The government\u2019s reaction to the school attendance crisis is d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu disguised as innovation, according to Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins.<\/p>\n
Deputy Cummins, who\u2019s the party\u2019s education spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be clear: this crisis didn\u2019t come out of nowhere – for years, the School Completion Programme ran effective, community-based attendance monitoring and promotion in DEIS schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were proven supports that worked across whole-school populations, not just with high-risk students. But funding cuts and structural changes under Tusla\u2019s Education Support Service forced programmes to scrap these roles, piece by piece.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe erosion of Attendance Promoters and Monitors began gradually, first reduced to working only with students on \u2018target lists,\u2019 and eventually phased out altogether in many SCPs as funding dried up or was redirected.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome staff moved on, some programmes couldn\u2019t afford to continue, and none of it was backed up by Tusla or the Department – now the Department of Education is piloting a new attendance strategy that mirrors almost exactly what SCPs were doing a decade ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s beyond frustrating. It\u2019s d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany dedicated School Completion Coordinators continued working on attendance strategies, despite the collapse of dedicated supports – but the government\u2019s short-term memory and failure to protect long-standing, effective community programmes has been deeply damaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re being told this is a new initiative. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s the resurrection of a strategy that was working until the State pulled the rug out from under it and school communities were left picking up the pieces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen students miss school, they fall behind in learning. That affects their confidence, their wellbeing, and ultimately their chances of completing their education.<\/p>\n
\u201cAttendance is not just a number – it\u2019s a lifeline. The fact that this Government is only waking up to that now, after stripping away the very teams that were tackling the issue, is not good enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere must be immediate reinvestment in the School Completion Programme, with restored funding for attendance-specific roles across all DEIS schools, and accountability for the policy decisions that created the current crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need sustained funding, not pilot projects. We need to trust and empower the people who\u2019ve been doing this work for years – not pretend we\u2019ve just discovered a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
May 19th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government\u2019s reaction to the school attendance crisis is d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu disguised as innovation, according to Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins. Deputy Cummins, who\u2019s the party\u2019s education spokesperson, said: \u201cLet\u2019s be clear: this crisis didn\u2019t come out of nowhere – for years, the School Completion Programme ran effective, community-based attendance monitoring and promotion in DEIS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[540,218,581,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-education","category-jen-cummins","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n