How does the Educational Welfare Service work?
Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs) are based throughout the country to offer advice and guidance to parents who need support in ensuring that their child attends schools regularly.
If a school principal is concerned about the attendance of a student they can make a referral to tess. Once this referral is screened and assigned to the local EWO the EWO will contact the school principal to get a picture of what’s going on and to ensure that efforts have been made by the school to help the child. They will then contact the family and meet with them. Home visits are an essential part of an EWO’s work and the first meeting with an EWO very often opens up a pathway of solutions for a child and family needing support. Once problems have been identified the EWO will work with those involved to improve the situation for the child/young person.
In schools participating in the Department of Education and Skill’s DEIS initiative (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), EWOs also work closely with two other school support services under the remit of tess namely the Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) and the School Completion Programme (SCP) to secure better educational outcomes for children and young people.
