Educational Attendance and Attainment of Children in Care, 2018 - 2023

School enrolments of children in care in the academic year 2021/22

Around 6 in 10 of children in care enrolled at school in 2021/22 were enrolled in primary education while 4 in 10 were enrolled in post primary education, similar to all children, see Table 4.1.

Of the children in care and matched to a 2021/22 primary school enrolment, 14% of children in care were enrolled at a special school or in a special class attached to a mainstream primary school, while this was 3% for all children, see Figure 4.1 and Table 4.1. 

Note that in the academic year 2021/2022, 99% of primary enrolments and 94% of post primary enrolments could be successfully linked to other pseudonymised administrative data sources using Protected Identifier Keys or PIKs (see Background and Methodology for more details on PIKs), see Table 4.1. Note that the number of primary pupils in special schools or in a special class attached to a mainstream primary school in Table 4.1 are an undercount as approximately 500 special school records do not have a PIK and hence will not appear in the matched figures. This undercount is also reflected in the number of missing PIKs for all primary pupils in special schools or in a special class attached to a mainstream primary school.

Repeating a school year

Looking at all available and relevant enrolment data that are available to the CSO (primary enrolments 2015/16 to 2021/22, post primary enrolments 2012/13 to 2021/22), approximately 6% of children in care of school age repeated at least one year at primary or post primary school, see Figure 4.2 and Table 4.2.

This figure was around 2% for all children. Note that this figure does not include pupils repeating a year at non-State funded private schools, which is particularly relevant for those repeating the final year of their Leaving Certificate.

Early leavers

Of the 722 children in care who started post primary education between the academic years 2012/2013 and 2015/2016 (entry cohort 2012-2015), 28% or 202 children left school early, that is, without completing the Leaving Certificate. This proportion was lower for all children (8% or 17,878 children, see Figure 4.3 and Table 4.3).

As examining pupils that enrolled in post primary school for the academic years 2012/2013 through to 2015/2016, note that early leavers would be generally 18 and over by January 2023 and so no longer be in care.

Table 4.4 shows children in care leaving school early by placement type, length of placement, number of placements as well as other circumstances such as repeating a school year. A lower proportion of children who were in foster care when leaving care were early school leavers (16%) compared to children on other placement types (72%). Children who spend more than five years on placements had lower levels of early leavers (19%) compared to children who spend a shorter period (44%). Children who were on a single placement also had lower levels of early leavers (20%) compared to children who were on more than one placement (40%).

The percentage of children who were early leavers that repeated at least one school year in primary or post primary education was 53% and 26% respectively.