Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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279. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the strategies that are in place, or planned, to increase attendance and combat absenteeism in schools, and to ensure greater levels of school completion by members of the Traveller community; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4190/16]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, under the remit of my Department, has a statutory responsibility to ensure each child attends a recognised school or otherwise receives a certain minimum education. The education welfare services of Tusla, comprising the statutory Education Welfare Service, the School Completion Programme and the Home School Community Liaison scheme are key supports for children who are vulnerable to early school leaving and educational disadvantage including Traveller children.

Children who do not attend school regularly or who leave school early before age 16 or without completing 3 years of second level education are a priority concern for the Educational Welfare Service. Where school attendance problems arise for a child, including a Traveller child, Tusla's approach is to concentrate on finding solutions, within a collaborative intervention framework involving children, families, school and other relevant agencies. The work of the Educational Welfare Officer falls into two key categories. It can involve a brief intervention, at an early stage if the problem is identified and capable of being resolved, or, where the problem is more complex, it can involve the Educational Welfare Officer providing more intensive and ongoing support for the child and family.

The School Completion Programme operates in 470 primary schools and 224 post-primary schools. The programme provides targeted supports to children identified to be most at risk of early school leaving or of not reaching their potential in the educational system. School Completion Programme initiatives include, breakfast clubs; homework clubs; afterschool supports; mentoring programmes; and therapeutic interventions as well as transfer programmes to support young people transitioning from primary to post-primary school.

Along with the School Completion Programme, the Home School Community Liaison Scheme is a core element of the integrated Educational Welfare Services of Tusla, serving schools identified under the Delivering Equality of opportunity in Schools (DEIS) action plan of the Department of Education and Skills. The Home School Community Liaison Scheme serves 528 schools. Coordinators work primarily with the salient adults in educationally disadvantaged children’s lives, in order to empower them, so that they can better support their children in relation to school attendance, participation and retention.

Central to both the Home School Community Liaison Scheme and the School Completion Programme, is the identification of needs and the provision of a tailored and proportionate response to those needs, through a range of interventions, which are evidence-based, focused and structured. Tusla has advised that children and families from the Traveller Community who require additional support or are identified as vulnerable are provided with the full range of supports available through the Home School Community Liaison Scheme and the School Completion Programme. At a national level, Home School Community Liaison and the School Completion Programme are supported by the Senior Management Team of Tusla Educational Welfare Services. A senior manager represents the Education Welfare Service of Tusla on the Traveller Education Strategy Advisory and Consultative Forum convened by the Department of Education and Skills.

The Department of Education and Skills provides a range of supports to address additional educational needs of children, including Traveller children, in schools. I am advised that specific supports for Traveller children are part of mainstream provision in line with the Department of Education and Skills policy on inclusive education.