Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 565: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of students who left the school that they were enrolled in who failed to be enrolled in another school, in order for them to complete their schooling; and the breakdown of the figures in terms of primary and post primary students for the years 2005 and to date in 2006. [33264/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It is not possible to identify and account for all pupils leaving primary schools and not transferring to another school due to the lack of an individual Primary Pupil Database. My Department is currently planning the development of such a Database, which will facilitate the collation of much more accurate and comprehensive data on transfer rates in the future. Together with the current Post-Primary Pupil Database, this will allow much improved tracking of where children go after primary school.

At Second level, an estimated 2,900 left second level education in the course of 2004/2005 before sitting their Junior Certificate in 2005. At Senior cycle it is more difficult to measure drop-out due to uncertainty about the numbers transferring from publicly-aided schools to private (non-aided) colleges. However, an estimated 7,600 left second level in the course of Senior Cycle in 2004/2005 without sitting the Leaving Certificate in 2005 in a publicly aided school.

It should be noted that just considering the level at which young people left the state-aided school system does not give an full picture of their educational attainment. Aside from those who transfer to private non-aided schools, many other young people go on to pursue other educational opportunities such as in Youthreach centres and on apprenticeship training courses.

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 Cert or by pursuing qualifications through other pathways such as Youthreach or FAS 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.

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 cooperation 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.

So, through a variety of measures, this Government has worked hard to encourage more young people to finish school and to provide greater opportunities for those who left school early. We will continue to prioritise this area.