In the late 1990s the SELB felt it was an opportune time to undertake a review of the EWS due to changes in legislation and changing social conditions.

2.1 Changes in Legislation

Prior to 1995 the EWS ‘s statutory role was governed by two main pieces of legislation - The Education and Libraries Order (1986) and The Children and Young Persons Act (1968):

The Education and Libraries (NI) Order 1986 allowed the Board3  to prosecute parents if they failed to fulfil their duty of ensuring their children:

" received efficient full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude and to any special needs they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise"

This legislation placed the onus on parents to ensure their children received an education. In most cases parents choose to fulfil this through sending their children to school.

The Children and Young Persons Act allowed the EWS to summons young people before the juvenile court if they were considered to be beyond parental control. Persistent non-attendance at school was frequently interpreted as a symptom of being beyond parental control. If the case was proven it could result in a Training School Order4 .

Working within this legislative framework the EWS had developed practice that relied heavily on:

Largely the role of the EWO required clerical and some interpersonal skills to enable the EWO to maintain basic records, liaise with schools and interview parents. It was not therefore unusual for EWOs to have a caseload of in excess of 80 pupils. The EWS was seen by many, especially those from a social work or juvenile justice background as taking punitive action against parents and young people. Legal action, which could lead to, parents being fined for their inability to provide adequate parenting and young people being sentenced to a Training School.

The Board also expected EWOs to undertake a number of tasks that were grouped under the heading of ‘other duties’. These included escorting children with special needs to school, delivering materials to and from schools, delivering draft statements, carrying out school surveys and supervising public examinations. Schools also expected EWOs to deliver letters to parents, interview pupils who had returned to school after an absence and to take pupils home in cases of illness or suspension.

In 1995 The Children (NI) Order came onto the statute books. This has been described as the most comprehensive piece of legislation ever enacted in Northern Ireland. It reformed and brought together much of the law relating to the care, upbringing and protection of children and young people. The Children Order emphasised the need for agencies to work in partnership with each other and with parents for the benefit of children and young people. It also promoted preventative work6  aimed at providing a practical response to the need of families and children. The Training School Order was abolished and the Education Supervision Order7  was introduced in its place.

The impact of the Children (NI) Order on how EWOs carried out their job was far-reaching. Since there could no longer be a reliance on the coercion of parents and pupils through the court system the service had to develop alternative strategies for working with parents, children and young people. The Children Order demanded that EWOs work with parents, children and young people to a greater extent than previously to resolve the difficulties they were experiencing in relation to school and that this work should be in partnership with other agencies. In recognition that this type of work was more time consuming and required extra skills The Department of Education funded the employment of extra EWOs in all Boards and supplied funding for EWOs to undertake training in social work. The value of social work skills was further endorsed in@March 1999 when the five Boards decided that a social work qualification was the basic entry requirement for new recruits into the EWS.

In order to ensure that EWOs had sufficient time to undertake work with children and young people the Board had to find alternative ways of carrying out the ‘other duties’ mentioned in the paragraph above that did not involve using the EWS. The EWS had to find a way to reduce the caseload of individual EWOs to allow them the time to engage in work with children, young people and their families. In order to do this schools were asked, as part of their pastoral arrangements to identify pupils whose pattern of attendance was a cause for concern or likely to become a cause for concern and to carry out the initial intervention. In cases where school intervention is unsuccessful referrals should be made to the EWS. Schools were informed that EWOs would no longer be able to deliver letters or take pupils home on a regular basis and that interviewing pupils without parental permission was not in keeping with changes in legislation.8 

Other legislation that has impacted on the EWS in recent years includes The Human Rights Act which became law in Northern Ireland in 2000 and made the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) part of UK law. This allowed UK citizens to enforce their rights through UK courts instead of having to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The EWS needs to ensure that the professional practice of the service does not infringe on the rights of parents, children or young people.

The Employment of Children Regulations (NI) 1996 and Children (Public Performances) Regulations (NI) 1996 places the responsibility for monitoring and licensing children and young people at work and in public performances on the Education and Library Boards. In the SELB this function is undertaken by the EWS.

3 The EWS is the service through which the SELB meets this statutory duty

4 A Training Order was a custodial sentence which could last for one to three years

6 Intervention with a family before a crisis situation arises which may lead to a statutory order

6 Intervention with a family before a crisis situation arises which may lead to a statutory order

7 The EWO can seek an Eso in cases where it felt that an order would help to secure education for a child or young person. The EWO is given powers by the court to advise, assist , befriend and direct the parent and child or young person

8 SELB draft policy on interviewing pupils attached as appendix 2