Failings force our pupils from school: EU report

IRISH children are pulling out of school early because they don’t get the support they should, according to the author of a new EU-backed report on education needs.

Detailing how dated the system here is, Dr Paul Downes warned: ‘Mental health issues don’t just start when a child reaches the age of 18.’

The former University of Cambridge academic pointed out that international evidence indicates that school systems need to change in order to tackle early school leaving and help children adapt to the education system and society in general.

‘Emotional counselling services are almost non-existent in both primary and post-primary,’ he said. ‘This is in stark contrast to many other European countries.’ Dr Paul is director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre and Associate Professor of Education at Dublin City University.

He told how another Government report, School Matters in 2006, indicated that key emotional teams in secondary schools are centred around the transition-year head, principal, chaplain and career guidance teacher. But he warned: ‘Very many children and teenagers are not going to open up to these people as they don’t have any level of trust. What they need are emotional counsellors.

‘What the school system has been operating with are sticking plasters when it comes to dealing with children’s problems affecting them in the classroom. Counsellors need to work directly with children who have borne the brunt of poverty during the recession, physical bullying and cyberbullying and the list goes on.’

The report also highlights that Ireland needs alternatives to suspension and expulsion when dealing with troubled children.

Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone launched the DCU-led report, Structural Indicators For Inclusive Systems, published by the European Commission.