Minister for Education and Youth Helen McEntee has told the Dáil that the proportion of children in primary schools missing more than 20 days has doubled since the pandemic.
Outlining her priorities in her new role, Ms McEntee said the unfortunate increase in absenteeism was even more profound among some cohorts of children and young people and that she was determined to take action to reverse the trend.
Referring to the fact that the education portfolio has been expanded to include 'Youth', she said there was a real opportunity to do this.
"There are many complex reasons why children don’t attend school and tackling this requires a real partnership approach of school, home, and community supports, listening to our children and young people," she said.
Ms McEntee said she wanted to place "a significant focus" on supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their potential and to ensure that the education system is inclusive of all our students.
She said this meant opening additional special schools and special classes, expanding the number of SNAs and special education teachers and expanding the resources available to special schools.
Flagging plans to introduce a common application system for children applying for special classes or for special schools, she said this had the potential to be "a game changer for parents".
On the DEIS programme for schools with a concentration of children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, Ms McEntee said she intended to prioritise actions which can close the gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools.
"In particular I will place a focus on improving outcomes for children from areas of high deprivation and increasing innovation and collaboration between schools."
Addressing senior cycle reform plans and fears around the potential impact of AI she said the education system needs to equip students with the abilities and knowledge to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
"The AI and digital revolution presents the biggest change to our economy and society since the industrial revolution. That is why curriculum reform is so important," the minister said.
Again, backing the current plans for reform, Ms McEntee said a broader range of student competencies had to be recognised.
"This needs to include critical analysis and creative thinking, information processing, communication, being personally effective and working with others."
The minister also said she wanted to take action to support teaching and learning in Irish and would publish a new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht with an objective to increase the proportion of children and young people attending Irish-medium education settings.
On the teacher shortage, Ms McEntee said she would set out "in the coming period" additional measures to improve supply.
