6.5.3 Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres

6.5.3 Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres

The Department has funded education provision in emergency reception and orientation centres as an interim measure

During 2016 and 2017, three emergency reception and orientation centres (EROCs) were established by the Department of Justice and Equality to accommodate refugees from the Mediterranean crisis for a period of three months before their resettlement around the country. There were delays in the resettlement process resulting in many families remaining in the EROCs for considerably longer than three months.

At the time of the establishment of the EROCs, it was envisaged that learners in all three centres would attend local schools as a means of supporting their integration. While this had been possible for some learners, a reported lack of capacity in local schools resulted in a decision to create capacity for education provision within the centres themselves. At this time, the education provision within the EROCs was initiated as an interim measure to assist with the initial reception and orientation of refugee families in a situation where enrolment in local schools was not always possible. The Department funded the education provision through the local ETBs.

Joint Inspectorate and National Educational Psychological

Service visits were undertaken to establish the nature and

quality of educational provision in emergency reception and

orientation centres

In autumn 2017, the Department’s Social Inclusion Unit, the Inspectorate, and the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) decided that teams comprising an inspector and a NEPS psychologist would visit each EROC to establish the nature and quality of educational provision. This was the first time that inspectors and psychologists worked collaboratively on evaluative work in an educational setting. Both brought their own focus to the work, and the joint approach added significant insights and value to the published composite report. The visits were conducted in December 2017 and January 2018 by prior arrangement with the Irish Refugee Protection Programme and the Centre Managers.

Teaching and learning were of a high quality in emergency reception and orientation centres; non-recognition of schools has given rise to challenges

Information collected by the inspectors and psychologists during their visits to the EROCs was collated into a joint composite report, Findings of Joint Inspectorate and NEPS Visits to Education Settings in Emergency Reception and Orientation Centres (EROCs). The report noted that the EROCs provided an effective interim response to the educational needs of children and young people. It has been published on the Department’s website together with the Department’s response to the report, which outlined the actions to be implemented arising from the report’s recommendations.

The non-recognition of these schools by the Department (and the consequent non-issuing of roll numbers to them) was identified at the time as a barrier to their teachers accessing continuing professional development (CPD) and to the provision of supports for pupils/students by the National Council for Special Education. However, NEPS developed and delivered a one-day training programme for the EROCs and the local receiving schools to assist them with the inclusion of the children and young people. This involved the development of a resource pack for schools supporting children from refugee families. NEPS also included the teachers in their national CPD programme, and continues to offer all available training courses to these teachers. Non-recognition also gave rise to a range of other regulatory challenges, such as uncertainty about the relevance of Department Circulars for the settings and responsibility for school attendance monitoring.

Teaching and learning were found to be of a high quality in these settings. It was evident that pupils/ students were supported in a safe and positive environment, and that their personal and language skills were developed very effectively. Children and young people in the EROCs presented with a great diversity of individual need. The necessity to develop systems to identify, record and communicate these needs was highlighted in the report findings. Similarly, the report findings pointed to the need for learning programmes to be appropriate to individual needs and strengths. The report noted the relatively restricted curriculum for post-primary students, attributing this to staffing levels and teachers’ limited subject expertise. It was also acknowledged that additional work should be undertaken to elicit the experiences and viewpoints of refugee children and their parents.

A range of issues has arisen in relation to the transition and integration of learners from emergency reception and orientation centres into mainstream schools

Particular issues were identified regarding the transition of learners to, and their integration into, local mainstream schools. Commendably, all EROCs had plans in place to increase their links with local schools to support learners in their transition to mainstream education. However, at the time of publication of the EROC composite report (2018), it was noted that no centre had been able to integrate its learners systematically into the nearest mainstream primary schools. To promote inclusion, the report advised that the barriers to this integration be examined further by the Department to ascertain if some concessions in grant aid, staffing or other supports to the local mainstream schools could provide a solution. The report also highlighted the need to integrate second-level students into local mainstream schools after a

very short period of familiarisation in an EROC school. Delays also arose, on occasion, in the assessment of, and provision of additional supports to, pupils/students in EROCs when families were moved out of EROC centres and transferred to new centres at short notice; this was because the process for the children who needed additional support had to start again once they arrived in their new schools.

The Department put measures in place arising from the report on emergency reception and orientation centres

In its response to the report, the Department provided additional staffing to the EROCs to assist with earlier transition of their pupils into local mainstream schools after a maximum stay of three months at the EROC. These teachers work between the local schools and the centres to assist with communication, transition planning and inclusion. The Department has provided clarity for the EROCs and ETBs regarding the regulatory challenges identified in the report, and there are improved mechanisms for teachers to access relevant CPD and other supports. The Inspectorate has developed an alternative education evaluation model to conduct annual inspections in EROCs and other similar educational settings, and it is envisaged that further inspections of the centres will take place in 2022. The Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) is also providing support to help post-primary schools to meet English as an Additional Language (EAL) needs of students more effectively.