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Education

Exploring School Absence in Northern Ireland: Voices of Young People

21 July 2025
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

Monday 28 July 2025

Chronic school absence has been a growing concern across Northern Ireland, with rising numbers of young people disengaging from education. But too often, conversations about this issue overlook the voices of those most affected — the young people themselves.

This project set out to change that.

Through a series of honest, powerful video interviews, we asked a small group of young people to share their experiences, challenges, and hopes around school attendance. The stories that emerged are complex, deeply personal, and help us understand how the education system is, or isn’t, working for many children and young people.

The young people involved have been failed by the education system in various respects, but are now speaking out as child rights defenders to help secure changes for future generations.

Watch the Interviews

Why This Project Matters

The young people we spoke to have lived through school systems which they feel have not had the capability to support them, whether due to bullying, mental health struggles, unmet health and social care needs, ill equipped physical environments, rigid expectations, or a lack of genuine connection with the adults and peers around them. Yet their insights also point the way towards more compassionate, responsive, and inclusive solutions.

These interviews highlight key themes, including:

  • The impact of mental health on attendance and engagement.
  • The importance of positive teacher student relationships.
  • Experiences of bullying and feeling unsafe in school.
  • Barriers related to special educational needs and disability.
  • A desire for more flexible, relevant, and student centred education.
  • The need for a sense of belonging and acceptance within the school community.

One thing that was clear throughout the entire project, was that young people want to be heard and taken seriously. A failure to do that will result in a failure to tackle the problem.

What You’ll Find

Below, you can watch and listen to the young people in their own words. Young people who have taken a brave decision to speak out and become child rights defenders.

Each video offers a unique perspective, some heart breaking, others hopeful, but all are united by a call for change rooted in lived experience.

Meet the Young People

  • Alex: Once enthusiastic about school, Alex’s experience of bullying and feeling unheard by staff led to significant disengagement and school avoidance. He reflects on feeling unsupported and unmotivated.
  • Chris: Speaks candidly about the impact of school on his deteriorating mental health, and the stress of feeling unseen and misunderstood, especially when trying to mask neurodivergent traits.
  • Ian: Shares the barriers he faced due to the lack of accessibility in his school, highlighting how systemic inaction limited his educational opportunities.
  • Owen: Reflects on the trauma of being dismissed and punished in primary school and how a lack of empathy led to early disengagement. A compassionate teacher made a lasting positive difference, even if, in the end, it was too late to prevent him from leaving school.
  • Kanye and Lukas: Talk about the role of friendship, inconsistency in learning experiences and feeling misunderstood, showing how school environment and relationships shape attendance and achievement.

A Call to Listen and Act

These stories are not isolated. They reflect broader patterns that need urgent attention. By truly listening to young people we can begin to design systems that work with them, not against them.

Children’s Rights and Chronic School Absence: A Rights Based Approach

Chronic school absence isn’t just an educational issue — it’s a children’s human rights issue.

Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), every child has the right to an effective education (Articles 28 and 29). More than that, they have the right to be listened to (Article 12), to mental health support (Article 24), and to access all of their rights without discrimination (Article 2).

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) also sets out clear obligations on states to ensure disabled children enjoy their rights in school on an equal basis with others. Every disabled child has the right to access education without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity (Article 24); and they must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms, with their views given due weight (Article 7). Schools, transport, communication, and learning materials must be physically and practically accessible to all pupils (Article 9); and disabled children must not be left behind due to systemic neglect, inaccessible environments, or untrained staff (article 5).

The young people we interviewed told us clearly: they often didn’t feel respected or heard in school environments. Their mental health needs were not effectively supported. Their additional needs were not being met and reasonable adjustments were absent or hard fought for. Their differences were misunderstood by those around them and their voices were missing from decisions about their own education.

Watch the Interviews

Thanks

We are grateful to the LFT Charitable Trust who, in recognising the importance of this participative research project, provided a grant to enable its completion.

We would also like to thank all the young people who took part in the project as well as Strive NI, Larne YMCA and Barnardos for their help throughout the project.

