Minister for Education and Skills invites education partners to give views on proposed guidelines on reduced timetables
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The Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh TD, has today (Monday 23 September) announced that schools will be required to give formal notification of the use of reduced timetables.
Minister McHugh is seeking the views of education partners on proposed guidelines for the notifications.
Following consultation over recent months between officials from the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and TUSLA Educational Welfare Service, arrangements to facilitate the notification and monitoring of reduced timetables have been agreed.
Proposed guidelines have been drafted to provide clarity to schools around reduced timetables and to set out the procedures to be followed by schools where such an option is being considered and used. The aim is to ensure that the use of reduced timetables is limited solely to those circumstances where it is absolutely necessary.
The draft guidelines are underpinned by the principles that a reduced timetable should not be used as a sanction or as a behavioural management tool; that it should be applied proportionately and should last only as long as is necessary to facilitate a return to school on a full-time basis.
The following proposals have been included:
The Department of Education and Skills will continue to work closely with TUSLA Educational Welfare Service and where appropriate with the National Council for Special Education to ensure that, in the very limited number of cases a reduced timetable is deemed necessary, such measures will be used for only time-limited periods.
If parents have concerns about the use by a school of a reduced timetable for their child they can contact their local Educational Welfare Officer, who will advise them on the most appropriate approach.
In announcing this invitation for education stakeholders to give their views on the proposed guidelines, Minister McHugh said:
“Inclusion is central to this government’s education policy and it is essential that all pupils who are enrolled in a school should attend for the full day unless in exceptional circumstances."
“A reduced timetable is not in any way a standard aspect of a child’s experience of school and must not be allowed to become such; it should be an exceptional measure."
“It has to be accepted that in some cases it may be necessary to use a reduced timetable, for example, as a means of assisting the reintegration of a pupil to a school routine, but such arrangements must only be adopted in limited and time-bound circumstances."
“The best interests of the child, their education and their development, should be paramount in any decision making by schools.”
The finalised guidelines will apply to all recognised schools.
The Minister added:
“I would greatly appreciate the opinions of the education stakeholders prior to publication of the finalised guidelines.”
The department is inviting observations from education stakeholders until 18 October 2019.
ENDS
The term “reduced timetable” is often used to describe:
The Department of Education and Skills’ position is that all pupils who are enrolled in a school should attend school for the full day, unless exempted from doing so in exceptional circumstances.
While in some circumstances it may be necessary and useful to use a reduced timetable, for example, as a means of assisting the reintegration of a pupil to a school routine, such arrangements should only be put in place in limited and time-bound circumstances.
The Department of Education and Skills has now, in conjunction with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and Tusla Educational Welfare Service, drafted guidelines for schools on reduced timetables.
The finalised guidelines will set out the procedures to be followed where a reduced timetable is proposed and will allow the monitoring of the use of reduced timetables.
Prior to finalising the guidelines the Department of Education and Skills is arranging a consultation process with education stakeholders, including school management bodies.