Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 300: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the rate of retention in secondary school from 1997 to date in respect of schools in the greater Dublin area; the school with the highest retention rate; the school with the lowest retention rate; if she has information on the relative retention rates as between boys and girls at secondary school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41865/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The latest data published by my Department on retention rates in second-level schools relate to the cohort of entrants to the first year of junior cycle in 1996. (Students in this cohort would have sat the Leaving Certificate in either 2002 or 2003, depending on whether they took the Transition Year Programme). The published data for the 1996 cohort indicate an average "unadjusted" retention rate to Leaving Certificate of 72.1 for the Dublin area (combining the four Local Authority areas) as compared with a national average figure of 77.8%. The term "unadjusted" relates to the fact that the figures cited have not been adjusted to allow for factors such as emigration, death or cases of departure to privately aided second level colleges. The national adjusted Leaving Certificate retention rate for the 1996 cohort was 81.3%. The 'unadjusted' rate of retention for males in Dublin was 67.1 compared to 77.5% for females in Dublin. The corresponding national averages were 72.1 and83.8%, respectively.

Retention data on individual schools or on schools in a particular local area are not made available separately by my Department due to my concerns about the way such information might be used to create school league tables with a detrimental effect on educational equality and a balanced approach to all dimensions of learning. 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, 87% of 20-24 year olds had attained upper second-level education (or equivalent), up from 82% in 2000. This compares with an EU average of 77% in 2005. This indicates both that there has been an increase in the proportion of young people in Ireland with at least the Leaving Certificate or equivalent, and that the attainment of our young people compares very well with their EU counterparts.

Nonetheless, we are determined to make further progress by continuing to pursue 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.

This Government has prioritised a wide variety of measures for tackling educational disadvantage and social exclusion range from pre-school interventions, supports for tackling children's literacy problems, smaller class sizes, increased capitation grants, measures to tackle early school leaving and strengthen ties between the school, the family and the community. With regard to curriculum, we have worked to widen the educational experience available to students 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 established 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. In line with current thinking, the Programme 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 educational access, participation and outcomes.

The Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Scheme is a key intervention to improve the educational outcomes of children from disadvantaged areas by promoting active cooperation between their parents and teachers and encouraging community involvement. Through their work with parents, HSCL officers seek to raise parents' awareness of the need to encourage their children to work hard at school and to help parents to improve their own capacities to enhance their children's educational progress and to assist them in developing relevant skills.

The Education Welfare Act and the establishment of the National Educational Welfare Board is also 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. As the Deputy will be aware, enhancing attendance, progression, retention and attainment are central to DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) the action plan for educational inclusion, which is being implemented at present. The action plan represents a shift in emphasis away from individual initiatives, each addressing a particular aspect of the problem, with the new plan adopting a multifaceted and more integrated approach. This is the first time that an integrated educational inclusion strategy has been developed for 3-18 year olds in this country.

The plan provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme (SSP) which will bring together and build upon, a number of existing interventions for schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. 670 primary schools, comprising 338 urban/town and 332 rural and 203 second-level schools, have been included in the School Support Programme. Many extra supports have been put in place under the DEIS Plan over the past year, while the 2007 Estimates will allow for further significant improvements next year. The key principle of early intervention underpins both the early childhood education measure and many of the literacy and numeracy measures being adopted under the new action plan.

The DEIS plan places a renewed emphasis on the involvement of parents and families in children's education in schools, with HSCL services being provided to all DEIS schools. The School Completion Programme will also be integrated into the new School Support Programme under the action plan.

Progression from primary to second-level is recognised as a crucial transition period in a child's education. Under the action plan, a continuing emphasis will be placed on the development of effective transfer programmes by building on the existing work of the Home School Community Liaison Scheme and the School Completion Programme. Other areas such as extending access to Schools' Business Partnerships, school meals, guidance counselling and student councils will also be facilitated through the action plan. In addition, increased integration will be promoted between the work of second-level schools and centres catering for young early school leavers, particularly Youthreach centres and Senior Traveller Training Centres. Also central to the success of the action plan will be an increased emphasis on planning at school and school cluster level, target-setting and measurement of progress and outcomes to ensure that the increased investment is matched by an improvement in educational outcomes for the children and young people concerned. 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. To that end, the Deputy will be pleased to know that the total provision in the 2007 Estimates for educational inclusion programmes at all levels is €730 million — an increase of €95 million, or 15% on the 2006 figure. The 2007 provision includes a 20% increase in funding for the NEWB.