Additional Resources

SEN Reform Agenda and Five Year Delivery Plan: Key Considerations from CLC

10 February 2025
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

10 February 2025

The Children’s Law Centre (CLC) welcomes the Department of Education’s recently published SEN Reform Agenda and Five-Year Delivery Plan, which aims to improve Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision in Northern Ireland. While this provides an opportunity for progress which must be taken up by all involved in children’s education, CLC holds several critical concerns about how the Department can ensure the plan meets the needs of children with disabilities and special educational needs.

Prioritising Disability Rights and Legal Obligations

One area of concern is that the Department’s use of “SEN” (instead of “SEND”) could potentially make children with disabilities less visible within the policy. Given the fact that inclusion of children with SEND in mainstream is a key driver for this plan, it is crucial that disability rights and equality are at the forefront of the plan, reinforcing clear legal obligations to protect disabled children’s rights.

Funding and Collaboration: The Pillars of Success

Many key actions in the plan are marked as subject to funding, which raises concerns about the sustained investment required to ensure effective implementation. Without the necessary financial and human resources – and meaningful collaboration across services – the reform will struggle to bring about real change. Active involvement from families, teachers and service providers in monitoring the impact of investment will be essential.

Ensuring the Graduated Response Framework Works for Children

The plan introduces a graduated response framework to streamline support processes. However, CLC stresses that this framework must not introduce unnecessary bureaucracy that delays or complicates access to essential support. It must also align with the existing SEND legal framework and statutory Code of Practice to ensure children’s rights remain protected.

The graduated response approach has been taken from a draft revised SEN Code of Practice that was consulted on in 2021 but has yet to complete Assembly scrutiny. CLC is seriously concerned that the graduated response is implementing the draft revised SEN Code of Practice through the back door, with the department having failed to respond to the significant concerns raised previously by CLC and others.

The Need for Proper Consultation and Equality Compliance

CLC is also concerned about whether the Department of Education has fully met its statutory equality duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. CLC urges the Department to publish its equality impact assessments and monitoring arrangements.

Additionally, effective consultation with children, families, and service providers must remain a core part of the process. The voices of those directly affected by SEN policies should shape the development and implementation of reforms to ensure they meet needs.

Early Intervention and Capacity Building

For early intervention to succeed, education settings need adequate internal capacity and external support. Special educational provision must be available, accessible, and transparent, ensuring that children receive timely support without facing administrative bottlenecks.

Accountability and Measuring Impact

CLC calls for robust outcomes monitoring and data collection to track the plan’s impact. This includes:

  • Assessing whether schools have the capacity to provide early intervention.
  • Evaluating whether EA pupil support services can meet demand.
  • Measuring how special educational provision improves outcomes for children with SEND.

The Path Forward

CLC will continue advocating for an effective, legally compliant SEND system that upholds children’s rights. The success of this reform will depend on significant and sustainable funding, transparent processes, enhanced co-operation between children’s services providers and a child centred approach which promotes equality of opportunity for children with SEND.

Urgent Reform Needed to Support Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

23 May 2023
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

23 May 2023

A new independent review of special educational needs services conducted by Ipsos has found that, under the current system and processes, early intervention for children is almost impossible.

Image of child at school in wheelchair. Headline text reads: 'Urgent reform needed to support children with special educational needs and disabilities

The report highlights the need for urgent reform. It builds on a number of critical reports and provides recommendations to improve support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The Children’s Law Centre (CLC) has welcomed the report and called for urgent action, and the necessary ringfenced funding, to ensure meaningful changes are made to provide earlier and more effective support.

Rachel Hogan, SEND expert at the Children’s Law Centre, said:

“This is a welcome report that highlights a number of failures already well known to those who work with children with special educational needs and disabilities. We have been raising these issues for many years and at CLC we see the negative impact on children in our daily work.

Image of Rachel Hogan, with quote reading: "“This is the latest in a number of damning reports highlighting the many failures to enable equality of access to education for children with SEND and offering solutions to fix this broken system. We now need urgent action."

“This is the latest in a number of damning reports highlighting the many failures to enable equality of access to education for children with SEND and offering solutions to fix this broken system. We now need urgent action.

