Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs subsequent to the elimination of the visiting teacher service for Travellers, the details of the number of Travellers assisted by the National Education and Welfare Board for the past year for which she has information and the educational outcomes therefrom; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7416/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) was established in 2002 under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000. Its functions emphasise school attendance, participation and retention. The various strands of the NEWB, the School Completion Programme (SCP), the Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) and the Educational Welfare Service (EWS) work together to secure improved educational outcomes for children and young people.

I am advised by the NEWB that cases where there are significant concerns about a child’s attendance at school, including a Traveller child or where a child is identified as “at-risk” of persistent poor attendance or early school leaving are prioritised by the Board

The Service does not retain records on individual children on the basis of Traveller or other cultural identities, but in 2012 the Educational Welfare Service worked with 20,011 children who experienced school attendance difficulties.

Within the School Completion Programme, schools may identify particular at-risk children from within the Traveller community for additional supports. The latest data, as reported by schools, for the 2010 / 11 school year estimates that of the 36,147 children participating within the SCP, some 11% were Traveller students.

The SCP supports Traveller students through the provision of school, after school, holiday and out of school supports. In particular Traveller students participate in homework clubs, which are organised in some Traveller sites so students go home directly after school and can avail of the homework club facility in their own environment. Homework clubs are facilitated and organised, in many cases, in partnership with local youth services or Pavee Point.

The NEWB participates on the Traveller Education Strategy Advisory and Consultative Forum, which is facilitated by the Department of Education and Skills and monitors the implementation of the Traveller Education Strategy. The Board has convened a working group under the auspices of the Forum to develop collaborative working arrangements between the NEWB and Traveller Support Organisations (Pavee Point, Irish Traveller Movement, Traveller Women's Forum and Traveller MABS). The objective of the group is to work effectively at local and national level to support traveller parents in their responsibilities to ensure their children remain in school and to develop mechanisms to improve educational outcomes for Traveller children.

The implementation of the Board’s “One Child, One Team, One Plan” strategy is focussed on securing improved educational outcomes for all students and prioritises those most at risk of early school leaving.