New school attendance legislation to be published today does not place any obligation on employers to ensure that early school-leavers continue their education in some form.
This is despite a suggestion last month by the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Martin, that the Education (Welfare) Bill would include a scheme under which all unqualified school-leavers under 18 would have to maintain their links, on a part-time basis, with the education system.
Possible constitutional problems if the legislation were to impose obligations on employers which might conflict with the right to work or property rights are understood to be the reason for the absence of such a scheme. However department sources said discussions were continuing with the employers' body, IBEC, and other interests in the hope that employers would support an amendment to provide access to education for young workers under 18 during the Bill's passage through the Oireachtas.
The new Bill will raise the school-leaving age from 15 to 16, or the completion of three years of post-primary education, whichever is the later.
It will set up a National Education Welfare Board, which will have responsibility for school attendance, currently the responsibility of local authority attendance officers in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Dun Laoghaire, and the Gardai elsewhere.
The Bill aims to shift the focus of school attendance enforcement away from haphazard criminal sanctions to addressing some of the underlying causes of truancy and helping families by the early identification of children who may be at risk of school attendance problems.
The legislation will put in place a "tracking" system to ensure that the National Education Welfare Board knows the whereabouts of 16- and 17-year-olds who leave school early. Such early school-leavers will not be permitted to take jobs unless they are registered with the board.
The Department of Education, individual schools and other education, training and research bodies like FAS, CERT, Youthreach centres and the ESRI will be legally allowed to collect and exchange personal data on children and young people who leave school early. Until now no reliable information has been available on the estimated 4,5005,000 students who leave school every year before the Junior Certificate, and the 9,000-10,000 who leave before the Leaving Cert.
Another innovation will be the registration for the first time of all children being educated outside the school system, such as at home. Such registration will involve assessing such education to ensure it is up to minimum standards.
The National Education Welfare Board will also have powers to act in loco parentis when children are expelled and their parents, often in difficult circumstances themselves, are not in a position to appeal that decision. When a child is refused enrolment in a recognised school, the board will have to make alternative arrangements to ensure he or she receives a minimum education.