Published on 29 February 2024
Last updated on 29 February 2024
The Inspectorate of the Department of Education today published a thematic report on the experiences of children and young people who took part in the summer programme in 2023. This is the third in a series of three Inspectorate reports on inclusion, participation and engagement of children and young people in education. The first report, ‘The Quality of Education for Children and Young People from Ukraine’ (available here ) was published on Thursday 15 February. The second report, ‘Meeting Additional Language Needs – Whole-school and Classroom Approaches for Inclusive Language Learning: Findings from Primary and Post-primary school inspections of English as an additional language’ (available here ) was published on Thursday 22 February.
The report published today presents the findings from ninety-four inspection visits to summer programmes and from thirty-two follow-up visits, conducted in October and November 2023, to schools whose summer programme was inspected during the summer. The report highlights how the children and young people enjoyed the summer programme and how it supported them when they returned to school in September. The report notes the significant increase in the number of children and young people participating in the programme since it first began in 2021. It emphasises the need to continue to encourage as many schools as possible to offer the summer programme in 2024. The report also makes a number of recommendations to further support the inclusion, participation and engagement in education of children and young people.
The report highlights important aspects of the summer programme:
Facilitating participation and engagement : Since the programme began in 2021, the number of children and young people who participated in a summer programme has increased by over ten thousand, and the number of special schools offering the programme has increased by over fifty percent. The report acknowledges the work of schools in correctly prioritising children and young people with special educational needs, and those at risk of educational disadvantage, for places on the programme. The report also recognises that the Department of Education is currently engaging with relevant stakeholders, including representatives of the special school sector, to further increase the number of special schools offering the programme in 2024. It commits the Inspectorate to continue to work with all stakeholders to realise this important objective.
Enjoyment in learning : The summer programme provided children and young people with opportunities to learn in a less formal environment than they experience during the school year. This report found that almost all programmes promoted a high level of enjoyment through activities such as cookery, music, art and craft, sports, drama and a variety of excursions and educational visits. The report acknowledges how important these activities are for building the confidence of children and young people and strengthening their sense of belonging to their school.
Supporting children and young people on their return to school : Participating in the summer programme supported children and young people when they returned to school in September. The report mentions broader friendships, smoother transitions, improved attitudes to school and, for some, improved attendance as particular benefits of the programme.
Supporting parents and families : Many parents, particularly parents of children and young people with complex special educational needs, spoke to inspectors about how the summer programme supported them and their families. The supports included knowing their child was able to participate in a summer programme with their peers and in a familiar environment.
Involving children and young people and their parents in planning programme activities : Children and young people were involved in planning the activities of the summer programme in over eighty-five percent of programmes. Parents were less involved in programme planning and the level of parental involvement varied across schools.
Reporting on the progress of children and young people : Only a small number of schools had formal means of reporting on progress of children and young people during the summer programme to their parents and to the school.
The report makes three main recommendations designed to further enhance the inclusion, participation and engagement of the children and young people who participate in the summer programme.
• All summer programmes should include a range of activities designed to develop the higher-order learning competencies of the children and young people who participate in the programme. (Higher-order learning competencies include the ability to reflect on learning, having a sense of ownership of learning and motivation to learn.)
• All programmes should include appropriate and practical means of promoting effective parental engagement with the summer programme.
• All summer programmes should have a system in place to ensure that a concise, written report on the progress of each child and young person is completed at the end of each programme. This report should be provided to parents and to the school following the summer programme.
Publishing the report, Chief Inspector, Yvonne Keating, stated "This report acknowledges the many benefits to children and young people of participating in the summer programme. These benefits include improved attitude to school, increased self-confidence and stronger relationships with staff and with peers. It also acknowledges the value of the summer programme to parents and to teachers. The recommendations of the report are designed to further increase the inclusion, participation and engagement of children and young people in the summer programme. The Inspectorate with continue to work with all stakeholders to realise this important objective."
In response, the Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD, welcomed the publication of the report and said "I see summer provision for children and young people with special educational needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage as central to ensuring equity of opportunity in education and to the promotion of engagement in education and wellbeing. I am particularly pleased, therefore, that this report highlights the significant increase in the number of schools offering the summer programme. I also acknowledge the work of staff on the summer programme in strengthening the sense of connection and belonging that children and young people feel to their school. I hope that the findings of this report will further encourage other schools to offer the summer programme in 2024."
The full report is available here .
