Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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378. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the procedures currently in place or envisaged to combat school bullying in its various forms at primary and second level schools throughout the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53154/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000 all schools are required to have in place a code of behaviour that accords with Developing a Code of Behaviour: Guidelines for Schools as published by the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), now referred to as the Educational Welfare Service (EWS). Each school is required to have an anti-bullying policy within its overall code of behaviour. The anti-bullying procedures are underpinned by this legal framework and all schools are required to comply with them.

Under the procedures, all school boards of management are required to adopt and implement an anti-bullying policy which fully complies with the requirements of these procedures. A template anti-bullying policy which must be used by all schools for this purpose is included in the procedures.

My Department published Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying in December last year which is dedicated to the prevention and addressing of bullying, cyber bullying, racist bullying, gender identity bullying or sexual harassment, among other areas, in schools.

Cineáltas is centred on a child right’s based approach and provides a collective vision and clear roadmap for how the whole education community and society can work together to prevent and address bullying in our schools.

My Department launched the Implementation Plan for Cineáltas on 10th April 2023, which is available at gov.ie - Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying (www.gov.ie)

The Implementation Plan for Cineáltas commits to implementing each of 61 actions within a five-year period and sets out timeframes and information about how the department is going to implement the actions.

Confirming the importance placed on the Cineáltas Action Plan, an Implementation and Evaluation Group has been established which is chaired by the Secretary General to oversee the Implementation of each of the actions and the publication of annual implementation and evaluation reports, informed by feedback from children and young people, parents, school staff, education partners, key stakeholders and relevant agencies.

One of the key actions of Cineáltas is to review and update the anti-bullying procedures which were last updated in 2013.

Work to update the anti-bullying procedures for schools is well underway with Continuous Professional Development and training being developed for all school staff, Board of Management members and parents

Implementation of a number of actions has already progressed. These include the following:

My Department has recently established a Student Participation Unit, which will promote the participation of children and young people in the development of department policy, building on its existing work in this area

An Expert Group has been established to advise the department on how best the Student Participation Unit can progress its work. Professor Laura Lundy, Professor of Education Law and Children’s Rights at Queen’s University who developed the Lundy Model of children’s participation is chair of this Expert Group

New Junior Cycle SPHE/RSE specification was published in May 2023 and is scheduled to be implemented in post-primary schools in September 2024.

A Post-graduate Programme for SPHE/RSE post-primary teachers in DCU has commenced with the first intake of 34 teachers since Feb 2023. A second intake is planned for January 2024, with up to 70 places on the course.

€5 million is being invested to pilot a programme of counselling supports for primary school students. This will serve to support the very positive work which already takes place in the area of well-being in schools.

Cineáltas builds on the achievements and ambition of the previous Action Plan on Bullying published in 2013, taking into account the work undertaken in recent years to ensure that our schools are safe and happy places for all our children and young people.