Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. The Bill is interesting and I compliment Senator Moran - in fact I should have introduced such a Bill, myself. It is interesting to have both Ministers responding and we should have more of this because both of them have responsibility for that age group. The reason I say I should have introduced such a Bill is that in 2010, the Oireachtas committee did an early school-leaving study and I was the rapporteur at the time. I worked with the Educational Research Centre as the expert group. We just stopped short of recommending moving the age to 17. So this is timely.

In 2010 early school leaving rates were at 16% and the Minister is now saying it is 8.1% or 8.4%. I might query his figures because I recently heard it was at 11%, but we will not fight over it. That is a national figure. Obviously in middle-class well-to-do areas there is no early school leaving at all; they are all doing their leaving certificate examinations and going on to college. However, in some disadvantaged areas that figure is 20% to 25%. Early school leaving is an issue and it is a benchmark for inequity and poor life chances. As other Senators rightly mentioned, we need many pathways to futures. The Minister has said he wants better outcomes for brighter futures, which is the key.

When we interviewed the children who were leaving school early we found six at-risk groups. One was children with learning difficulties and special educational needs. Another was LGBT children because they found it difficult to deal with their sexuality while at school. ADHD children was a very big group and many of them ended up in prison because children with an attention deficit disorder act without thinking and create many behavioural challenges, not just in the classroom, but in society. Children with family, home and intergenerational issues formed another group. The one group that was a big surprise comprised children with ill health. The Minister might say that is no surprise, but a factor that emerged was that girls who were raped at second level school also left school early because they were not believed by the school system. The final group at risk were Travellers, which again was no surprise.

While I am discussing the issue of ill health, the Minister will be familiar with the concerns about the HPV vaccine, Gardasil. At the moment 106 girls have documented their experiences of ill health since receiving the Gardasil vaccine. Their levels of absenteeism are very high. One parent recently brought me a certificate showing that her child had 50 absent days owing to feeling debilitated and not being able to get out of bed. Some of these children are spending 18 to 20 hours in bed. One mother told me that her daughter was vomiting up to 11 times in an hour between dizziness and fainting, etc.

I had tabled a motion on this issue this week but it was ruled out of order by the Cathaoirleach. I am glad the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is hearing about this now from me. We need a dedicated multidisciplinary team appointed to the assessment and treatment of those girls because they are sick children. They are all within the remit of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs because they are under 18. It is affecting their life chances and their outcomes, which is also within his brief. That is an aside and I am deliberately using this motion to highlight the issue because ill health came up as a reason for children leaving school early. I am not saying the vaccine is a direct cause but an outcome of it is that children have been getting sick. There seems to be a pattern of sporty and athletic children who are getting quite sick. It is very worrying and we need to look at it.

I return to the recommendations of our study. The Minister will not be surprised that to achieve better outcomes the foundation is investing in family and education. The recommendation was to invest early. Obviously, the Government is putting resources into that with the funding of the second preschool year. I acknowledge that and I am delighted with it because it was one of the key recommendations of our study. However, there are other issues around that.

The other requirement is to track at-risk children. Senator Jim D'Arcy will be very familiar with much of this because in the educational system we know that certain children are at risk and the teachers can identify those children very early.

As the Minister said, in education one size does not fit all. We need to be very aware of children's learning styles and to teach using creative approaches. Another recommendation from our study was the need to teach children how to learn and how to study. Not every child knows how to learn. Having many pathways is vital, as is good career guidance, as Senator Ó Domhnaill mentioned. Career guidance in this country has been very poor. I believe we have 499 children per guidance counsellor, which makes things impossible. They are not just giving career guidance but are also providing counselling. With more children having mental health issues, personal issues or interpersonal issues, which are very common with children going through puberty, we need more career guidance teachers in the system.

It is good to see a focus on apprenticeships and I know the Minister for Education and Skills has a clear commitment to this area. Apprenticeships are vital because children learn differently and learning in the workplace is a style that will suit many.

There is a lot to say about what provides a good quality of education for the child. There is a lot to say about the importance of investing in the family because those with a good family and a good education are well on their way. I thank the Minister for listening and I thank Senator Moran and her colleagues for introducing the Bill.