Around 6 in 10 of pupils enrolled in school in 2022/23 were enrolled in primary education while 4 in 10 were enrolled in post-primary education, similar to the proportions for all children, see Table 4.1.
Of the children in care linked to a 2022/23 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 proportion was 3% for all children (see Figure 4.1 and Table 4.1).
Note that in the academic year 2022/23, 99% of primary enrolments and 93% of post-primary enrolments could be successfully linked to other pseudonymised administrative data sources using Protected Identifier Keys or PIKs (see Background Notes for more details on PIKs) and Table 4.1 relates to these linked enrolments only. Note also that the number of primary pupils in special schools or in a special class attached to a mainstream primary school in Table 4.1 is an undercount as approximately 550 special school pupil records did not have a PIK and hence will not appear in the linked figures for either cohort, children in care or all children.
| X-axis label | Primary pupils in mainstream national schools | Primary pupils in special primary schools or in a special class attached to a mainstream primary school |
|---|---|---|
| Children in care | 86 | 14 |
| All children | 97 | 3 |
Looking at all available and relevant enrolment data that are available to the CSO (primary enrolments 2015/16 to 2022/23, post-primary enrolments 2012/13 to 2022/23), just over 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 almost 2% for all children. Note that this figure does not include pupils repeating a year at non-State funded private schools (which would be particularly relevant for those repeating the final year of the Leaving Certificate cycle).
| X-axis label | repeating a year at primary or post-primary school |
|---|---|
| Children in care | 6.4 |
| All children | 1.6 |
Of the 1,132 children in care who started post-primary education between the academic years 2013/2014 and 2016/2017, 28% or 320 children left school early, that is, without completing the Leaving Certificate. This proportion was lower for all children at 8% or 18,158 children (see Figure 4.3 and Table 4.3).
As this analysis related to pupils that enrolled in post-primary school in the academic years 2013/2014 through to 2016/2017, note that early leavers would generally be aged over 18 years by January 2024 and so no longer be in care. Note also that the analysis only relates to children aged under 24 years in January 2024.
| X-axis label | early leavers |
|---|---|
| Children in care | 28 |
| All children | 8 |
Table 4.4 gives a breakdown of children in care who left school early by a variety of characteristics including sex, placement type and number of placements, as well as by educational indicators 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 (70%). Children who had a single placement during their time in care also had lower levels of early leaving (20%) compared to children who had been on more than one placement (38%), while females (23%) were less likely than males (34%) to be early leavers.
Over half (52%) of the 62 children in the relevant entry cohort (2013-2016) who repeated a year at primary or post-primary school went on to become an early school leaver, compared with 27% of those who did not repeat a year.
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