Miss it, miss out - the tragedy of truancy

Educational Welfare Officer Michael Doyle says blaming families for truancyachieves nothing. With the help of their families and schools, he's tryingto help children turn up, tune in and reach their potential. But, he says,it's an uphill struggle in a State that needs 360 officers, but has only 80

Michael Doyle has been chasing truant schoolchildren in Dublin's north-east inner city for over 20 years. He doesn't like the terms "chasing" or "truant" because they suggest delinquency and punishment. The job of the education welfare officer has not been about punishment for a long time, he says.

"When a child is failing to turn up for school it is an indication that all is not right at home. It is rarely a simple case of irresponsibility on the part of the parents."

Before now, only key areas had dedicated Education Welfare Officers (EWO). Elsewhere, the role of "truant officer" was assumed by the Gardai. Now every school in the country has a designated EWO and, since 2000, legislation relating to non-attendance is designed to support parents instead of penalising them. The whole system is overseen by a new body, the National Education Welfare Board.

Michael Doyle takes me to a local National School (unnamed to protect the students), where one-fifth of the children are non-national, a number are homeless and the majority come from local authority estates.

"We've had serious 'Monday/Friday Syndrome' at this school," the principal explains to Michael. "We have put a very detailed tracking system in place and, coupled with a reward system for improved attendance and the support of the EWO, we are starting to see an improvement. We know that many of the children coming to this school have extremely difficult family circumstances. Sometimes they are kept out of school for very simple reasons, but it's hard to get at the truth if you don't approach parents sympathetically."

She gives a recent example of a child who wasn't coming to school because her parents couldn't afford to buy a school uniform. Another child with a poor attendance record had lost his brother to suicide. Getting the children to school was far down the family's list of priorities. "There's nothing to be gained by blaming a family like that. They need motivation and support," she says.

Until recently, the law relating to non-attendance was based on the 1926 School Attendance Act, which took a punitive approach to truancy. Repeat offenders were sent to industrial schools. After 1978, when industrial school managers called for assessment of students before accepting them, the focus changed. Education Welfare officers started to spend time and resources piecing together a story for each child. They took a conciliatory approach with parents, regardless of their circumstances.

Doyle has seen some disturbing scenes on his home visits. "It is shocking to walk into a house and find that children are living in a shooting den. Nonetheless, no matter how bad the situation, you have to try and have empathy with the parents."

Next, Doyle takes me to a girls' secondary school. This school is also designated disadvantaged and the students include families from the local area, non-national students from dozens of different countries and a number of unaccompanied homeless minors from Africa and Eastern Europe.

The home/school liaison officer here takes a sympathetic approach to non-attendance. "Every parent wants the best for their child, but the mothers in this community are simply overwhelmed. Many get little or no support from the fathers and school attendance is very low on their list of priorities."

This school receives a weekly visit from the EWO, but they need even more support. Up to 50 of the pupils at this school are regular non-attenders and consistent and committed intervention is required.

"We've been watching all the publicity about this new National Education Welfare Board in the media. Schools' expectations have been raised by all the publicity. I hope they are met," she says.

They won't be. Not in the short term at any rate. An independent consultant's report recommended the provision of 360 officers across the State. Just over 80 positions have been created, many of which are administrative and management posts. The number of EWOs working on the ground will be considerably less than that.

The last school we visit is a VEC in an extremely disadvantaged area of Dublin's north-east inner city. It's Friday and the home/school liaison officer we meet says the place is "like a morgue. There are classes with four pupils in them". This man takes a harder line with the parents than others I have met today.

"Getting money is more important to these families than working towards some future goal. There are so many things prioritised above school. They'll happily send their kids to Millwall for soccer trials - but they won't send them to school to learn to read and write. A year down the road is a generation away. They don't live with the long-term in mind."

His actions belie his dismissive words. He spends every evening after school visiting local students and helping them with their homework. "Some of the houses around here are in an awful state. There's nothing to sit on but a few old car seats and there's no food in the kitchen. The family are all ranged around a TV watching other people's problems on Oprah Winfrey.

"A constant diet of TV and tabloids gives kids around here very unrealistic role models. Many of these students dream of playing football for a living. When a film is being shot in the area, the school empties.

"I have been working with these families for so many years, I can spot the children who will have problems with schooling before they even start," says Michael Doyle. "I hope that the new legislation will help us to work more effectively. Sometimes the issues are easy to solve, if we have the time and resources to investigate them properly."

He cites the example of a family who lost their home on the southside of Dublin through unemployment and were rehoused on the northside, far from the children's schools.

"The children started to miss school because their parents couldn't afford bus fare to get them across town. I organised bus passes for them and the situation was resolved."