Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on a recent study from the INTO which found that among almost 300 disadvantaged primary schools, one in five pupils miss more than 20 school days per year; if she has carried out an assessment of the reasons for this level of absenteeism; the measures which are in place to combat truancy and if they are achieving results; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3014/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is aware of findings of the recent INTO survey to which the Deputy refers. The findings are broadly similar to the data which the National Educational Welfare Board compiled from the returns made to it by schools for the 2003-04 school year. This was the first occasion on which comprehensive national data were assembled from schools relating to school attendance.

The Education (Welfare) Act 2000 established the National Educational Welfare Board as the single national body with responsibility for school attendance. The Act provides a comprehensive framework promoting regular school attendance and tackling the problems of absenteeism and early school leaving. The general functions of the board are to ensure that each child attends a recognised school or otherwise receives a certain minimum education.

Under the terms of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, one of the functions of the board is to conduct and commission research into the reasons for non-attendance on the part of students and into the strategies and programmes designed to prevent it. The board is in the process of establishing two research projects in 2005, one of which will focus on an analysis of student absenteeism returns. I look forward to receiving the report from this analysis in due course from the board.

To discharge its responsibilities, the board is developing a nationwide service that is accessible to schools, parents and guardians and others concerned with the welfare of young people. For this purpose, educational welfare officers, EWOs, are being appointed and deployed throughout the country to provide a welfare-focused service to support regular school attendance and discharge the board's functions locally.

The budget which has been allocated to the National Educational Welfare Board for 2005 is €7.8 million, an increase of €1.3 million or 20% on the 2004 allocation. The percentage increase allocated to the board for 2005 is more than double that for the education vote as a whole and this provision will enable the board to continue to develop its services in 2005.

Since its formal launch in December 2003, the aim of the National Educational Welfare Board has been to provide a service to the most disadvantaged areas and most at-risk groups. Some five regional teams have been established with bases in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and staff have been deployed in areas of greatest disadvantage and in areas designated under the Government's RAPID programme. A total of 13 towns with significant school going populations, 12 of which are designated under the Government's RAPID programme, also now have an educational welfare officer allocated to them. In addition, the board will follow up on urgent cases nationally where children are not currently receiving an education.

Analysis of the returns made to the board by schools on levels of attendance for the school year 2003-04 support the targeting policy followed by the board to date in appointing educational welfare officers to the areas of greatest disadvantage.

Schools are required to refer students to the board who have been absent for more than 20 days cumulatively during the school year or where a school principal wishes to express concern about the attendance pattern of a particular student. Staff of the NEWB make contact with the school to establish reasons for the absences and what steps have been taken to date by the school to improve the child's attendance. An educational welfare officer may then contact the parent in question to advise and support the parent regarding the need for the child to attend school regularly.

In RAPID-designated areas, EWOs offer an intensive service to schools and parents. Outside these designated areas, the NEWB offers an urgent service, where cases of chronic absenteeism are followed up in consultation with schools.

In November last, my Department conveyed approval to the NEWB for the recruitment of a further ten educational welfare officers, bringing the authorised staffing from 84 to 94. The appointment of ten extra staff to counties which up to now have not had the benefit of the presence of an EWO will enable the NEWB to extend the intensive service.

Guidelines were issued by the NEWB last month to all primary and post primary schools on reporting student absences. The guidelines provide step-by-step advice on how and when school attendance returns should be made and how the new website, www.schoolreturn.ie, can be used by schools to comply with their legal obligations to report student absences to the board.