The recent expansion of the Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) scheme throws the spotlight on a well-recognised yet somewhat misunderstood acronym. Last month it was announced that more than 300 new schools had joined the scheme, meaning extra financial, resource and personnel provision for them.
From a school principal’s perspective, however, much more needs to be done to improve the lives of children at risk of educational disadvantage – particularly from a statutory perspective.
The first is to recognise and promote the importance of school attendance because the biggest predictor of early school leaving is poor school attendance. At its most fundamental, if a child does not make it over the threshold and into school, they cannot access their education.
Erratic attendance – missing days here and there – is more damaging than a fortnight off
Primary school children miss an average of 10 days a year; in Deis schools this rises to an average of 17 days – a staggering difference. Poor attendance can compromise integral Deis initiatives such as Reading Recovery. Success in this intensive one-to-one daily literacy programme for six year olds correlates strongly with the child being in school every day.
After 20 days’ absence, a school must make a report to Tusla. However, children under the age of six are exempt from being referred. This first year of school is the foundation stone of a child’s education, yet this anomaly means many absences in junior infants are not being recorded. The current legislation, the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, needs to be amended to ensure that every child who enters the school system has their attendance monitored, irrespective of age.
Erratic attendance – missing days here and there – is more damaging than a fortnight off. Owing to gaps in their learning, children are unable to fully consolidate material and may fall behind. A television and radio campaign to remind parents across every sector in society that every school day matters is a start.
Ireland has only 98 education welfare officers (EWOs) – one for every 11,000 students which is wildly insufficient. More staff are needed as intervention occurs only with very chronic poor attendance, which is too late.
At a recent seminar for principals in the northeast inner city (NEIC), Tusla Educational Welfare Service (EWS) noted that while the number of school attendance reports made in NEIC schools were no higher than those in Deis areas, “referrals are characterised by high degree of complexity and intergenerational trauma, addiction and social exclusion”.
Emotional supports
The second priority should be to provide for and recognise the need for emotional supports for children.
Some children suffer adverse childhood experiences, meaning their readiness to learn is detrimentally affected. Deis schools, including my own, have undertaken training to become more trauma informed, yet teachers are not counsellors or therapists. Children need access to such services, ideally in the mental health services themselves but school is the next best location as access to appointments is easier.
Nurture Rooms are an initiative established in inner city London in the 1970s, to meet the social and emotional needs of children. Each group sits down to a small meal of tea and toast and a session of social and emotional learning. The staff model positive pro-social behaviours and the children engage with the material. Such spaces are crucial for children and could be rolled out across schools.
The third priority is to ensure the most experienced social workers are assigned to the most vulnerable families.
Those of us working with vulnerable children are constantly advocating and seeking support for them but much more can be done
Some children experience adversity at home. It is imperative that the most experienced child protection social workers are allocated to work with the most complex families in the most socio-economically deprived areas. I have lost count of the number of families who have had multiple social workers, including one family who had four social workers within a two-year period. This is disruptive for families as it takes time to build new, trusting relationships and is not in the best interest of children.
Threshold for intervention
Chronic neglect occurs in only a small minority of families in a school but each “case” represents one child’s life. The threshold for intervention in cases of neglect is extremely high, and, from experience, things tend to deteriorate significantly before intervention occurs. Children are resilient is an oft-quoted phrase, but chronic, enduring neglect can be extremely damaging for a child in terms of their sense of self-worth and self-esteem, leaving such children more susceptible to a range of issues such as addiction or poor mental health in adulthood.
Owing to the sensitive and confidential nature of these situations, very little is known in the public domain. It is only when cases are viewed retrospectively, often through the courts, that the question is asked why nothing was done sooner.
Those of us working with vulnerable children are constantly advocating and seeking support for them but much more can be done to ensure the social work system supports these children to ensure they flourish.
To fully deliver equality in schools and attempt to eradicate educational disadvantage, strengthening and linking the statutory bodies around the table to ensure children attend school daily and that their emotional needs are being met is key.
Niamh Murray is principal of Rutland NS, in Dublin’s northeast inner city