Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 December 2025
168. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the measures her department is taking to address the increase in absenteeism in primary and secondary schools, considering the results of a recent large scale mixed method study showed a growing trend of students missing school post Covid–19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67784/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraTusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my department since 1 January 2021.
TESS operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. TESS has three strands: the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) and the School Completion Programme (SCP). The three TESS strands work together collaboratively with schools, parents and guardians and other relevant services to achieve the best educational outcomes for children and young people.
Parents have a legal duty to ensure that their child, who is attending a recognised school, is at school on every day that the school is open, unless there is a genuine reason for him or her not to attend.
TESS has developed a five-year plan for school attendance (2023-2028). The plan is targeted and collaborative and will focus on policy, practice, implementation of the Multi-Dimensional Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MD-MTSS) and the expansion of TESS services to schools and families, employing innovative ways to meet the needs of vulnerable learners. The plan is structured on five distinct themes of work where actions are outlined to improve attendance. Further information is available at [TESS_5_Year_Plan_for_School_Attendance_2023-2028.pdf]
Each school is required to have a set of attendance practices and strategies that promote good attendance among all students. As part of the five-year plan, TESS has published a series of attendance webinars to support schools. The seven webinars in the series are available for schools to view at;-
[National School Attendance CampaignTusla - Child and Family Agency]
During the 2023/2024 school year, all recognised schools also received a once off grant from my department aimed at promoting regular school attendance. Schools received an allocation based on their enrolment, with schools in the DEIS programme receiving either an increase of 1.5 times or twice the amount allocated per student, depending on the DEIS classification. The total amount allocated was over €6m.
In the current school year, TESS has delivered a national multi-media school attendance campaign, promoting the importance of regular school attendance for all students. Consultation with key stakeholders took place to build the key campaign messages. The multimedia campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of school attendance with parents and caregivers, to communicate the benefits of daily attendance at school and to signpost supports where families are experiencing school attendance problems.
My department, in collaboration with TESS, the National Parents Council and the HSE, has created a dedicated website landing page [www.gov.ie/schoolattendance] to direct the public to the available supports and advice.
TESS teams are working collaboratively with schools and communities to provide interventions, including the implementation of a new Multi-dimensional - Multi-tiered System of Support (MD-MTSS) framework, known as Anseo, which provides schools with tools to effectively plan to improve school attendance. The implementation of this model is intended to create practices, structures, and tools that will assist schools in improving attendance outcomes for schools and students. It will develop and strengthen responses for young people experiencing school avoidance behaviours. The model was successfully piloted in four schools before being rolled out to sixty additional schools from the start of the current school year. It will be rolled out to further schools in early 2026.
