19-05-2025
The government has a plan to stop kids skipping school
A PILOT SCHEME aimed at better equipping schools to analyse and respond to students' attendance rates is going to be rolled out in 60 schools around the country.
It comes as part of a number of measures the government is implementing to try to tackle school absenteeism.
Schools have reported a decline in regular attendance in recent years and a rise in the number of pupils missing a concerning number of days.
Minister for Education Helen McEntee has said she is 'determined' to tackle the issue.
The Department of Education has listed the measures it intends to take to try to improve attendance.
Firstly, it is rolling out a 'new evidence-based framework' called Anseo to 60 school son a pilot basis to 'help schools analyse and respond to attendance data'.
In September 2025, it plans to launch a national multimedia campaign to promote the importance of regular school attendance to students, parents and guardians.
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It said it will continue investment in the Educational Welfare Service, including expansion of educational welfare officer (EWO) capacity, and in the School Completion Programme.
A national Attendance Conference will be held early 2026 to 'share best practices and promote whole-system engagement'.
In the 2022/2023 school year – the most recent for which data has been made available - over 110,000 primary and 65,000 post-primary students missed 20 or more days of school.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One's Morning Ireland, McEntee said current absenteeism figures are 'really alarming'.
'It's a very worrying trend that we're seeing post-Covid, not just here in Ireland but across the globe.'
She said that high levels of absenteeism are happening 'from Junior Infants up' and that 'the earlier we can identify this trend, the earlier we can reverse it, the better it is'.
She said that in primary schools, the main reason for absence is illness, which she said could be linked to parents being especially cautious post-Covid, but that at post-primary level the highest reason is 'unexplained' absences.
The minister said the government will support schools to collect better data about absences to have a fuller understanding of the reasons students are absent and how to reverse the trend, including getting 'real-time information' on a day-to-day basis.
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