“Interventions must come earlier and the obstacles to securing support must be removed. Interventions should be focused on outcomes for the child, rather than internal process-focused outcomes. Those who work with children should be better trained on how to identify and provide special educational support, with all children’s services co-operating to put support around the child, with schools becoming more accessible and inclusive educational spaces.

“The report also highlights the urgent need for investing in reform. The Children’s Law Centre, along with 200 organisations and individuals, recently wrote to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, to raise concerns around cuts to children’s services. Playing politics with our children’s futures and failing to properly invest in stabilising and reforming SEND services will not only continue to harm children but it will strip our economy of valuable financial resources and a properly educated workforce in the long-term.”

Image of large number of organisational logos, with overlay text reading: 'Over 200 organisations and individuals sign letter saying cuts to services will harm children'
Read more about our recent letter

The Ipsos report can be found at: https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/publications/independent-review-special-educational-needs-services-and-processes

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Education Authority Breached Human Rights of Disabled Children During Covid

22 February 2023
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

February 2023

Image of school bus with headline text: 'Education Authority Breached Human Rights of Disabled Children During Covid'

In two landmark cases, the High Court in Belfast has declared that the human rights of disabled children were breached when they were refused access to school transport, which denied them access to education. The cases were brought before the court through applications seeking leave for judicial review. After the Education Authority (EA) provided solutions for each child, legal declarations were secured through agreement that the children in both cases had been deprived of their right to education under Article 2 of Protocol 1, along with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The cases were brought by the Children’s Law Centre (CLC) on behalf of two children after a referral for specialist legal services by the charity Angel Eyes as part of a joint EqualEyes project with CLC, which protects the equality rights of children with visual impairment. The CLC legal team argued that prolonged and disproportionate Covid restrictions on school transport for reasons related to disability were unjustifiable and unlawful, interfering with the right to education.

One child was unable to attend specialist education placements in person for all but one day of nursery and for the entirety of the P1 and P2 academic years. The best interests of the children and their legal entitlements were entirely discounted within the decision making processes of the EA.

After protracted negotiations to seek and develop alternative educational and transport arrangements for the children, the CLC legal team secured landmark declarations where the EA acknowledged that the children’s human rights to education had been breached during the relevant time periods and they were treated differently to other children because of their disabilities.

Speaking after the conclusion of the case, Rachel Hogan, of the Children’s Law Centre, said:

“This is a significant legal milestone for these children, and for all disabled children who have been denied access to services which enable equality of opportunity. The High Court declarations reinforce the importance of ensuring that public authorities do not place unlawful systemic barriers in the way of disabled people, including disabled children. Failure to ensure accessibility of services throughout society is capable of breaching the human rights of groups of children who are protected by law.

Image of Rachel Hogan with pull quote: "We hope these landmark declarations serve as a significant reminder to public authorities and duty bearers more generally that disabled children and young people are entitled to equal treatment and equality of opportunity in all aspects of life."

“When we look at the experience of disabled children throughout Covid, including failures to identify mitigations before implementing restrictions, and also their much slower and ongoing return to normal life compared to others, we get a real understanding of the multiple barriers they face. In our legal casework, CLC sees a system-wide failure of equality for disabled children and their families that reaches far beyond the education sphere and into every element of daily life.

“The remedial actions taken and acknowledgements given to these children by the EA are therefore welcome as it is entirely right that public authorities should openly identify barriers to equality in order to enable these to be removed.

“We hope these landmark declarations serve as a significant reminder to public authorities and duty bearers more generally that disabled children and young people are entitled to equal treatment and equality of opportunity in all aspects of life.”

Speaking anonymously by order of the courts, a parent of one of the children welcomed the decision:

“I brought my child’s case to the attention of the Children’s Law Centre as I felt no person or child should be treated differently due to their disability and medical requirements and excluded from transport and vital education and learning with their peers. My child was made to feel different. This declaration will hopefully promote learning from public bodies and understanding that all children should be treated inclusively.”

