Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 492: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the options, including appeal procedures, open to a parent who is unhappy with the expulsion, suspension or other disciplinary action taken against their child; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13964/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Each Board of Management is responsible for formulating, in consultation with parents, a fair and efficient code of behaviour. Among other things, the current guidelines provide that Codes of Behaviour should be considered in the context of the school being a community in which mutual respect, co-operation and natural justice are integral features.

The Guidelines stress that poor behaviour can stem from a range of causes, some of them external to the school, some possibly arising from the home environment, and some from emotional or physical problems. It is important to identify problems as early as possible. Good parent-teacher and home-school links are vital in this context. The Guidelines advise that Parents should be encouraged to visit the school to familiarise themselves with the environment, to discuss their children's progress and, when necessary, aspects of their behaviour in a spirit of mutual co-operation. The guidelines also advise that schools must ensure that the rules of natural justice apply. Pupils and, when necessary, their parents, should be advised of the nature of any complaint and be given an opportunity to respond.

The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) is at present developing further guidelines for schools on Codes of Behaviour, as provided for under section 23 of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000. This work is nearing completion and I expect that the revised Guidelines will soon be available to schools. Parents also have the right, under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998, to appeal to the Secretary General of my Department, against a decision made by a school's Board of Management to expel a student or to suspend a student from the school for a period which would bring the cumulative period of suspension to 20 school days in any one school year.