More than a quarter of children in care who started post primary education between 2012 and 2015 left school early without having completed the Leaving Certificate, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The figures on the educational attendance and attainment of children in care over the past five years suggest that 28 per cent of children in care did not complete the Leaving Certificate, compared to 8 per cent of all children.
Of the children who left care since April 2018 and were aged 18 or over by January 2023, 37 per cent were enrolled in further education and 15 per cent in higher education in 2021.
Children in care who were enrolled in primary school for the 2021/22 academic year were also more likely (14 per cent) to have been enrolled in a special school or in a special class at a mainstream school compared to all children (3 per cent).
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The CSO figures show that 6 per cent of children in care who were enrolled at school had repeated one or more academic years in primary or post primary education, compared to the overall figure of 2 per cent for all children.
Eleven per cent of children in care were absent from primary or post primary school for more than 20 days, compared to 7 per cent of all children.
