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.
InvestigatesReduced School DaysTHE NUMBER OF students moved to reduced school days increased by over 20% in the last school year.
A total of 1,275 students in primary and secondary school had these arrangements put in place for the first time in the 2023/24 school year, the latest government figures show. This was up from 1,044 the previous year.
These arrangements should only be used in “exceptional circumstances”, according to the Department of Education, but impact a disproportionate number of Traveller and Roma children as well as students with special educational needs.
Over 80% of primary school pupils and over 40% of secondary school students moved to reduced school days had special educational needs.
As part of our award-winning TOUGH START investigation in 2021 which exposed the uphill battle facing Traveller children, The Journal Investigates found the “misuse” of reduced school days was leaving a generation of students “lost”.
New guidelines are in place since then but advocates told The Journal Investigates that a lack of appropriate supports is leading to this measure still being used.
Adam Harris, CEO of autism charity As I Am, said they were “very dissatisfied” that when “an autistic child’s support needs aren’t met within a school, they’re very often dealt with using this punitive measure”.
It is positive that more children are accessing diagnoses, he said, but they “haven’t actually seen the corresponding proportional increase in support”.
“It’s difficult to think of another category of disability whereby” reduced school days would be used in this way, he added.
Unless it’s something that’s time bound and with the best interest of the child, very often, the reality is it’s suspension by another name.
Harris also said that part of the increase could be because reduced school days may be more “proactively reported” with the new system which was implemented in 2021.
This is the reason the Department of Education gave for the numbers rising “from 0.11% to 0.13% of the student population”. A spokesperson told us:
“Given that the requirement to report the use of reduced school days is relatively recent, this increase is largely attributable to greater awareness and reporting.”
Anne Burke, chairperson of the Cork Traveller Education Unit, said that it is one of “several forms of exclusion” that Traveller children face in schools.
She said that schools often put Travellers on reduced school days as they are “not interested” in accommodating students or “say they don’t have the resources”.
For Travellers, the use of this measure is “not for learning difficulties, it’s for behavioural issues”, Burke explained.
I see Traveller children who are the loveliest children in the world acting out in school because that’s their way of communicating their unhappiness.
The implementation of the Traveller and Roma Education Strategy launched last July will help with this, she said.
Inclusivity in schools is key and Burke is already involved in the training of teachers in Traveller culture and anti-racism. More Traveller teachers are also needed, she said, as Travellers don’t currently “see themselves in the system”.
The Department spokesperson said that “guidelines clearly state that reduced school days should not be used as a sanction, offered as an alternative to a sanction, or used as a behavioral management tool”.
They should also only ever be put in place “for very limited and time-bound circumstances”. Students on reduced school days either start later, leave earlier or attend for less than five days a week.
The spokesperson said they can be a “positive intervention” if used appropriately and cited cases such as “supporting a student to return to school after a period of absence, or due to a medical or mental health-related condition”.
Investigations like this don’t happen without your support… Impactful investigative reporting is powered by people like you.
For students under 18, parents or guardians must agree to reduced school day arrangements.
However, Harris said that, though their consent may be obtained, this is not always given freely due to the power imbalance between parents and the school.
“People are being given this choice or being told their child’s school place is at risk,” he said. Given the shortage of school places, Harris said this means parents of autistic students aren’t often given a “free choice”.
One in four parents surveyed as part of As I Am’s Same Chance report last year said that their child did not have a suitable school place.
“We often see children enrolled in inappropriate settings that will obviously contribute to children not coping within the classroom, where children will be pushed towards a reduced timeframe in the short or long term.”
In addition to ensuring autistic students have access to appropriate supports and school places, Harris said that an independent parent advocacy service is needed to ensure a level playing field when families face these challenges.
Burke said this is a major issue for Travellers, especially as parents have often been traumatised themselves in the education system.
She cited an example of a Traveller man who recently felt he was “coerced to put his little girls on a reduced timetable”. He turned to a Traveller group to help mediate the situation.
We asked the Department about this power imbalance, and whether it was considering implementing an advocacy service for parents in this position.
