The body set up to police school attendance is not providing a "comprehensive" service and must intervene earlier before absenteeism begins to impact on the schools concerned, the State's financial watchdog has said.
Jan O'Sullivan, Labour
In a report on whether the State is getting value for money out of initiatives to tackle disadvantage in primary schools, the Comptroller and Auditor General said that overall, schools visited are using the resources in "an innovative fashion".
But in the area of absenteeism, the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) was "not providing a comprehensive service to schools", the report said.
It also said there was a need for "greater co-ordination and joined-up approaches" among the agencies and staff responsible for tackling disadvantage.
C&AG John Purcell's report said the NEWB acknowledged that it was "currently only prioritising children with the most significant levels of absenteeism and that it was still in the process of developing linkages and relationships with key agencies".
"There is a need to find a way in which the board can intervene in a more timely fashion before absenteeism begins to impact detrimentally on the capacity of the school to educate the pupils concerned," the report said.
Recent figures released by the board revealed 84,000 children under the age of 16 miss more than 20 days each year. The board says there is a strong link between levels of disadvantage and levels of absenteeism.
In the most disadvantaged areas, primary school students missed 15 school days on average in the 2004/05 school year, compared to an average of 10 days missed by pupils in the least disadvantaged areas.
Schools must report a student to the NEWB once he or she misses a total of 20 days from school or has been suspended for six days or more.
Labour Party education spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan said the C&AG's report was right to highlight the fact that resources to tackle educational disadvantage are "too thinly spread".
She said institutions such as the NEWB must be expanded and much better resourced in order to overcome educational disadvantage.
"Currently, they have only limited resources that allows them only a fire-fighting role to address the most serious cases of disadvantage. They must be able to intervene much sooner," Ms O'Sullivan said.
"Our economic prosperity is founded upon our education system. Yet that does not mean it is perfect. The real problems that exist must be addressed to ensure that all children receive a quality education to allow them achieve their potential."
Fine Gael spokeswoman on education Olwyn Enright said that after nine years in office the Government had made a "negligible" impact of this Government in tackling disadvantage and she said the NEWB was underfunded.
"Fine Gael has repeatedly called on the Minister to fully support the NEWB because without these tools the NEWB cannot fully encourage and support regular school attendance," Ms Enright said.