DCU PR & Communications header
PR & Communications
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education report on the impact of COVID-19 makes a number of key recommendations based on DCU submissions

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education report on the impact of COVID-19 makes a number of key recommendations based on DCU submissions

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Report on The Impact of COVID-19 on Primary and Secondary Education January 2021 has just been published.

 

Of the Report’s 10 key recommendations based on the numerous sessions of the Committee, three of these are explicitly based on the presentations and submissions made by DCU Institute of Education’s Educational Disadvantage Centre and National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre.

These three key recommendations in the report are as follows:

  • “The Department of Education should update the 2013 Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Secondary Schools to include guidelines for addressing homophobia and transphobia.”
  • “The provision of hot meals to vulnerable students should be expanded to cover periods of school closures and holidays and a Hot Meals Programme should be rolled out nationally to all schools on a phased basis.”
  • “Emotional counselling and therapeutic supports should be provided in all primary and secondary schools as an urgent priority.”

Paul Kehoe T.D., Chairman, Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science stated in the Foreword to the Report, “I would like to express gratitude to DCU for their tremendous support and service to the Committee.”

A range of other recommendations and issues raised in both Centre’s presentations and submissions are additionally addressed and supported by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in their Report.

The full submissions and opening statements of the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre and Educational Disadvantage Centre are available here: