Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
CHILDREN WHOSE MOTHERS are not native English or Irish speakers are more likely to have a poor attendance record. However, children of immigrant mothers who speak English actually attended more days of school than some groups of Irish children, which shows that language barriers are associated with poor attendance patterns rather than immigrant status.
Researchers of a recent ESRI report, ‘Reasons for persistent absenteeism among Irish primary school pupils’, focused on persistent absenteeism of more than 20 days in the last year.
They found that parents, who help out at home with schoolwork and attend parent–teacher meetings, are less likely to have children with bad attendance.
Unemployed parents were more than three times more likely than those in the highest social group to have children with a poor school attendance record.
An important new finding was the effect of maternal depression. Children living with a mother who was depressed had an increased likelihood of having a poor attendance record.
In addition, children who witnessed parental conflict were almost twice as likely to be persistent absentees.
In terms of the child’s own characteristics, having special needs or a chronic illness posed higher risks in terms of children’s school attendance, while victims of bullying were also significantly more likely to experience attendance problems than children who had not been bullied.
While researchers did not compare girls against boys attendance, children attending single sex boys’ schools were twice as likely to have attendance issues compared to pupils attending all girls’ schools.
Persistent absenteeism was also more common among children attending schools where principals reported that the number of teachers was inadequate.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Shouldn’t unemployed people have way more time on their hands than working parents and therefore be able to spend more time helping kids with schoolwork and making sure they go to school? Please don’t try to tell me it’s because of money issues. I work and have weeks where money and food are tight but there is no way that I wouldn’t get my kid to school everyday with a packed lunch!
You’re kind of missing the point there Niall, perhaps wilfully? Or did you just read the headline and not bother with the actual article?
No I read it Tom. Enlighten me
No because when youre unemployed youre up til 4am watching babestation supping on st etienne..why does school start so early?
No excuses for not sending your child to school in this day and age , unless child is sick or family emergency , kids needs an education , a country where we get a free education we should be taking full advantage of it. There a people out there who would love to be able to learn and then you have bone lazy parents who prefer a lie in..
Who are these people Chloe? What is stopping them from learning presently (disregarding all the lazy feckers you allude to)?
Tom do you answer every reply with a question? Stop beating about the bush and give your opinion
And we’ll said Chloe. Are people now going to attack us for being good parents and trying to put our own problems aside for the sake of our kids education?
A free education? I guess you don’t get the letters home from the school asking for (last one I saw)€120 from each student to cover admin. and paper costs for the year. Then the overpriced schoolbooks, with royalties going to whatever cronies the dep. of ed. decided would get to write them. All monopolised by one company so there’s no chance of getting them cheaper anywhere else and then changed annually to keep the money coming. Uniforms (ridiculous) that cost about €150, if you’re lucky, so screwed if you have two or three kids that need them, and you call it free?? Free, my ass!
You don’t HAVE to donate to the school, second hand books and look for better value in uniforms. Thankfully we do have free primary education in Ireland and long may it continue. Or do you expect the government to send a taxi for your kid everyday??
Yes if it’s public school it is free to learn, my parents did not pay a penny for this re enrolment, they told this school they were not taking me out of the school so why would they need to re enrol me. Then they wrote a letter explaining how they would be going to every newspaper possible with the story if they decide to kick me out for not paying. So it is your choice to pay or not if you kick up enough fuss you won’t have to pay, some people simply don’t have it to pay in the first place. You get books second hand and uniforms can be bought in the likes of Aldi now and you can sow your own crests on. Obviously not free but we have it alot better than some countries. Still no excuse to deny your children an education.
My child is not being denied an education Chloe. I live in Sweden, where there is a truly free education available until university level. Free in so far as I pay for it through my taxes, but at least I can see where my taxes go and there’s no underhanded bulls**t going on.
That isn’t a donation. It’s used to plug up the massive gaps in department funding for contract teachers and to keep choice of subjects. Parents demand so much from schools without realising. How the whole system is just hanging together.
Still a donation and he doesn’t have to pay it. For a change this isn’t about teachers. It’s about the people who count. The kids!
You forgot the black leather shoes for most schools. Roughly a pair of clarks shoes cost €50 and last 1 year. Cheaper black shoes do not last that long. A pair of runners at the same price can last at least 3 years without showing signs of wear and cheap runners last the same. All because the schools have a “reputation”. If every school allowed runners this “reputation” would not be a problem.
It’s Mog!!! The forgetful cat!! No way!
Sad thing is, these children would be.much better off in school. For education, support, positive role models, resilience, social learning (interactions, social cues, conflict resolution), exercise, and relationship skills.
Money needs to be invested into family support work. Early intervention is crucial to support families in crisis.
Paul o’Mahony completed a study in 1997 on the typical mountjoy prisoners and one finding was that most prisoners were early school leavers. If we do not tackle the problem early, then we will continue to see a rise in the prison population.
I was bullied in school but didn’t miss school because of that. And my mum never worked but she never let me or my brother miss school. My dad on the other hand was easily fooled especially by my brother until mum stepped on the scene:)
Unless your child is sick they shouldn’t miss school.
To busy marching all over Dublin on a weekday against gay marrage and abortion to go to school
I think you’d find parents who are politicised, regardless of what policies they support, are more likely to be educated to some degree and then wish to hand it onto their kids
I used to dislike going to school as a child… I was really bored and used to fake being sick on a Wednesday and get sent/brought home by a teacher! My mother, cunning woman, signed me up for a dance class Wednesday afternoons in school, never missed one unless I was genuinely sick after that!
A lot of people play the system when it comes to voluntary contributions. I’ve seen kids who’s parents claim they can’t afford it get new cars at 17 have iPhones etc. I guess they can afford luxuries because they probably pay the system in every way possible. Meanwhile many genuine parents will make a real effort to pay.
Many young people are left unable to comprehend the concept of of there being a need to make effort to benefit you just get someone to fill out some forms and your sorted.
Sadly very true Tom – my ex sister-in-law suffered from depression and claimed it made her unable to work, so she was on long-term disability.
She used to encourage her teenage daughter to skip school to keep her company during the day. The girl eventually left school with a very poor education but knowing how to play the system perfectly, so several years later she hasn’t worked a day but has claimed all around her, and the cycle continues…
So sad to see it, as she had loads of potential entering her teenage years :-(
My son has asthma and has about two really bad infections a year he has missed 16 days of school this yr with all certified.
Save the children …..send them to military school…
We tried that already with the preists didnt work out
Very interesting article Amy! I’m sure the publication will be very informative for schools!
Thanks Sorcha!
have your say