A spokesperson said that “schools are encouraged to seek advice” from local educational welfare officers (EWOs), psychologists and special educational needs organisers (SENOs) to provide “the right support for each child”.
“In addition, if any parent feels that reduced school days are being used inappropriately or without their consent they can contact their local EWO, SENO or the Department and this will be investigated,” they added.
The Department said it “is committed to supporting all children with special educational needs to reach their potential”.
“For instance, there will be an additional 768 teachers and a further 1,600 special needs assistants in our schools this year and an additional 400 special classes will take the total number of special classes to over 3,700.”
The spokesperson also mentioned the DEIS programme which references “Travellers as a named group and includes specific actions in relation to Traveller and Roma” school attendance and completion.
The Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) must be notified when a school places a student on a reduced school day.
Since guidelines were issued by the Department in 2021, TESS has gathered data from schools on the use of reduced school days.
However, both Harris and Burke raised concerns about the continued use of informal arrangements which result in students not attending the full day.
A report from last month by the Limerick Traveller Network found that 9.7% children in a study of over 150 students experienced unofficial reduced timetables.
The findings stated that some of these children found this “deepening disengagement and further marginalising them”. It also said:
This perpetuates a cycle of low expectations, limited options, and early school leaving.
The research was carried out by a team of 12 Traveller researchers and implemented with the support of Exchange House Ireland.
Maria Carnicer of Exchange House Ireland said “one of the most impactful quotes” came from a Traveller post-primary student on a different school schedule:
School makes me feel slow.
She said that this “shows how the education system can have a damaging impact on Traveller children’s sense of self-worth and confidence”.
As well as this, Anne Burke told us that the official figures would be an underestimate as “Travellers are fearful of identifying and the ethnic identifier doesn’t exist in a lot of schools”.
The ethnicity of a third of students put on reduced timetables for the first time was not stated in the report.
Harris of As I Am also said that the official figures don’t represent the full picture, with “a lot of informal approaches still taken when it comes to reduced school days”.
He used an example of a parent getting called three times a week to collect their autistic child, without any formal arrangement.
What is the Department doing to address the continued use of such unofficial measures? A spokesperson said that it is committed to building awareness through videos and other resources “so that parents understand their rights, particularly that no child should be placed on a reduced day without parental consent”.
They said that without parental consent, “the absences must be considered as suspension” which can be appealed.
Where such an issue arises during a Department’s inspection, the spokesperson said, “this can lead to recommendations to improve the school’s processes”.
More students also had prolonged periods of reduced school days.
The latest figures show that extensions beyond the initial agreed period increased by 32% compared to the previous year.
When this happens, TESS records this as a second notification. This happened in the case of over 450 students in the 2023/34 school year.
More students had these arrangements extended for a third (239) and fourth (134) time also. This increased by 40% and 55% respectively compared to the previous school year.
The number of Travellers and Roma students on longer term reduced school days has gone up over the last number of school years.
This “shouldn’t be the case”, Burke said, as any problems should be dealt with on the first or second period of reduced days. Alternative measures and “built in support” should be put in place during that time, she added.
On prolonged reduced school days, the Department spokesperson said that “it should be noted that in the vast majority of cases, the use of reduced school days is a short term measure”.
They said that 64% of cases did not exceed the first notification of six weeks and 89% did not exceed the fourth notification.
Burke was also concerned about how some Travellers were put on very short days.
In October 2021, The Journal Investigates revealed that some Traveller children were being permitted to attend school for just 40 minutes.
The length of reduced day varies from school to school, according to Burke, but she spoke of one school where all Travellers went home at lunchtime.
No data was included in the government report on how much time students on reduced days attend school.
The government report is normally published in September, but was delayed by five months “to include geographical breakdowns and information on gender”, a Department spokesperson told The Journal Investigates.
These new figures show that the vast majority of students (86%) who were first put on reduced school days attended mixed gender schools.
Waterford City, Co Meath and Co Wicklow had the highest proportion of students on reduced school days per student population.
Maria Delaney is the editor of The Journal Investigates. Our previous investigation on how Travellers are treated in school can be read here >>
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say