A child gets as far as the school gates, but won’t go in. Struggling with severe anxiety and feeling the academic pressure, they’ve been refusing school for weeks now and are at risk of dropping out.
But something does make them cross that threshold, and it’s to meet their school completion programme (SCP) officer.
For Andrea Duffy, SCP coordinator with Tusla, the child and family agency, these are the moments that make a difference.
“They’ll often come and meet us in the school, even if they’re otherwise not attending,” says Duffy. “If a child is in trouble in school or having trouble at home, and perhaps not attending, we may know that they’re sensitive about a teacher mentioning their non-attendance, so we might email that teacher and ask them to not mention it.
“Or if a young person is finding homework difficult, we might go through it with them, or quietly advise the teacher to forget about homework for that day, just so the young person will come to class.
[ School attendance among pupils drops significantly since Covid-19 pandemicOpens in new window ]
Duffy, whose team covers an area stretching from north Meath to mid-Louth, has 217 students in her project.
For most SCP officers and coordinators, the job has become harder and the needs of young people are growing.
According to a recent report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), funding levels for the programme have increased since 2016, but do not yet match the funding levels in place before the 2008 recession.
At the same time, non-attendance and school avoidance have risen sharply, with student engagement and wellbeing falling since the pandemic: just over 25 per cent of all primary school pupils and 20 per cent of all second-level students missed 20 or more school days in the 2022/2023 school year. This compares with 11 per cent for primary school and 14.5 per cent of second-level students before Covid. Attendance is worse in areas of social disadvantage, with 42 per cent of primary pupils and 30 per cent of second-level students missing 20 days or more.
I don’t think people really appreciate the scale of this conflict – and it’s just in more disadvantaged areas. One primary school even had the Garda outside the gates
— Dr Emer Smyth
In Britain, the public policy research agency Public First has suggested that the social contract between parents and schools has broken down, with school no longer seen as important as it once was. The Department of Education’s inspectorate report last December said these concerns were reflected in the Republic. So, is school increasingly seen as optional for rising numbers of pupils and families?
Emer Smyth, research professor with the ESRI and one of the report’s authors, says mental health problems were increasing before the pandemic but that Covid-19 stressors, including being cut off from friends, schools and organised activities, have taken a toll.
“There are significant waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, and issues around school avoidance,” says Smyth.
“The SCP makes a difference and so do schools, providing intensive and valuable support for children who need it. But this needs to be underpinned ... by efforts to address poverty, such as a second tier of child benefit. Poverty, especially intergenerational poverty, impacts on engagement. There has been progress on books and school meals, but uniforms, sports equipment and transition-year programmes are among the expenses families face.
“Mental health, addiction issues among parents and a lack of resources in disadvantaged communities can impinge on a child getting to school.”
In some areas, local drug and gang-related conflict is spilling into schools.
“I don’t think people really appreciate the scale of this conflict – and it’s just in more disadvantaged areas,” says Smyth. “One primary school even had the Garda outside the gates.”
While the SCP primarily focuses its limited resources on disadvantaged schools and areas, the data also clearly shows a rise in non-attendance among more advantaged students, too.
“One of our biggest challenges is getting the time to see every one of our 217 students,” says Duffy.
“The more we see them, the more we can help. Inevitably, children most at risk tend to get the most time, though we’re very conscious that early interventions could help some children and young people to stay out of the most at-risk categories in the first place.”
One practical intervention that is helping many children is iScoil, which is allowing children to complete their education without being in a traditional school setting.
From the point of view of parents, some of whom spoke to The Irish Times off the record, neurodivergence – often undiagnosed because of long assessment waiting lists – is a big factor.
Twenty years on, the issues are still the same, and every child or young person has a different reason for non-attendance
— Andrea Duffy
Many children who struggle are later found to be autistic or to have ADHD. Even with the best teachers in the world, they can struggle in a relatively rigid, results-driven education system; some are now home schooling after witnessing what they see as a focus on “fixing” their child’s attendance and making them conform, rather than schools providing more universal supports and working harder to stamp out bullying.
[ Can schools stand up to the bullies?Opens in new window ]
Parents generally report very positive interactions with the three strands of Tusla’s Education Support Service (Tess), which includes the SCP, the homeschool community liaison team who primarily work to support parents, and the education welfare officers who engage with all schools throughout the State.
Indeed, the ESRI report is clear that the SCP works, making a real difference in the short, medium and long term. But it also points out that over half of SCP coordinators say more funding is needed for them to meet the needs of the most vulnerable students.
“The end goal is to make sure that students feel that they belong, and to show them that someone cares about them being in school,” says Duffy, who has worked with the service for 20 years, but still has the enthusiasm of a person just starting to help families.
“Getting to know the young person is our job, and once we’ve done that, there’s so much we can do. One programme, Strengthening Families, brings families into the school in the evening for dinner, and we provide support and advice for parents who are struggling, as well as helping young people fit in with their family.
“On the first night, people often don’t want to be there, but by the last night, nobody wants to leave. When a parent is struggling, it’s great to be able to offer a solution: come to this programme.
“Twenty years on, the issues are still the same, and every child or young person has a different reason for non-attendance. My role is to acknowledge that school isn’t for everyone, and it can be hard, so we try to put some joy into the day for them.”
In a statement, Tusla says that its support service, Tess, has commenced projects to better understand the issue of rising absenteeism. Referrals to an education welfare officer have risen year-on-year, with 6,771 in the 2021-22 school year and 8,042 in the 2023-24 school year. The agency points to its role in actively advocating for specialist services, particularly for Traveller and Roma children, children in State care, children seeking asylum and homeless children.
Working with the Department of Education, it has developed a series of webinars for school principals and leadership teams aimed at helping schools to rethink and reimagine their approach to attendance.
Tusla says it welcomes the ESRI report and is considering its recommendations, especially with regard to the practice of geographically clustering schools in SCP projects, and that there is “general agreement that current governance arrangements [are] ... no longer a sustainable model for the SCP, with work currently under way to further explore and progress governance reform.”
However, it says that funding allocations remain a matter for local management committees in line with the education welfare needs as identified in their annual plans.
