Defining Roles and Responsibilities
Roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined in relation to supporting the student’s return to school to prevent ‘double-jobbing’ or duplication. For example, it is not best practice for both the Year Head and Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) to call a parent/guardian regarding the same issue on the same day. This happens when there is a lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities. Roles and responsibilities should be set out in the school’s response plan to school avoidance. More information on this is covered under Section 2.6 of our Toolkit. The key personnel within the school who can oversee this are:
- Principal
- Deputy Principal
- Assistant Principal 1/Assistant Principal 2
- Year Head
- Tutor
- SENCO
- HSCL/SCP (if applicable)
- Guidance Counsellor
- Class Teacher
It is advised to consider delegating staff who have a strong relationship with the child or young person and their family. It might be beneficial to separate roles where necessary, for example the HSCL may be responsible for maintaining the link between school and the family, while an Attendance Officer or Assistant Principal oversees attendance tracking and monitoring.
Let’s Talk: How to Start the Conversation about School Avoidance with Parents
This section has been developed in alignment with the Signs of Safety Model used by Tusla and reviewed by experts to ensure consistency with the Signs of Safety (Turnell and Edwards, 1999) principles and guidelines.
1. Check You’re the Right Person
Before you engage with parents/guardians, ensure you are the best-placed person to do this. Consider your relationship with the child or young person, their family, and other staff involvement. Often, several staff members may be involved in contacting parents/guardians. This can be overwhelming and result in ‘double jobbing’ or duplication.
2. Do Your Research
Before you speak to the parents, gathering some information on family dynamics and situations can be helpful. Checking with School Completion Programme staff or the Year Head could be an important starting point.
It’s advised that you know beforehand about bereavements, separations and any other relevant information before you call home. A parent or sibling may be in jail or deceased. We recommend that you take the time to know a bit about the wider family and any positive existing supports from aunties, grandparents and so forth. Who is the child or young person’s ‘One Good Adult’?
Try to spend some time gathering information on what the child is good at or what subjects/activities they enjoy when they are in school.
We recommend opening the attendance tracking system while you gather further information on absence patterns and the reason(s) listed.
3. Take A Moment For Yourself
We recommend taking the time to regulate yourself before contacting parents/guardians. Schools are incredibly busy with plenty of distractions and stress. You must regulate yourself first in order to co-regulate others.
4. Check if it is a Good Time to Talk
Ensure to introduce yourself, your role and the capacity in which you know the child or young person. Check if it is a good time to talk; they might be under pressure with school runs or work.
“I wanted to have a quick chat about how things are going, but I know life is busy. Would now be a good time, or would another time work better for you?”
We recommend ensuring that you are speaking to the right person at this point as often it may be an older sibling who answers the phone.
Ensure that the conversation is taking place away from the child or young person at this point, as it is too early to invite them to participate.
5. Start with Empathy & Understanding
Approach from a place of concern for the child or young person’s wellbeing rather than focusing solely on attendance immediately.
“I want to start by saying that schools know how tough things can be for families at the moment. School avoidance isn’t about not wanting to go; it’s often about not being able to do so right now. We realise that. I want to work together to understand what’s going on for [Child’s Name] and figure out how we can support them.”
6. Describe Observations Factually
Provide factual observations about the child or young person’s attendance patterns.
Keep the language used simple, as this can often overwhelm parents.
“I’ve noticed that [Child’s Name] has been finding it difficult coming into school lately. I can see they’ve been in on [X days] but have struggled on [Y days]. We know there can be lots of reasons for this…”
“I’ve noticed some behaviours I am worried about in school such as …”
7. Invite Parents to Share Insights
Ask open-ended questions about what they’ve noticed at home.
“Where would you like to start?”
“How have things been at home?”
“Can you tell me a bit about how [Child’s Name] has been feeling about school lately?”
“Has [Child’s Name] mentioned anything about school being difficult for them?”
“Has anything happened at school which might have upset them recently?”
Provide reassurance after each answer and actively listen. It might be tempting to problem-solve at this point, but this is often best left until later.
8. Highlight the Non-Academic Impacts
Explain that school avoidance is a concern and that it is a concern as the child or young person is missing time with peers, interactions in class and vital periods for development. They are missing out on important aspects of school life, not just academics.
“I know how much [Child’s Name] enjoys [specific activity, subject, or friend group], and I am concerned that missing school means missing out on those experiences”
9. Explore Possible Causes Together
Consider anxiety, social difficulties, learning challenges, or changes at home.
Reassure parents/guardians that school avoidance is common and can be addressed, often school avoidance will pass. Continue to provide hope to parents.
“Which school friends does your child or young person talk about? Are there any children the child or young person seems worried or anxious about?”
“What has been happening at school or in your family recently that might be affecting (child)?”
“What do you think helps [Child’s Name] feel most at ease when facing a challenge?”
10. Offer Support & Agree Next Steps
Suggest strategies for gradually reintegrating the child into school. Don’t be afraid to offer some reasonable accommodations, but also be aware of what your school can offer at this point.
Reassure the parent/guardian that you and the school are partners in supporting their child or young person.
“What has worked well in the past when they’ve faced challenges?”
“We really want to work together on this, what do you think would be the most helpful next step for [Child’s Name]?”
Leave the phone call or interaction with a brief plan in place.
Make a record of the interaction and send a copy to the parent/guardian by your school’s agreed communication channels.
Offer to meet them in the school if they need to discuss things further; at this point, it can be helpful to have a visual diagram from the attendance tracking system ready to go.
Agree to meet the parent/guardians separately from the child or young person at this point.
Encourage the parent/guardian to bring a support person with them, even if there is no language issue. If English is not the parent/guardian’s first language, invite them to bring a link worker or a family friend for support or translation.
If concerns persist about attendance after the initial contact, parents/guardians will need to be invited to a structured and formal meeting about attendance. A formal meeting in the school needs to be evidenced before Tusla’s Educational Welfare Services consider any referrals.
Making the Most of DEIS Supports
The DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools) Initiative is the most significant national (and centrally funded) initiative that targets support in disadvantaged communities, particularly urban areas. It is based on targeted support designed to deliver equality of opportunity in schools from Junior Infants to Post-Primary education (ages four/five to eighteen). The majority of schools in Dublin 24 have DEIS status.
All primary and post-primary schools participating in DEIS receive a range of additional resources including additional staffing, funding, access to literacy and numeracy programmes, and assistance with activities such as school planning.
Additionally, some schools involved with DEIS have other supports through the School Support Programme (SSP). As part of the SSP, interventions such as the Home School Community Liaison Scheme and the School Completion Programme (SCP) are available to DEIS urban primary schools and to DEIS post-primary schools. These additional supports are not available in all schools. If your school has these additional supports, it is advisable to use them as they are a valuable resource when addressing school avoidance.
Good Practice Tip: When a child or young person has broken the rules, rather than asking “Why did you do that?”, try to hear their side of the story by asking “What happened?” and be really curious to hear the answer. Using open language allows for a safe space to be created for the child or young person.
Additional Resources
DEIS Information
More information on the DEIS Programme is available through the link below.