local educational welfare officers are over stretched; they need more resources and there needs to be more of them. These officers are often involved in duties outside their role, such as dealing with bullying where a school is not dealing appropriately with the issue. In these cases the educational welfare officer may intervene to help the parents and the child to find another school. However, this may not be the proper solution which should be that the school puts in place procedures to assist the child and the parents. There needs to be more resources allocated to the National Educational Welfare Board because of the needs of the growing local community. The role of educational welfare officers is becoming more significant. They are very busy and they need more help.

I am aware of cases where students experienced bullying but neither they nor their parents were happy with the manner in which the matter was addressed by the school. The procedure for dealing with bullying in primary schools is made clear on the Department's website but the procedure for dealing with bullying in second level schools is not so clearly defined. It appears that a person taking issue with a second level school can make a complaint to the Department of Education and Science but this is not made clear on the Department's website or when one telephones the Department. This matter should be addressed because bullying is equally, if not more so, an issue in second level schools than in primary schools. I am not certain of the statistics but it is definitely an issue in second level schools and there needs to be clear procedures and a clear avenue for parents to choose if they are not happy with the response from a school. I suggest that a person should be available to mediate between a school and a parent or a child if bullying is taking place to avoid the necessity for them to make a complaint against the school. The mediator could be available to provide advice as the educational welfare officer is not the appropriate person and it is not part of the role of the educational welfare officer. These are the issues I wish to raise with the Minister in the context of this Bill, which I welcome.