A parent of the other child spoke of his frustration that his child was treated unfairly:

“This is an important recognition of the failure to treat disabled children fairly, particularly through Covid restrictions. While my child was being denied access to school transport and denied their right to education, other children were permitted to travel on packed school buses with no masks.

“My child was denied access purely on the basis of their disability, with no serious effort to risk assess the situation or consider the best interests of my child.

“I’m pleased with the declaration, I only wish it wasn’t yet another case where a disabled child has to go to the courts to get access to services. I hope the Education Authority learns from this and properly considers the impact policies have on disabled children.”

An immediate impact

Since securing access to education, the impact on the children was clear to see. One of the children initially received sessions of home education and immediately began to show signs of improvement. She began sleeping better, had more energy and became much happier in herself. She is now fully enjoying social and sensory stimulation, loves going to school and is learning to communicate. The family have more ability to recharge their batteries and to carry out their intense caring role while also looking after their younger child. The child now goes to school three days, has home tuition two days a week and is gradually moving towards full time school based education.

Speaking about the collaborative EqualEyes project, Karen Wilson, Education Advocate Lead at Angel Eyes said: “This result demonstrates the benefit of collaborative work to identify needs and protect the rights of disabled children and young people. Through our work in the EqualEyes project, we were able to identify additional barriers to education and signpost across the project to our partners at CLC to find a legal remedy.”

Pull quote graphic with picture of Karen Wilson and accompanying quote: "This result demonstrates the benefit of collaborative work to identify needs and protect the rights of disabled children and young people. Through our work in the EqualEyes project, we were able to identify additional barriers to education and signpost across the project to our partners at CLC to find a legal remedy."

High Court Declarations

JR226

IT IS HEREBY DECLARED that:

  • The Proposed Respondent breached Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the period of time from 24th February 2021 to June 2022 insofar as there was an unlawful interference with the Applicant’s access to education and he was treated differently to other children in the State on the basis of his medical condition contrary to Article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights in conjunction with Article 14 ECHR.

JR225

IT IS HEREBY DECLARED that:

  1. The Respondent failed to discharge its obligations under article 16(5) of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 to arrange that the special educational provision indicated in the applicant’s Statement was made for her at school, for the period of time from September 2020 to June 2022, save for periods whereby the applicant was unable to attend school because of illness or otherwise including 16th September 2021 to 24th September 2021 and 15th November 2021 and 28th November 2021 and other various dates;
  2. The Respondent failed to discharge its obligations under Article 86(1) of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 to make arrangements for the applicant’s suitable education at school or otherwise for various periods of time between September 2021 and February 2022 when the applicant was unable to attend school due to the lack of school transport or unfit to attend school but was fit to receive education at home;
  3. The Respondent breached Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the period of time from September 2020 to June 2022 insofar as there was interference with the applicant’s rights under Article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights in conjunction with Article 14 ECHR, as there was interference with the Applicant’s access to education on the basis of her medical condition and she was treated differently to other children in the State because of her disability.
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Universal Periodic Review

10 October 2022
Sam Nelson
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Categories: News

10 October 2022

The Children’s Law Centre has worked alongside the Children’s Rights Alliance England, Together Scotland and the Wales UNCRC Monitoring Group to produce a series of thematic briefings to inform the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

What is the Universal Periodic Review?

Approximately every four years, the UK’s overall human rights progress is assessed under the UPR.

The UPR is a process where the countries that are members of the UN Human Rights Council review the human rights progress of UN member states. The UPR is based on the UN Charter and all the UN human rights treaties that have been ratified the country under review.   

The UK will have its next UPR review in November 2022. Prior to the review, the UK Government submit a full report outlining steps it has taken to progress human rights since the its review. Other countries review this information and can make recommendations on where further improvements could be made. The aim of the UPR is to improve the overall human rights situation in each country and share best practice around the globe.

Civil society organisations can present their own reports as part of the process and CLC has worked closely alongside other children’s rights organisations in England, Scotland and Wales to draft the following briefings to assist in informing the review, in the context of the state of children’s rights in the UK:

General Measures of Implementation

Non-Discrimination and Participation

Child Poverty

Mental Health

Education

Access to Justice

Immigration

Policing and Child Justice System

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