Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

547. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the percentage of students suspended and-or expelled from schools in counties Louth and Meath for the past three years; if her Department has issued guidelines to all second level schools on developing their code of behaviour particularly regarding suspension and expulsion of students; if these guidelines advise that such measures should be a last resort after other interventions have been tried; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40548/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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.

As required by Statute, schools must report to Tusla on any student missing for more than twenty days. Schools are required to report on the following categories of absence: illness, urgent/family reasons, suspension, expulsion, transfer, other and unexplained. Statistics regarding the analysis of school attendance data are published on the Tusla website. Tusla has confirmed that during the past three academic years a total of 26 students were expelled from school in Louth and Meath. It is not possible to supply a percentage figure as Tusla is not updated with yearly enrolment figures.

Schools are not obliged to report the numbers of students suspended to Tusla. From the information available to us the total number of days missed due to suspension from September 2013 to July 2016 in all Louth/Meath schools was 3712.

The National Educational Welfare Board developed the “Developing a Code of Behaviour: Guidelines for Schools Suspensions and expulsions” which inter alia, sets out the legal and procedural requirements for suspending or expelling pupils. The guidelines have been issued to every second level school in the country and Tusla continues to promulgate these guidelines.