The National Educational Welfare Board

The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) was established in 2002 and has a statutory function to ensure that every child either attends a school or otherwise receives an education. In particular, the Board has a key role in following up on children who are not attending school regularly, and where there is a concern about the child’s educational welfare.

The Board also has responsibility for children who are being educated outside of schools (e.g. at home) and 16-17 year olds who leave school to take up employment.

The Board is appointed by the Minister for Education & Science and its members are drawn from teachers, school management, parents, agencies and services who work with young people and a number of relevant Government Departments.

Download the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000

Our Ethos

The Board was set up under the Education (Welfare), Act 2000. The Act is a progressive piece of legislation which takes an enlightened approach to the promotion of school attendance. The ethos of the Board follows the Act. Instead of admonishing children and parents for non-attendance the NEWB works hard to get to the root of problems behind non-attendance. For example, a child might be sick; there might be financial issues in the home; there might be a death in the family or a child may not want to go to school because he or she is being bullied. Issues such as these need to be addressed if a child’s individual attendance issues are to be solved in the long-term.