Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 520: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the assessments she has carried out on the failure to achieve the target of 90 per cent progression to leaving certificate level; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16546/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department's second report on school retention, published in October 2005, is based on a detailed analysis of the records held in the Post-Primary Pupils Database for the cohort of entrants to the first year of the junior cycle in each of the years 1995 and 1996.

It must be noted that the figures refer to retention in State-aided second level schools only. They do not take account of important educational pathways outside this system such as Youthreach and apprenticeship training or of students in private, non-aided colleges at second level.

The report shows: the national retention rate to completion of the Junior Certificate examination is 94.6%; national adjusted retention rate to completion of the Leaving Certificate examination is 81.3%.

With regard to those who leave school without completing the Leaving Certificate, the available statistical evidence indicates that the increasing range of further education and training opportunities available for these students is having a positive impact. CSO data show that the educational profile of 20-24 year olds in Ireland has improved steadily over the last five years, as increasing opportunities have been made available in the further education and training sector. By 2005, 86.1% of 20-24 year olds had attained upper second-level education (or equivalent), up from 82.4% in 2000. This indicates that there has been an increase in the proportion of young people with at least the Leaving Certificate or equivalent. Indeed, the level of educational attainment of Irish young people is ahead of the EU average on that measure.

This Government has pursued a dual strategy of both encouraging more young people to finish school and ensuring much greater second chance and further education opportunities for those who left school early. This kind of strategy ensures that young people are empowered to achieve their full potential, be that by sitting the Leaving Certificate or by pursuing qualifications through other pathways such as Youthreach or FÁS apprenticeships which may be more appropriate to their individual interests. Thus, it is important that the Deputy appreciates that looking at just the level of retention in the formal school system is not a fair assessment of the educational attainment of our young people.

A key focus of the Government's education policy is to prioritise investment in favour of those most at risk and to optimise access, participation and outcomes at every level of the system for disadvantaged groups.

The total provision for educational inclusion programmes in 2006 is more than €640m across all levels of education, as compared with almost €600m in 2005. This includes additional funding for the implementation of measures under the DEIS action plan at pre-school, primary and second-level, additional funding of €7m for further education programmes and a €20m increase in provision for third-level student support schemes.

The wide variety of measures in place for tackling educational disadvantage and social exclusion range from pre-school interventions, supports for tackling children's literacy problems, reduced pupil teacher ratios, increased capitation grants, measures to tackle early school leaving and strengthen ties between the school, the family and the community.

With regard to curriculum, my Department's strategies have included widening the educational experience available to students, which aim to achieve a greater level of inclusiveness in curricular provision and meet the needs of the diversity of pupils in our second level schools, by expanding funding for programmes such as the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP), Vocational Preparation Training (VPT) and the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA).

The School Completion Programme was implemented to directly target those in danger of dropping out of the education system and is a key component of my Department's strategy to discriminate positively in favour of children and young people who are at risk of early school leaving, and in line with current thinking favours an integrated cross-community and cross-sectoral approach based on the development of local strategies to ensure maximum participation levels in the education process. It entails targeting individual young people aged 4-18, both in and out of school, and arranging supports to address inequalities in education access, participation and outcomes.

The Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Scheme is concerned with maximising active involvement of children in the learning process, in particular those who might be at risk of failure; promoting active co-operation between home, school and relevant community agencies in promoting the educational interests of the children; raising awareness in parents of their own capacities to enhance their children's educational progress and to assist them in developing relevant skills; enhancing the children's uptake from education, their retention in the educational system, their continuation to post-compulsory education and to third level and their attitudes to lifelong learning and disseminating the positive outcomes of the scheme throughout the school system generally.

The Education Welfare Act and the establishment of the National Educational Welfare Board is an important plank in the campaign to keep students at school and will provide a comprehensive framework for promoting regular school attendance and tackling the problems of absenteeism and early school leaving.

A key element of DEIS, (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the new action plan for Educational Inclusion will result in improved targeting of resources at those most in need and on providing greater support for teachers working in the most disadvantaged schools, and on promoting greater co-operation between the home and the school and between different State agencies and departments, will make a real difference to the lives of those young people that most need extra help.