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ENDS
Further information on the thematic inspection reports
1. The Summer Programme
• Since 2021, the Department of Education provides all mainstream primary and post-primary schools and all special schools with the opportunity to offer a school-based summer programme.
• The aim of the programme is to facilitate the engagement with education, during school summer holidays, of children and young people with special educational needs and those at risk of educational disadvantage.
• Full details of the programme, including the guidelines provided to schools, are available here .
2. The number of schools that offered the programme in 2023
• One thousand, one hundred and five schools offered the summer programme in 2023.
• Over forty percent of all special schools, almost thirty percent of all primary schools and just over twenty percent of all post-primary schools provided a summer programme.
3. The increase in the numbers of children and young people participating on the programme
• The number of children and young people participating in a summer programme has increased by over ten thousand since the programme began in 2021.
• This is an overall increase of seventy-two percent.
• The most noticeable increase is in the primary school sector; almost five thousand more children from primary schools availed of the programme in 2023 than in 2022.
4. The inspections and follow-up visits
The inspections were conducted during July and August 2023. Inspectors examined the following areas when they visited the summer programme:
- The work of the programme organiser in planning and preparing for the programme
- How children and young people were prioritised
- Learning experiences and the extent to which children and young people and their parents were involved in planning these activities
- Plans in place to report on the progress of children and young people to the school
- Aspects of the child protection and anti-bullying procedures in place.
The follow-up visits were conducted in October and November 2023. During these visits inspectors gathered perspectives on how participation on the programme supported the children and young people when they returned to school and how the programme might be improved.
During these follow-up visits inspectors held group meetings with:
- Children and young people who participated in the summer programme
- Parents of children and young people who participated
- Key staff members involved in the programme
5. The findings of the first thematic report: ‘The Quality of Education for Children and Young People from Ukraine.’
The report published on Thursday 15 February on the quality of education for children and young people from Ukraine highlights many strengths in provision:
• Teaching and learning experiences of children and young people from Ukraine were either good or very good in over three-quarters of the seventy-eight schools.
• Almost all schools had specific measures in place to include children and young people and their parents in the school community.
• Almost all of the primary and post-primary schools placed children and young people from Ukraine in age-appropriate classes. This is a very positive finding as the placement of children and young people from Ukraine in age-appropriate classes is central to their effective inclusion in school life.
• In over seventy percent of schools all young people from Ukraine in third year and in sixth year intended to sit the Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate examinations.
The report highlighted three specific issues that need to be addressed in order to increase the participation and engagement of Ukrainian children and young people in primary and post-primary schools. These are:
• Additional encouragement to parents of pre-school children from Ukraine to access Early Learning and Care (ELC) provision
• Careful monitoring of the school attendance of children and young people from Ukraine and taking action to improve attendance when this is required
• Provision of accurate, accessible and clear information on progression pathways and funding support for Ukrainian young people who wish to engage in further study and/or progress to the world of work
The report on the quality of education for children and young people from Ukraine is available here .
6. The findings of the second thematic report: ‘Meeting Additional Language Needs – Whole-school and Classroom Approaches for Inclusive Language Learning.’
The report published on Thursday 22 February highlights many strengths in provision for children and young people learning English as an additional language (EAL). It also identifies a number of important areas for improvement:
• The quality of assessment was good or very good in just over half of the eighty-three primary and post-primary schools evaluated; it was less than satisfactory in almost one-quarter of the schools.
• Almost sixty percent of schools had good or very good whole-school structures to support EAL; these structures were less than satisfactory in almost one-fifth of schools.
• The quality of teaching and learning in mainstream settings was very good in fourteen percent of the schools; it was fair or weak in almost seventeen percent of schools.
• There was limited engagement by the eighty-three schools with the non-teaching supports available to support EAL. Just over one-third of the schools had requested support from Oide (the support service for teachers and school leaders) and around one-fifth of the schools had engaged to a large extent with the support materials provided by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and Integrate Ireland Language and Training (IILT).
The main recommendations included:
• Mainstream and subject teachers should use a greater variety of teaching approaches to reinforce key subject-specific language and teachers in support roles should plan interventions directly linked to the curriculum and aligned with the child or young person’s language targets.
• Improvements are required in assessment practices including target-setting processes and teaching and learning approaches for EAL in mainstream and support classes.
• Relevant stakeholders, including the NCCA, the Education Research Centre (ERC), Oide, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) and school and system leaders should continue to build greater system capacity in the area of assessment.
The report on Meeting Additional Language Needs – Whole-school and Classroom Approaches for Inclusive Language Learning is available here.