Abstracts Category : Other

The practice of prosecuting parents for the non-school attendance of their children in Ireland: a review of prosecutions made during 2006 - 2013 under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000.

by Glenn Perry

The most recent figures in Ireland show that in 2014/15 approximately 56,400 students missed school every day with 11.1% of primary school pupils and 16.2% of post-primary students absent for 20 days or more throughout the school year (Millar,2016a). In 2009/10, roughly 30% of students in disadvantaged schools were absent for twenty days or more compared to 15.3% in non-disadvantaged schools (Millar, 2012). The legislation used for enforcing compulsory school attendance in Ireland is the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000. The primary focus of this Act is to ensure that every child receives an education, while at the same time, addressing the needs of children who do not attend school regularly. A parent can be prosecuted for failing or neglecting to send their child to school and can receive either a fine or a custodial sentence if found guilty (Government of Ireland, 2000). A parent may be issued with a School Attendance Notice (SAN) only after efforts have been made to improve their childs nonattendance. If the school attendance continues to remain a concern, the parent may then be summonsed to court. To date 2,990 SANs and 766 prosecutions for school nonattendance have occurred since 2006.The thesis examines the prosecution of parents for the school non-attendance of their children in Ireland. It explores trends and patterns in relation to prosecutions made under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 between 2006 and 2013. It examines the perceptions of educational professionals and parent representatives in relation to the prosecution of parents for the school non-attendance of their children. The study adopts a mixed methods strategy as the best way of answering the research question. Initially, Quantitative data is collected and analysed providing a general insight into the research problem. The research also investigated and examined the attendance details of all prosecutions initiated in 2011 which involved analysing non-attendance figures for each case, over three academic years. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the problem, four focus groups were set up across the country. Three of the focus groups consisted of a mixture of educational professionals while the fourth focus group consisted of participants that support parents and children from a range of different agencies such as youth work, family support, community development and mental health.Advisors/Committee Members: Brennan, Eileen, Flynn, Marie.