NI children's commissioner: Chris Quinn concerned by school absenteeism
- Published
Chris Quinn has set out his priorities for his new role as commissioner for children and young people
A rise in the number of pupils who are missing school must be investigated, Northern Ireland's new children commissioner has said.
Chris Quinn, who took up the job three weeks ago, questioned support available for students with mental ill health.
He said it was a mistake to cut school psychologists and counselling services.
Last month the mother of a 12-year-old girl told BBC News NI she had to film her child's anxiety attacks in order to convince authorities they needed help.
The schoolgirl - who was referred to as "Anna" to protect her identity - missed about six months of school last year because of uncontrollable anxiety.
"We need to find out why these children and young people aren't returning to school," said Mr Quinn.
"We need to ask questions in regards to their support needs and if they're being met or not."
Almost 10% of school days missed
Mr Quinn said education would be a key priority for him in his new role and added that education authorities "can't ignore" his concerns.
"The numbers [of absenteeism] are increasing so what we're trying to do right now is work with the Education Authority and the Department of Education to find out why," said the commissioner.
Attendance statistics in Northern Ireland in 2021-22 show that almost 10% of school days were missed by pupils due to absence.
That was the first full school year after the disruption of Covid-19 lockdowns.
However, school absence rates were actually higher in 2021-22 than during the first year of the pandemic (2020-21) and the year before it (2019-20).
Mr Quinn raised concerns about whether the education system was meeting the needs of children.
"I know that education psychologists, we have less of them now, I know that mental ill health is an increasing issue particularly since Covid and I would argue that we need to support children and young people much more adequately in terms of their well-being."
Anna's story: 'I was crying, screaming, shouting'
Almost one tenth of school days in the 2021-22 school year were missed by pupils due to absence
Last month 12-year-old Anna spoke about the crippling anxiety attacks she experienced during the school run that led to her missing much of the 2022-23 school year.
"When I was really bad, I was crying, screaming and shouting in the car. I couldn't even talk," she recalled.
Her mother said: "We had to get people out of the school to help. I felt like it was causing a scene."
She added that it was difficult to convince the school and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service of the extent of Anna's problem.
"The frustration for me was unless we videoed Anna at home, no-one would believe the way she was behaving."
Since engaging with professional help, Anna has been diagnosed with separation anxiety.
As well as tackling absenteeism, the new children's commissioner said he was angered over the lack of provision for special needs pupils, some of whom get only an hour of schooling a day.
He said the families of those children were being failed.
"We did have an issue pre-September with lots of children and young people without places," said Mr Quinn.
"That the issue on paper has been resolved but I'm three weeks in office and I'm being told that a lot of these children, their places aren't full-time, so they're attending schools maybe an hour, 90 minutes per day, which isn't good enough."
Mr Quinn succeeds Koulla Yiasouma in his role.
The children's commissioner said that politicians and civil servants would have to listen to his concerns.
"They can't ignore me," said Mr Quinn.
"That's one of the great things about my office, we have powers and duties, so they have to listen and we have to act.
"I want action, I don't want words, I don't want excuses. I want action, I want to affect change."
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